I believe it was my brother who gave me my first Erica Jong book. He always had the best ear for powerful words. He is a writer as well. A brilliant artist with words. SO much energy. I loved Erica Jong. She was such a hero to me during college. I read her poems and although they often were penned from the heart and mouth of a woman, I still understood her meaning. A gay man always understands where a woman is coming from - mmmmkay? She is such an amazing poet. I came back across her work recently and I've been reading and rereading her poems. Below is one that I really like. As I find more of her work and get out the books that I have, I'll share more but I thought on this melancholy Tuesday - A little Erica Jong was just what I needed. You can find more of her poems here. xo.
To Whom It May Concern
In Autumn,
as in Spring,
the sap flows,
the sap wishes to race
against heartbeats
before the winter,
before the winter
buries us
in her usual shroud of ice.
I turn to you
knowing that
unrequited love
is good
for poetry,
knowing that pain
will nudge the muse
as well as anything,
knowing that you
are afraid, fettered
to a life
you do not love,
& so unfree
that freedom seems
more fearful even
than the familiar
business
of being
a grumbling slave.
I lived
that way
once,
& I know
that freedom
is its own reward,
that it propagates
itself
by means
of runners,
that nobody
gives it to you,
not even me
to you,
but that you
must seize it
with your own
two quaking hands
& pluck
the strawberry
it bears
in the green
ungrumbling
Spring.
- Erica Jong
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