My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy

by Bly, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780060757199
• ISBN10: 0060757191
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

Readers have found Robert Bly's ghazals startling and new; they merge wildness with a beautiful formality. My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy is Robert Bly's second book of ghazals. The poems have become more intricate and personal than they were in The Night Abraham Called to the Stars, and the leaps even bolder. This book includes the already famous poem against the Iraq War, "Call and Answer": "Tell me why it is we don't lift our voices these days / And cry over what is happening." The poems are intimate and yet reach out toward the world: the paintings of Robert Motherwell, the intensity of flamenco singers, the sadness of the gnostics, the delight of high spirits and wit. Robert Bly is writing the best poems of his life, and this book reestablishes his position as one of the greatest poets of our era.

Table of Contents

PART ONE
The Dark Autumn Nights	3	(2)
A Poem for Andrew Marvell	5	(2)
Listening to the Sitar Before Dawn	7	(2)
Loafing with Friends at Ojo Caliente	9	(2)
When I Am with You	11	(2)
There Are So Many Platos	13	(2)
Bach's B Minor Mass	15	(2)
The Blind Tobit	17	(2)
The Greek Ships	19	(2)
Visiting the Teacher	21	(2)
PART TWO
Growing Wings	23	(2)
Tightening the Cinch	25	(2)
Call and Answer	27	(2)
Advice from the Geese	29	(2)
The Blinding of Samson	31	(2)
The Nest in Which We Were Born	33	(2)
Rembrandt's Brown Ink	35	(2)
The Pelicans at White Horse Key	37	(2)
Flamenco Singers in Granada	39	(2)
The Horses Coming Up Behind	41	(2)
PART THREE
Brahms	43	(2)
Jacob and Rachel	45	(2)
What to Do with the Garden	47	(2)
The Shoehorn	49	(2)
Singing the Same Throaty Note	51	(2)
The Pistachio Nut	53	(2)
Listening to Old Music	55	(2)
Hiding in a Drop of Water	57	(2)
For Robert Motherwell	59	(2)
Listening to Shahram Nazeri	61	(2)
PART FOUR
Mailing Evidence to the Prosecutors	63	(2)
Waking in the Middle of the Night	65	(2)
A Week in Florence	67	(2)
Rameau's Music	69	(2)
Losing the House in a Card Game	71	(2)
A History of Mourning	73	(2)
A Week on the Oregon Coast	75	(2)
Sand Heaps	77	(2)
The Dingy Playing Cards	79	(2)
The Fat Old Couple Whirling Around	81	(2)
PART FIVE
Shabistari and The Secret Garden	83	(2)
The Night the Cities Burned	85	(2)
The Bridegroom	87	(2)
The Head of Barley	89	(2)
Adam's Understanding	91	(2)
Eating Blackberry Jam	93	(2)
The Buff-Chested Grouse	95	(2)
Stealing Sugar from the Castle	97

Excerpts

My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy
Poems

The Dark Autumn Nights

Imagination is the door to the raven's house, so we are
Already blessed! The one nail that fell from the shoe
Lit the way for Newton to get home from the Fair.

Last night I heard a thousand holy women
And a thousand holy men apologize at midnight
Because there was too much triumph in their voices.

Those lovers, skinny and badly dressed, hated
By parents, did the work; all through the Middle Ages,
It was the lovers who kept the door open to heaven.

Walking home, we become distracted whenever
We pass apple orchards. We are still eating fruit
Left on the ground the night Adam was born.

St. John of the Cross heard an Arab love poem
Through the bars and began his poem. In Nevada it was
Always the falling horse that discovered the mine.

Robert, you know well how much substance can be
Wasted by lovers, but I say, Blessings on those
Who go home through the dark autumn nights.

My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy
Poems. Copyright © by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy: Poems by Robert Bly
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.