Gracious Is the Earth
My intellectual career begins with literature in which I earned a Ph.D. en route to a professorship. I was drawn to literature because, like philosophy, it seeks answers to the ultimate questions, expressing them through narrative and metaphor rather than in systematic argument. From the first I favored poetry because it is the purest literary form, especially lyric poetry in which the author’s consciousness is embodied and expressed in memorable language. One result is a book of 52 poems, Gracious Is the Earth (Winston-Derek Publishers, 1992), of which 20 have been separately published in literary journals, and which a reviewer calls “adventurous in theme and style and meaning.” One of the book’s poems follows.
The Ladder
The rule exists for everyone: ascend.
True, it is wearing to climb and climb
Toward an unknown height, one rung at a time,
One foot, then another, till the rungs blur
And you forget you are climbing a ladder.
True, there’s another direction: some take it
Though most stop after climbing a bit,
And clinging to one rung, forget ascent,
And claim in heights there is no justice.
These smile and join voices with fatigue,
To praise their station, the view from there,
But this is precisely when to lift your arm,
Grasp the next rung with the hand’s palm,
Lift your leg till the foot snags a higher place,
Swing up with the breath of rising on your face,
And feel the muscles stiffen your thigh
As another view welcomes your eye.