Chateau d'If
Her photographs of white embrasures glowAgainst impossible blue, the sea and skyContemptuous of how men fortifyThe State's iniquity. I do not knowExactly all we talked about or did.I was wearing my blue jacket, my off-whiteFrench slacks. She posed me as a blue vignette--"Lean on these battlements, then turn your head."I can't remember, but I can't forgetOur outing to the Chateau d'If, kept nowIn these rectangles of a printed light,Other than that she liked the day, and howShe said she'd read that book of martyrdom."Let's stay a while, then take the last boat home."
-Douglas Dunn
Douglas Dunn was a Scottish poet who died last Friday at the age of 83. I've featured him once before on the blog. This is from his book Elegies, which came out in 1985 and won the Whitbread Prize. The elegies were for his first wife Lesley Balfour Dunn, who died of cancer at the age of 37. She was an artist (not just photography--"infallible in art//That pleased her--water, oil, or lithograph" says another poem.)
Looking at an old photograph led Dunn to write this sonnet about a moment in their past. There are a number of other sonnets in the volume, though not all. Still most use some formal structure.
Chateau d'If is, of course, the prison/fortress in Marseilles' bay, where Edmond Dantes is sent early in The Count of Monte Cristo. Like Alcatraz, you can take a boat out to visit.
It's only at the Chateau d'If moment that The Count of Monte Cristo is a book of martyrdom, but that suits the mood and the moment of the poem.
I've decided to read poetry EVERY day from now on. It seems to fit the times. I need short works of literature to lose myself in . Long novels, NF , 600+ page biographies don't appeal to me anymore. I think writing poetry is the most difficult literary work of art. So much in just 50 words, for example, Dickinison's "I dwell in Possibility...". I have at least 15 poetry collections and am determined to make 2027 the year of the poet! This elegy is just wonderful...I'll look up Dunn's book "Elegies" . You are one of the few bloggers that ever post "poetry'...thanks.
ReplyDeleteI find I read much more poetry than I used to--not every day, but at least a couple of books a month. It somehow seems more substantial, doesn't it?
DeleteYou probably saw 'I dwell in Possibility...' recently on the New York Times--very nicely done, I thought.
Thanks for reading!
Very nicely done in th NYT! (NancyElin)
DeleteThose A. O. Scott poetry pieces have been impressive all along. I especially remember the one about Frank O'Hara.
DeleteWhat a moving tribute, Reese. "I can't remember, but I can't forget" is such a perfect line for a poem about memory and loss, and I'm sorry to hear of his passing. Your notes on the Chateau d'If sonnet made me want to seek out Elegies this weekend. My poetry-reading companions, the oncology brothers, will appreciate this recommendation too.
ReplyDeleteGlad that that you liked it!
DeleteBeautiful and bittersweet. I like it.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how tough that would be.
Delete"I can't remember, but I can't forget" is a devastating line — all the more so for being born from an old photograph. Your note about the Whitbread-winning Elegies sent me off to look it up; that whole book sounds like essential reading. Thank you for this moving tribute to a poet I knew too little about.
ReplyDeleteThat line “I can't remember, but I can't forget” really stayed with me too — a beautiful, bittersweet way to remember Dunn and the Chateau d'If outing. Thanks for sharing this Elegies sonnet. black rock menu tea
ReplyDeleteIs that one of those little faber editions? I'd've snapped it up, for that alone! (I didn't know about the prison; I'm glad you include details like that.)
ReplyDeleteIt is one of those F&F books. They are rather handsome and well-done, aren't they? I somehow have managed to accumulate a bunch of them myelf. (How do these things keep happening...?)
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