variation on a theme by rilke

i recently shared a poem here by denise levertov entitled “sojourns in the parallel world”.

i was so taken by her writing, i thought that it might be interesting to dig a little deeper.

it's a great story of course.

levertov was born in england on october 24, 1923 to a welsh mum and to a dad who was a russian hasidic jew who converted to christianity and became an anglican parson.

with a heritage like that, it follows that you might have the opportunity to be extraordinary!

worlds are being welcomed into your life that bear a little attention.

maybe even some care.

levertov claims that she announced at the age of five that she was going to become a writer and in fact at the age of twelve she sent her writing to no less than t.s. eliot who

wrote her a two page letter of encouragement in reply!

so how cool is that?!

later levertov married an american and moved to america where she became an american citizen.

here she came under the influence of (among others) the black mountain poets who worked out of the extremely cool and forward thinking black mountain college.

(just for interest’s sake, you should read the list of faculty who at one time worked at this college!)

it is in her reflective and thoughtful writing that i find the greatest value and resonance.

if you read this poem out loud to yourself,

not in shame or awkwardness

but full in the knowledge

that these words are your own

you'll hear yourself saying something

so incredibly beautiful and true

that you'll find the moment it describes

calling to you from so very long ago,

this present moment,

or most exciting of all -

the future that you are creating

and bringing to be.

variation on a theme by rilke

a certain day became a presence to me;

there it was, confronting me--a sky, air, light:

a being. and before it started to descend

from the height of noon, it leaned over

and struck my shoulder as if with

the flat of a sword, granting me

honor and a task. the day's blow

rang out, metallic--or it was i, a bell awakened,

and what I heard was my whole self

saying and singing what it knew: i can.

in the course of her writing life, she received many awards, scholarships and fellowships, a sort of testimony to one part of the world that was affected by the power and beauty of her poetry.

denise levertov flew away in 1997 at the age of 74.

a beautiful tribute to denise was written by fellow poet robert creeley.

if you would like to read more of her work, a collection of denise’s poetry is maintained by chris corrigan. google books has several of her works including selected poems, a door in the hive, breathing the water, this great unknowing, and several others.