Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt Poems
She spun a line. She knew he was listening to her.
She spun it and he took the fraying ends.
Whatever she was saying, it was cotton,
...
When I cannot believe,
The brown herds still move across green fields
Into the tufty hills, and I was born
Higher, where I could watch them as a bird might.
...
'Ibelieve it would go ill with many of us, if we were faced with a
strong temptation, and I suspect that with many of us it does go ill.'
—Ivy Compton Burnett
He set out on the innocent exodus. He went at Easter
...
It was the fruit I wanted, not the nest.
The nest was hanging like the richest fruit
against the sun. I took the nest
...
You with the knees of a fish,
You with the fish's ears, the tongue in your round
Mouth that's nibbling the sweet air,
You with a fish's patience, on your side
...
The teddy bear cholla and the fat fat
•
Oh buckthorn, devil, whipple, teddy bear
...
Why is his sacrifice
More suitable than mine?
I give the grain I've sown
...
I was simply asleep.
There was a sound in my ear -
A form moved in my tent,
A hammer and a spike.
...
…And kisses on the rowan tree
The scarlet ulcers of the unseen Christ.
Sergei Esenin, ‘Autumn' (translated by Geoffrey Thurley)
...
Out loud they cry, when they come back above ground,
A cheerful judder, then the chattering jaws -
Chorus of teacups clattering on a tray -
...
i.
Jerome has his enormous dozy lion.
Myself, I have a cat, my Pangur Bàn.
...
Michael Schmidt Biography
Michael Schmidt, born in Mexico City, is a poet, a novelist, a translator, and an academic. He has written more than 15 books, including five collections of poetry, the latest of which, New and Collected Poems, was published in 2009. His work showcases his extensive breadth of knowledge, often drawing from a multitude of disparate sources ranging from Homer to Boris Pasternak. John Fuller describes Schmidt’s writing as having “natural enthusiasm … melancholy precision and imagination.” Helen Dunmore echoes Fuller’s characterization of the sentiment in Schmidt’s work with her assertion that he is “always a stringent poet, never shy of painful truth.” Schmidt is the founder, editor, and managing director of Carcanet Press Limited and general editor of PN Review. He is currently professor of poetry and convener of the creative writing program at the University of Glasgow (UK).)
The Best Poem Of Michael Schmidt
Conceit
She spun a line. She knew he was listening to her.
She spun it and he took the fraying ends.
Whatever she was saying, it was cotton,
Then as he rolled the thread between
Forefinger and thumb it turned to silk,
And as he took the needle up to thread it
The line she spun became thin finest gold.
He knew not to believe her but he took it
Because she kept on spinning like the truth
Was ravelling from her lips; he watched her lips.
Cotton, silk and gold, she wanted him
To take the line and sew the wound right up
Although she held the blade still in her hand
Behind her back, and it was dripping, steaming.
There under his left arm the gash lay open
Like a mouth in disbelief. And he believed her.
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