Oh, sweet victory of love
Jan. 7th, 2011 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI have been searching for a certain poem for decades, ever since an English professor read it aloud in class in a freshman English class. He also handed out mimeographs of it (yes, I am old), but it was spread over two pages (though not a long poem, the print was BIG). Somehow, though I loved this poem with much loveness, I lost the second page and the last two stanzas. I only discovered this several years after the class when the poem came to mind and I went looking.
"No problem," thinks I, "since the first page has the name of the poem and the poet. Love Poem by J. F. Nims should not be so hard to find."
This was before the worldwide web, children, back in those misty days of low tech information retrieval. I went to the library and looked for a book of poetry by Nims. They had none. I even tried at the UCLA Research Library when I was there doing research for something else. They had a book! Alas, not the one containing Love Poem.
A few years later, once the internet really got cranking, I looked for Love Poem by J. F. Nims. Nothing. Oh, there were references to Mr. Nims (he edited Poetry magazine), but nothing on this poem. As if the poem never existed. But I remembered it, and I still had that pathetic half of a mimeographed poem. Periodically, when I thought of it, I'd put Mr. Nims's name into Google. Still no Love Poem. I was not obsessive in my search, even if a bit obsessed.
And then today, I thought of the first line of the poem, the line that had remained with me all these years: "My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases..." So I plugged that into Google. And, lo, there it was! On Poemfinder.com! I had tried poem finder before, I'm sure of it, but clearly it must have been before June 9, 2009.
I'm not ashamed to say that I got misty-eyed when I read the complete poem once more. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. After all these years, I still love it. After all this build up, I hope it doesn't disappoint you.
Love Poem
by John Frederick Nims
My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before apopleptic streetcars—
Misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
With words and people and love you move at ease;
In traffic of wit expertly maneuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
Your lipstick grinning on our coat,
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of spilt bourbon float.
Be with me, darling, early and late. Smash glasses—
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.
You can read more of Mr. Nims's poems here: http://www.poemhunter.com/john-frederick-nims/
"No problem," thinks I, "since the first page has the name of the poem and the poet. Love Poem by J. F. Nims should not be so hard to find."
This was before the worldwide web, children, back in those misty days of low tech information retrieval. I went to the library and looked for a book of poetry by Nims. They had none. I even tried at the UCLA Research Library when I was there doing research for something else. They had a book! Alas, not the one containing Love Poem.
A few years later, once the internet really got cranking, I looked for Love Poem by J. F. Nims. Nothing. Oh, there were references to Mr. Nims (he edited Poetry magazine), but nothing on this poem. As if the poem never existed. But I remembered it, and I still had that pathetic half of a mimeographed poem. Periodically, when I thought of it, I'd put Mr. Nims's name into Google. Still no Love Poem. I was not obsessive in my search, even if a bit obsessed.
And then today, I thought of the first line of the poem, the line that had remained with me all these years: "My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases..." So I plugged that into Google. And, lo, there it was! On Poemfinder.com! I had tried poem finder before, I'm sure of it, but clearly it must have been before June 9, 2009.
I'm not ashamed to say that I got misty-eyed when I read the complete poem once more. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. After all these years, I still love it. After all this build up, I hope it doesn't disappoint you.
Love Poem
by John Frederick Nims
My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose palms are bulls in china, burs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill-at-ease fidgeting people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi drivers' terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before apopleptic streetcars—
Misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in clocks and the solar system. Only
With words and people and love you move at ease;
In traffic of wit expertly maneuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
Your lipstick grinning on our coat,
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven
Our souls on glory of spilt bourbon float.
Be with me, darling, early and late. Smash glasses—
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys of the world would break.
You can read more of Mr. Nims's poems here: http://www.poemhunter.com/john-frederick-nims/
no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 10:56 pm (UTC)The poem is lovely. Thank you for sharing.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 11:13 pm (UTC)I remember mimeographs too, which must make me old as well. ;)
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Date: 2011-01-07 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-07 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 07:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 09:57 am (UTC)Thanks for sharing your memory and your treasure.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-08 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:36 am (UTC)And I love that line...
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 04:49 pm (UTC)