John Moore's Response to Merwin

W. S. Merwin’s The Shadow of Sirius, toys with concepts such as memory, time, nature and, life time experiences. Merwin’s poetry is both a thought proviking yet calming read. While using no punctuation whatsoever, Merwin slows the tempo of his poetry down dramatically. The lack of periods and commons and other punctuation forces the reader to focus more on the actual words and flow of the poem. With that said, I personally thought all of Merwin’s poems in this particular book were not only a pleasant read but were also quite enjoyable to divulge into. For example the poem titled “Europe” is quite simple in contextual meaning. Yet, when one further reads into the layering of time and thoughts Merwin elegantly added, the trip to Europe becomes a voyage for the reader as well. As Merwin writes in “Europe”, “there was a road down the cliff that I would descend some years later and recognize it there we were all together one time” he is playing with his past memory and in doing so brings that memory into future tense. What surprised me most about The Shadow of Sirius however was Merwin’s ability to completely boggle the readers mind with one poem, and then transition to another with total ease. I have never read such consoling poetry that in the very same instance can bring me to another plane of thinking.

Merwin’s overall form I guess could be considered transcendent Zen. Many of his poems like “The Piano”, “The Pinnacle”, and “Cave” are transcendent in form. Yet in the very same instance almost all of the poems in The Shadow of Sirius have very Zen like qualities. Even the slightly darker poems such as “White Note”, “Nocturne II”, and “By Dark” read smoothly, and are presented with tranquility. When considering the actual meaning of the title I cant help but think it only emphasizes the idea that the entire book is simply a collection of memories. With that said, I also believe that Merwin split the book into sections to show how we recollect memories, and how they evolve over time. Personally I only remember finite details of memories however when I hash the memories out I start to remember more of the blurred details contained within the memory. These vague details are what I believe Merwin wrote about. He clearly is a wise man with a life full of experiences, and now in his later years, memories.

W. S. Merwin’s poetry I feel is loving, sad, and sensible all at the very same time. He masterfully makes the reader focus on the words on the page and feelings coupled with those words. I don’t believe there is a single person who can say that they cannot relate to Merwin’s poetry. The only aspect of The Shadow of Sirius I did not enjoy was that it had an end. If this collection of poetry went on for thousands of pages I would have tirelessly read until I could not open my eyes.