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“How Things Outlive Us”: Larry Levis' Selected Poems |
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Images of Death, Short-Line Stories
Many of Levis' poems contain images of death; some of them sound hopeless taken out of the body of the poem. Was he bound by heredity to die young? Did he drive himself with some inner sense that his life would be cut short by a few stanzas? Donovan didn't think so: “His poems reflect a sense of shared doom.” Everything changes, moves on... seasons give way to seasons. I thought of Chance the Gardener in Jerzy Kozinski's Being There. The poems are almost confessional, Levis revealing himself on each page.
Yet many of his poems are also short-line stories, using images to represent the many places Levis traveled and lived. In a few words, he captures time and place and state of mind. We've all been to places he talks about, sat across the counter from these people.
The Town
The town I grew up in
has a drug store where men
gather, since their words
fall into the tiny graves
rain makes in their tracks.
“Larry loved his home in Richmond, loved walking through the city meeting people,” said Donovan. He knew the street regulars, finding places for them in poems. “There's a story about a time he was approached by a would-be mugger on Church Hill, where Larry lived. The guy asked for his money, and as usual, Larry had none. As he was walking away, Larry supposedly said 'I can write you a check!' I don't know if it's true, but it certainly sounds like something he'd do.”
Church Hill is an area of the city where economic hardship and history clash smack into avant garde baby boomers eager to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. A house can be had on the cheap, gutted and transformed into an elegant town home, if you have the money. Levis loved walking to work, not quite five miles away. In “Blue Stones” he tells about a workman who, if he paid careful attention “might learn, / How things outlive us.” His poetic voice is spiritual, sardonic, filled with love of life.
The new volume of Selected Poems contains excerpts from five of the six books Levis published. The sixth book, Elegy, was published posthumously. It is a wonderful effort, a poet's gift to the world he left behind.
Donovan & I were done -- all but the question I had come to ask. Larry Levis was a good man, a respected teacher, and an admired poet. I asked Donovan, “What would you say to him if he walked in the door right now?” He blinked, once, then said, “Hey Larry! Where've you been? I missed you.” I couldn't help looking at the door, filled with expectation.
Next page > Links for further reading > page 1, 2, 3
Shann Palmer is a poet, musician & teacher who is published in print & on the Web. She has been editor of La Petite Zine at webdelsol & served as board monitor at The Melic Review RoundTable. She is Virginia/District of Columbia correspondent for the About Poetry Museletter. Her last feature article here was “Slam 'N' Me,” an account of the first poetry slam in Richmond, Virginia.
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