Decade by Amy Lowell
When you came, you were like red wine and honey,
And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.
Now you are like morning bread,
Smooth and pleasant.
I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,
But I am completely nourished.
She laughed. ‘Was she wine or bread to you?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s from an Amy Lowell poem we all loved in college.”
—From Euphoria by Lily King
I’m intrigued by the use of intertexuality—why one writer chooses to insert text from another and why I take particular note of it —and how it leads me back to someplace else—like 1966, when I recited Patterns by Amy Lowell in a poetry recitation contest somewhere in Northern Kentucky.
BY AMY LOWELL
I walk down the garden paths,
And all the daffodils
Are blowing, and the bright blue squills.
I walk down the patterned garden paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
And then one thing leads to another—such as this awesome scholarship opportunity for poets! $50,000 for one year travel outside the country! Deadline: October 15th. Check it out.
Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship
Abstract of the Terms of the Scholarship from Amy Lowell’s Will, as Modified by the
Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, Norfolk Division, on January 23, 2008
My trustees shall appoint a committee to be composed of one member of the English Department of Harvard University and of two poets of recognized standing (preference being given to those of progressive literary tendencies) and of the trustees themselves who collectively shall count as one. This committee shall each year name to receive the scholarship a poet of American birth and of good standing or able promise, preference again being given to those of progressive literary tendencies. By accepting the scholarship, the recipient shall agree with the trustees to spend one year outside of the Continent of North America in whatever place the recipient deems best suited to advance the art of poetry as practiced by him, and at the end of the year the recipient is to submit at least three poems for consideration by the committee. The trustees shall pay over to the recipient $50,000 [adjusted annually for inflation after 2008]. Such payments, however, shall cease if the recipient during the year returns to the Continent of North America for any reason or any period which seems unreasonable to the committee, said committee having the sole right to determine what is reasonable. Mere vacations shall not be considered reasonable. At the end of the year upon the submission of at least three poems to the committee, if these poems be considered of sufficient merit, they may award the same poet a second consecutive annual scholarship in the amount determined as set forth above for the succeeding year, so that, in any year in which a scholarship recipient is awarded a second consecutive annual scholarship, there shall be two Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarships awarded that year, both in the same amount.
Alice-Catherine 