Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Ed Pacht, Another New Hampshire Poet

In the following poem, Ed Pacht responds to his friend’s description of a dream he had of being with his late wife in the heavenlies, listening to music he was composing for “O, How a Rose e’er Blooming …”

The Rose
Ed Pacht

A rose,
red rose,
with blood that shall be shed,
a rose amid the thorns,
whose wounds shall soon bring pain,
a rose that blossoms brightly,
whose radiance fills the earth,
a rose that springs from ancient soil,
that grows upon a timeless branch,
and rests upon a golden throne,
while brilliant beings sing its praise



Ed Pacht on Poetry as a Calling

"Poetry is a calling. As a Christian, I consider it a sacred calling, an expression of something other than earthly. I consider this true even when, as is the case in most of these poems, the subject matter is not religious at all.

A poem represents a stepping aside from ordinariness, a suspension of the usual way of thinking, an entrance into a realm of words that point to what is beyond words. I find this to be true even in the most trivial of my poems. Even when I am making a bad pun, I find that I am not seeing as I usually see, nor thinking as I usually think. And then there are poems that speak of deep things I can barely imagine, and these too arise from extraordinary ways of thinking."

3 comments:

Alice C. Linsley said...

I've been teasing my New Hampshire friends about the Muse working overtime in that lovely New England state.

poetreader said...

I just last night attended a reading in Moultonborough with poets from that town, from Conway, from Dorchester, from Rochester, and from Wolfeborough. Had the weather been better, we would have had some also from Effingham, and Warner, and perhaps other places. These and other obscure NH towns are indeed the lair of a sizeable number of fine poets. Yes, Alice, she does work overtime here. Also, at least 3 US poets laureate (Frost, Hall, and Simic) hailed from NH.

ed pacht

Hopie said...

Hmmm...Well, perhaps the Connecticut Linsley's borrowed that muse as they traveled by connestoga to Colorado and train to California. Our family is filled with those who see life in metaphor and feel in simile. Thank you, Mr. Pacht, for the lovely "Rose"...Its poignant simplicity renders the depths of "so great a salvation."