Field Guide to the Heart A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English of the College of Arts and Sciences by Adrienne Cassel M.F.A. Bennington College January 2001 Committee Chair: Don Bogen, Ph.D. Dissertation Abstract Adrienne Cassel Field Guide to the Heart is a collection of poems that explores the intersection of nature, ecology, and grief. It draws on the poetic tradition of Robinson Jeffers, Margo Berdeshevsky, Gary Snyder, Annie Dillard, and other contemporary poets to encourage the reader to look again at the marvels of everyday occurrences. Using the heart as a symbol of the connection among and between species, the collection draws out the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things. As John Felstiner explains, in Can Poetry Save the Earth: “First consciousness then conscience.” In addition to a collection of original poems, Field Guide to the Heart also includes a critical paper, Muddying the Waters; June Jordan and the Prose Poem, which interrogates the psychological geography of the prose poems in Jordan‟s Things That I Do in the Dark. Cassel argues that by exploring the psychological integrity of a physical place in her poetry, Jordan has been able to make peace with the relationship she had with her parents. ii iii for all the Maries for Sarah And for Mary Beth iv L’homme a des endroits de son pauvre Coeur qui n’existent pas encore et où la douleur entre afin qu’ils soient. – Léon Bloy v Table of Contents ASPHODEL ........................................................................................................... 1 FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING .................................................................................... 2 COLOR THE HEART ............................................................................................ 3 LOGIC OF THE HEART ........................................................................................ 4 BIRD HEART ......................................................................................................... 5 LESSONS .............................................................................................................. 6 FALSE HEART ...................................................................................................... 7 BLACKBIRDS, LATE WINTER ............................................................................. 8 COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR ............................................................................ 9 EXCURSION INTO MONK’S HOOD ................................................................... 10 RIVERSPEAK...................................................................................................... 11 DAUGHTER ........................................................................................................ 12 TENDER .............................................................................................................. 13 FINDING THE CHIPPED BOWL WHILE MOVING ............................................. 14 MOTHER LOVE AT THE MUSEUM .................................................................... 15 SPIDER AND MOTH ........................................................................................... 16 SUN: ITS RADIANCE SPREADING OVER THE EARTH ................................... 18 FLYING LESSONS .............................................................................................. 19 ATONEMENT ...................................................................................................... 20 I WANT TO BE A WHIRLING DERVISH OR AN ANGEL SENT TO SAVE YOU ............................................................................................................................. 21 DEATH MASK ..................................................................................................... 22 GLAD EYE .......................................................................................................... 23 BEETHOVEN’S LAMENT ................................................................................... 24 TWO PINK SHELLS ............................................................................................ 25 PELICAN MOUNTAIN III ..................................................................................... 26 HIS DARKNESS .................................................................................................. 27 ONE ..................................................................................................................... 28 RADIO DAYS ...................................................................................................... 29 BEFORE NAMING .............................................................................................. 30 NAMING .............................................................................................................. 31 vi SECOND GUESSING .......................................................................................... 32 LEAVES ARE TO GRASS .................................................................................. 33 ODE TO AN ORCHID .......................................................................................... 34 END OF THE SEASON ....................................................................................... 35 VISITING DOTTIE AT HOSPICE ......................................................................... 36 VAGUS NERVE ................................................................................................... 37 TWO WORDS ...................................................................................................... 38 ROSIE’S REEDS OF KNOWLEDGE .................................................................. 39 CLOUDS .............................................................................................................. 40 LAMENT: A SKETCH ......................................................................................... 41 FATHER .............................................................................................................. 42 APOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 43 WITNESS ............................................................................................................ 44 GATHERING DUST ............................................................................................. 45 CHIEFLY COPPER AND COAL.......................................................................... 46 ALLEGORY OF MISRULE .................................................................................. 47 FIVE OF HEARTS ............................................................................................... 48 WIFELY ............................................................................................................... 49 MUDDYING THE WATERS: PROSE POEMS IN JUNE JORDAN’S THINGS THAT I DO IN THE DARK ................................................................................... 50 vii Acknowledgements “Two Words” in Northwest Review Spring 2003 “Tender” in Northwest Review Spring 2003 “Death Mask” in Ambulant Fall 2003 “Finding the Chipped Bowl While Moving” in 5 A.M. Spring 2002 “Flying Lessons” in Flights 2001 viii Asphodel Red buds trip over five red-winged black birds swaying on the wire. The sun hangs above the maple, yet, it has never heard the crystal notes or the way they clang against the black bark rotted and riddled with worms. I am one of the lucky ones who has seen sorrow and a man take his own life at his own hand. Felt the gun against his chest and the plummeting of the pulled trigger. This scene repeats itself as I pass beneath the bridge in the South Glen --where all that remains is the bloodstain on the wall --and a handful of chickweed decomposing on gravel. 1 First Signs of Spring A child weeps by the bank. An arm thrown over the back of the chair, but not his arm. She feels her way to the river counting stones. One sweeet sweeet from the chickadee. 2 Color the Heart Wild mouse barley where the deer once slept, its stems the color of fire. Snow packed into the crevices along the path, river frozen between its banks. A star pierces the sky and another and another until what was once black is shredded by light. The lunar disk backs away until it too is a tiny star. A sycamore appears one branch at a time, draped in ash-white. I have been walking all night. A shadow asks for an offering. I have nothing. The gift of sight too shy to give away. Irises torn with blue. But not here. It is too dark, too cold. How does the bear know when it is time to return. It is no longer winter. Does he hear a click muffled in the snow? Does an upstairs dweller return? But it is not you. 3 Logic of the Heart Even after science came to know the truth about the heart, contradicting what Galen had taught, what had been considered infallible for 1300 years, it missed the truth about the sun. Take the Ptolemaic theory that the center of the universe is the earth:of course that was convenient for the priests to believe, otherwise how to make a living. Copernicus knew Ptolemy was wrong, but he didn‟t let on for fear of being charged with treason. And so when Adorno says, “He who says he is happy lies, and in invoking happiness, sins against it. He alone keeps faith who says: I was happy,” we know the possibility of an exception. But, you have someone