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The Last Rememberer: And Other Poems
The Last Rememberer: And Other Poems
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This is an unusual and remarkable collection of poems...
from an unlikely source. The author is a retired Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California who did not take up poetry until some years into retirement. Many of the poems do deal with issues that relate to being or becoming old such as grief, loss, memory, or decline, but the majority do not, often reflecting his views on some topic, views that can be quirky but always have validity. Others tell a tiny story or describe a scene or reflect incidents in his life that touch some deeper theme. The language, usually unrhymed iambic meter, tries for clarity and simplicity, and is graceful, sometimes elegant.
Even the poems about aging are flavored by wit and whimsy. For example, in a little poem called “Gloom” the poet admits his verses have a gloomy tone and that life may be a rotten joke. But he adds:
On days I get that joke
I put the knowledge here
And leave it here,
So then I can go on
In idiotic cheer.
That’s really me.
Idiotic cheer! That’s perfect. The poet turns “gloom” on its head and walks away from it. He’s a cheerful man at heart, even if the world is a rotten joke, and his cheerfulness imbues these poems with sunshine. In another poem, he says he knows the universe does not give a damn for me,
But that’s ok.
We’re even, for
I do not give a damn for it.
Dylan Thomas, in his most famous poem, implored his dying father to “rage against the dying of the light.” If it were his own dying father, Cliff would probably add, “And don’t forget to wink.”
from an unlikely source. The author is a retired Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California who did not take up poetry until some years into retirement. Many of the poems do deal with issues that relate to being or becoming old such as grief, loss, memory, or decline, but the majority do not, often reflecting his views on some topic, views that can be quirky but always have validity. Others tell a tiny story or describe a scene or reflect incidents in his life that touch some deeper theme. The language, usually unrhymed iambic meter, tries for clarity and simplicity, and is graceful, sometimes elegant.
Even the poems about aging are flavored by wit and whimsy. For example, in a little poem called “Gloom” the poet admits his verses have a gloomy tone and that life may be a rotten joke. But he adds:
On days I get that joke
I put the knowledge here
And leave it here,
So then I can go on
In idiotic cheer.
That’s really me.
Idiotic cheer! That’s perfect. The poet turns “gloom” on its head and walks away from it. He’s a cheerful man at heart, even if the world is a rotten joke, and his cheerfulness imbues these poems with sunshine. In another poem, he says he knows the universe does not give a damn for me,
But that’s ok.
We’re even, for
I do not give a damn for it.
Dylan Thomas, in his most famous poem, implored his dying father to “rage against the dying of the light.” If it were his own dying father, Cliff would probably add, “And don’t forget to wink.”
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