Profession: Poet

Profession: Poet is a new monthly blog feature exploring craft and identity in poetry by Hanoch Guy, who writes poems in both English and Hebrew.

Writing the Elusive Time

 Two essential elements in poetry are time and space. Our focus in this blog is time. You may decide to write a poem in the past ,present or the future but I  have news for you. Once you write the poem, it is all  present. The brain  perceives every thing  as now.

Consider the conflict between rigid  clock time and fluid personal time.

Clockless time reminds me of the handless less clock in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries.

In my research, I came across an excellent article by G. Kim Blank and Magdalena Kay, which includes essential questions about time and poetry. I’ve summarized these questions here.

  • Does the poem take place in one time (the present, the past, the future) or does it move back and forth between times?

  • Does the poem present single actions in time or continuing actions?

  • Does the poem bring different times together or set them apart?

  • Is there a particular event for the poem?

  • Are different parts of the poem in different times? What effect does this have?

  • Is the speaker of the poem situated at a certain point in time the past, present ,future or blend them, does the speaker feel regret, resolve, clarity, uncertainty)?

Does time move smoothly or abruptly? In an uncertain way? Are different states of being, or different ways of thinking, associated with different time?

Let us explore further the nature of time in poetry by considering the following prompts:

  • The best of times---

  • Handless clock------

  • The worst of times-----

  • The river of time------

  • Dissolving time--------

  • Punishing times-----------

  • Timeless grief

Consider these snippets of poems dealing with the concept of time as well.

A Clock stopped –
Not the Mantel’s
(Emily Dickinson)

I had not known before Forever was so long a word. The slow stroke of the clock of time I had not heard.
(from “Forever” by Paul Laurence Dunbar)

Time is Too slow for those who Wait, Too swift for those who Fear
(from “Time Is” by Henry Jackson van Dyke, Jr.

As the time draws nigh, glooming, a cloud,
A dread beyond, of I know not what, darkens me.
(from “As the Time Draws Nigh” by Walt Whitman)

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
(from “Time does not bring relief; (Sonnet II)” by Edna St. Vincent Millay)

I would like to end this blog with a poem of my own on the nature of time.

My pasts are robbers

My pasts are robbers
Of the present
And my futures
Imprison me in narrow cells.
Time smashes
Calendars
And handless clocks
Set them on fire
Leave in the ashes.

Hanoch Guy Ph.D, Ed.D spent his childhood and youth in Israel. He is a bilingual poet in Hebrew and English. Hanoch has taught Jewish Hebrew literature at Temple University and poetry and mentoring at the Muse House Center. He won awards in the Mad Poets Society, Phila Poets, Poetry Super Highway and first prize in the Better than Starbucks haiku contest. His book, Terra Treblinka, is a finalist in the North Book Contest. Hanoch published poems in England, Wales, Israel, the U.S., and Greece. He is the author of nine poetry collections in English and one Hebrew book.