Poems on Helen Keller, the Wright Brothers, and Others, by Martin Elster The Society September 30, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments Helen Keller (1880-1968) Your eyesight and hearing were gone, yet you felt just as blithe as a fawn ___when you learned that a word ___could stand for a bird or the flowers that bloomed in your lawn. The very first word that you learned was “water.” Thereafter you yearned ___for more, and then more ___till the letters would pour from your soul into books, finely turned. Face the sunshine and you will not see the shadow, you said, for the key ___to happiness lies ___in kindness. Not eyes nor ears, but your dreams made you free. Received an honorable mention in Competition No. 3104 “Take Three” in The Spectator. Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) You could fly while still growing and green, could repair any flying machine ___by your twenties, and tested ___new rocket planes, crested the clouds in your bright X-15. In due course, you were picked for Apollo (undreamed of by falcon or swallow) ___to land on the moon, ___and to do it quite soon so the Commies could no more than follow. You touched the moon’s hide, took a stride, spoke of steps and of leaps, then all pride ___disappeared as you turned ___toward your planet and learned that your thumb is precisely as wide! Albert Einstein (1879-1955) A young-looking fellow employed as a patent assessor enjoyed ___experiments done ___in his head—lots of fun for a purposeful, smart anthropoid. He rode a light beam, thought of clocks and a man in a plummeting box, ___but had very cold toes— ___which is just how it goes when forgetting to bring your wool socks. Views of gravity, light, time and space were suddenly new, and his face ___became famed as a lion ___and the stars of Orion which, unlike his hair, know their place. The Wright Brothers Orville and Wilbur were right that a flying machine could take flight. ___They spent money and years ___and, while they had fears, they thought it might work. It just might! To reach any meaningful height, their engine, they knew, must be light. ___Then in 1903 ___the seabirds would see an odd and remarkable sight. Though the ospreys and gulls saw them fly it, most specialists didn’t quite buy it: ___“How could wings, so unbendable, ___be somehow ascendable?” Yet they were, and now none can deny it! Martin Elster serves as a percussionist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Honors include co-winner of RhymeZone’s 2016 poetry contest, winner of the Thomas Gray Anniversary Poetry Competition 2014, third place in the SFPA’s 2015 poetry contest, and three Pushcart nominations. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 13 Responses Amy Foreman September 30, 2019 Excellent epigraphic poems, Martin. Reply C.B. Anderson September 30, 2019 Very clever rhymes with which to remind us of key events in history. Keep beating your drums and totting your sums, because you have a very receptive audience (readership) here. “[A]scendable,” in the fourth poem, is a wonderful neologism, and that’s what limericks are for. With all due deference to Helen Keller (and I’ve seen the film), you are a true Miracle Worker. For this submission I give you an A+. Reply Monty October 2, 2019 I can’t claim to’ve had a long-standing familiarity with the word ‘neologism’; I only became aware of it last year through these pages. But from how I now perceive that word, I must ask you, CB: What is neologistic about the word ‘ascendable’? It’s a long-established word (at least in British-English); and it simply means what it says . . ‘able to be ascended’ (eg: an ascendable mountain). Reply C.B. Anderson October 3, 2019 Monty, the problem is that “ascend” is an intransitive verb. One can ascend, but no one can ascend something, not even in UK English, I think. So “ascendable” makes no sense, except as a neologism. I would like some other competent grammarian to weigh in on this. Amy Foreman October 3, 2019 I’m not a grammarian, but “ascend” can be transitive or intransitive (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ascend), making “ascendable,” acceptable, and, in my opinion, a terrific companion rhyme for “unbendable.” “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:” (Ps. 139:8). Monty October 3, 2019 I’ve got a bit out of my depth, now (trans, intrans?); and also a tad perplexed, after reading that “one can ascend, but one can’t ascend ‘something’”; when we know that one can ascend a mountain, and a mountain is a ‘something’. I don’t even know where I am, now. Initially, I was looking no further than . . If a mountain can be climbed, it’s climbable. If it can be scaled, it’s scaleable. If it can be ascended, it’s ascendable. If I’m to now learn that ‘ascendable’ is wrong in that context . . then I really am in trouble. Mark F. Stone October 1, 2019 Martin, All four poems are very nicely done. I love the Apollo/or swallow rhyme. If I were to intrude on the poems and make suggestionss, I might, in The Wright Brothers poem, change “while” to “although” and “somehow” to “so.” It’s great to see you publishing on SCP! Reply C.B. Anderson October 3, 2019 To Amy & Monty: Yes, one can ascend a mountain, but that does not mean that one has sent a mountain upward. In the poem, “wings” be somehow ascendable, but that never meant that anyone could climb up on wings or push wings to even higher heights. The problem with this construction is deeper than I initially suspected. This knot is in need of serious unraveling, or else we should just forget about it. I now understand that I can ascend a mountain or a ladder, but I would be hard pressed to push either one of them up. In the poem at issue, “ascendable” is used in such a way that defies logic and understanding: No one in his or her right mind would suggest that we ascend wings or that wings themselves possess the power of ascendability. Reply Monty October 3, 2019 Well, it took me a while to get there, CB, but I can now see what you’re saying: “How can wings be ascendable?” You’re right: it don’t make sense. In which case, I feel that it was rather generous of you to refer to ‘ascendable’ (in that context) as a neologism. I can’t be as generous; now it’s been pointed-out to me, I can only see the use of ‘ascendable’ as simply wrong.. a case of forcing the diction in order to find a fancy rhyme. It’d make a bit – but not much – more sense (diction-wise) if it was slightly tweaked thus: How can wings which do not bend Be somehow able to ascend? Reply Amy Foreman October 3, 2019 You are right, as usual, C.B. I didn’t think about it that way, but you are right. And now I can’t look at it any other way! Maybe Martin could substitute another word: one which specifically means “capable of flight” instead of “scaleable.” Possibly a rework of the last three lines, something like: “How could humans, incompetent Somehow be volitant? Yet we were, and now none can deny it!” Reply C.B. Anderson October 4, 2019 Amy, as I wrote initially, I think “ascendable” is a lovely neologism. Martin’s poems are perfectly good as they stand. Monty October 4, 2019 . . . and as I wrote initially, how can the word ‘ascendable’ be described as: a/ A new word, phrase or doctrine. b/ A newly-coined word or expression. c/ A relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use; but that has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language. (the a, b and c being definitions from three different dictionaries of the word ‘neologism’) Reply C.B. Anderson January 25, 2020 Monty, It can’t. But the problem I’m having is that I don’t know any word that covers this kind of error. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
C.B. Anderson September 30, 2019 Very clever rhymes with which to remind us of key events in history. Keep beating your drums and totting your sums, because you have a very receptive audience (readership) here. “[A]scendable,” in the fourth poem, is a wonderful neologism, and that’s what limericks are for. With all due deference to Helen Keller (and I’ve seen the film), you are a true Miracle Worker. For this submission I give you an A+. Reply
Monty October 2, 2019 I can’t claim to’ve had a long-standing familiarity with the word ‘neologism’; I only became aware of it last year through these pages. But from how I now perceive that word, I must ask you, CB: What is neologistic about the word ‘ascendable’? It’s a long-established word (at least in British-English); and it simply means what it says . . ‘able to be ascended’ (eg: an ascendable mountain). Reply
C.B. Anderson October 3, 2019 Monty, the problem is that “ascend” is an intransitive verb. One can ascend, but no one can ascend something, not even in UK English, I think. So “ascendable” makes no sense, except as a neologism. I would like some other competent grammarian to weigh in on this.
Amy Foreman October 3, 2019 I’m not a grammarian, but “ascend” can be transitive or intransitive (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ascend), making “ascendable,” acceptable, and, in my opinion, a terrific companion rhyme for “unbendable.” “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:” (Ps. 139:8).
Monty October 3, 2019 I’ve got a bit out of my depth, now (trans, intrans?); and also a tad perplexed, after reading that “one can ascend, but one can’t ascend ‘something’”; when we know that one can ascend a mountain, and a mountain is a ‘something’. I don’t even know where I am, now. Initially, I was looking no further than . . If a mountain can be climbed, it’s climbable. If it can be scaled, it’s scaleable. If it can be ascended, it’s ascendable. If I’m to now learn that ‘ascendable’ is wrong in that context . . then I really am in trouble.
Mark F. Stone October 1, 2019 Martin, All four poems are very nicely done. I love the Apollo/or swallow rhyme. If I were to intrude on the poems and make suggestionss, I might, in The Wright Brothers poem, change “while” to “although” and “somehow” to “so.” It’s great to see you publishing on SCP! Reply
C.B. Anderson October 3, 2019 To Amy & Monty: Yes, one can ascend a mountain, but that does not mean that one has sent a mountain upward. In the poem, “wings” be somehow ascendable, but that never meant that anyone could climb up on wings or push wings to even higher heights. The problem with this construction is deeper than I initially suspected. This knot is in need of serious unraveling, or else we should just forget about it. I now understand that I can ascend a mountain or a ladder, but I would be hard pressed to push either one of them up. In the poem at issue, “ascendable” is used in such a way that defies logic and understanding: No one in his or her right mind would suggest that we ascend wings or that wings themselves possess the power of ascendability. Reply
Monty October 3, 2019 Well, it took me a while to get there, CB, but I can now see what you’re saying: “How can wings be ascendable?” You’re right: it don’t make sense. In which case, I feel that it was rather generous of you to refer to ‘ascendable’ (in that context) as a neologism. I can’t be as generous; now it’s been pointed-out to me, I can only see the use of ‘ascendable’ as simply wrong.. a case of forcing the diction in order to find a fancy rhyme. It’d make a bit – but not much – more sense (diction-wise) if it was slightly tweaked thus: How can wings which do not bend Be somehow able to ascend? Reply
Amy Foreman October 3, 2019 You are right, as usual, C.B. I didn’t think about it that way, but you are right. And now I can’t look at it any other way! Maybe Martin could substitute another word: one which specifically means “capable of flight” instead of “scaleable.” Possibly a rework of the last three lines, something like: “How could humans, incompetent Somehow be volitant? Yet we were, and now none can deny it!” Reply
C.B. Anderson October 4, 2019 Amy, as I wrote initially, I think “ascendable” is a lovely neologism. Martin’s poems are perfectly good as they stand.
Monty October 4, 2019 . . . and as I wrote initially, how can the word ‘ascendable’ be described as: a/ A new word, phrase or doctrine. b/ A newly-coined word or expression. c/ A relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use; but that has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language. (the a, b and c being definitions from three different dictionaries of the word ‘neologism’) Reply
C.B. Anderson January 25, 2020 Monty, It can’t. But the problem I’m having is that I don’t know any word that covers this kind of error. Reply
