O at the Edges

Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.

Yesenin

Posted on September 23, 2015 by robert okaji

Yesenin

Respite, involuntary and gentle
circling one’s
collar, a touch barely felt, renewed.

Or, the other turns,
belying expression and the halted voice.

The recursive window, closing.
A final poem in blood.

And beyond the glass? The face behind
the indifferent mask
designs its own

smile, risking everything
as the chair’s leg tilts,

inertia become constriction,
the taut lapse begun.

A fascinating poet, Sergei Yesenin died nearly 90 years ago. You might check out his bio on wikipedia.

16 thoughts on “Yesenin”

Aayusi on September 23, 2015 at 9:06 am said:

Enchanting!

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- robert okaji on September 23, 2015 at 2:06 pm said:
  
  Thank you.
  
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pixieannie on September 23, 2015 at 11:21 am said:

Captivating.

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- robert okaji on September 23, 2015 at 12:08 pm said:
  
  Thank you.
  
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Kate Houck on September 23, 2015 at 1:55 pm said:

A very intense word portrait. Well done!

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- robert okaji on September 23, 2015 at 2:07 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Kate. Yesenin was intense.
  
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Erica Herd on September 23, 2015 at 2:37 pm said:

Mystical quality to this poem.

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- robert okaji on September 23, 2015 at 3:35 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Erica.
  
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Cate on September 24, 2015 at 8:13 am said:

Holy God! I read Yesenin’s bio, as you suggested. What a heartbreakingly beautiful man. And, his life! What drama! What pathos! What a wonder as a poet! What a screw-up in relationships! I have exhausted my quota of exclamation points for the day, so I’ll quit, but thanks, Bob. I am your fan first, but I am edified by your poems that illuminate other writers.

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- robert okaji on September 24, 2015 at 11:29 am said:
  
  Thanks, Cate. There’s so much great poetry out there and I occasionally feel compelled to point towards it.
  
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williambean2014 on September 25, 2015 at 9:38 am said:

I am enchanted by the photograph. The composition is extraordinary.

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- robert okaji on September 25, 2015 at 12:02 pm said:
  
  I wish I could claim them, but they’re from morguefiles.com.
  
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Lola Elvy on September 30, 2015 at 1:00 am said:

I especially like the first verse.

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- robert okaji on September 30, 2015 at 1:28 pm said:
  
  Thanks, Lola.
  
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peacewisdomprosperity on October 2, 2015 at 8:18 pm said:

Beautiful. What a fiery life he has lead Yesenin, tragic, flamboyant, unforgiving, unforgettable… it burns through me like I know it burns through many. I read your poem again and again…each word. So little says so much. Thank you.

In case you have no yet stumbled across this, here is a beautiful (and lengthy) post about Yesenin, which I found to have really succeeded in allowing readers to really “feel” what it might have even been to be Yesenin, or anyone in his entourage during his life and time.

Sergey Yesenin: Selected poems

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- robert okaji on October 3, 2015 at 7:46 am said:
  
  Yesenin would have been difficult to befriend. And thank you for the link – I’d not read it before.
  
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