Celtic Radio Community [Powered by Invision Power Board]

Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format

Celtic Radio Community > Poems > Is Anyone Familiar With Poet Rod Mckuen

Posted by: krmsmax 26-Jul-2004, 06:36 AM

Though I am very new to this site, I wanted some input. Rod McKuen has been one of my favorite poets since I was a teen. I was wondering if anyone else was familiar with his work. He also is a songwriter. Here is one of my favorites from him.

THIRTY-SIX

I live alone.
It hasn't always been that way.
It's nice sometimes
to open up the heart a little
and let some hurt come in.
It proves you're still alive.

I'm not sure what it means.
Why we can't shake the old loves from our minds.
It must be that we build on memory
and make them more than what they were.
And is the manufacture
just a safe device for closing up the wall?

I do remember.
The only fuzzy circumstance
is sometimes where-and-how
Why, I know.

It happens just because we need
to want and to be wanted too,
when love is here or gone
to lie down in the darkness
and listen to the warm.

Rod McKuen - from "Listen to the Warm", 1967

Posted by: Catriona 26-Jul-2004, 07:14 AM

WOW - hadn't thought of Rod mcKuen for years.

I was a great fan in the 60s and early 70s.... saw him live about 20 times in 20 years or so.... always when he made trips over to the UK.

I have a couple of old and tatty books of his poetry somewhere on one of my bookshelves - they were all thumbed! I think one was called 'Stanyon Street and other Sorrows'....

I also have 3 or 4 LPs (yes, it WAS that long ago) - some of the songs he wrote with Jacques Brel have been recorded by others, such as 'Seasons in the Sun'.
He also wrote the music for the film of Muriel Spark's book, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

I seem to recall he is a Canadian.... I am not even sure whether or not he's still alive!

Posted by: krmsmax 26-Jul-2004, 07:18 AM

He is still alive. The website is www.mckuen.com

Posted by: Shadows 26-Jul-2004, 08:23 AM

I had forgotten abot Rod too! I have a couple of his collections of poems somewhere among the tomes in my library; I will now go nuts until I find them to read again. Thanks for bringing back old memories,

Posted by: dfilpus 26-Jul-2004, 09:18 AM

Rod McKuen brings back memories of high school and college. He appealed to the young vibrant person growing up then. A decade later, I picked up one of the his books and it did not mean the same. His poetry and I grew apart.