Mary Wharff Comments on Caryn Goldberg's Poem "Spring Song"

From an email to Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg:

"I wanted to let you know what had really struck me in your poem -- and yay, that gave me a chance to go back and be with it again this morning. What I think I love is that it is, really, a "being" poem, a life poem. Completely human. Why do we keep asking? That last line is so startling and right, right, right on the money. So it really gets me in my heart, after truly delighting my head, and my writer soul -- like I barely can finish it because observations and the words you choose make me want to write. Seeing the space but not figuring in the space -- precise and incredible way of describing that just woke up disorientation. "wet as fire" -- man, things like this thrill me and I get almost breathless with wanting to try it myself. In the second stanza, I enjoyed wings and thunderheads, but was really grabbed when that led to a crashing car, a lamp post, slivering bark .... what did wake the narrator? I really like that you include the car, move into the human world. Third stanza, here, your word choice especially grabs me. insects ... like breath! birds LOOSEN the sky! Wowee -- how'd you do that? Then again, you go human, kisses stop. And then, oh, those cracked stones, a long time! And I just wasn't expecting where that stanzas goes -- to the minutae, to the "this is all it really is" .... And maybe that's what wakes us up most often, who knows. I just love it Caryn, and have printed it out and will keep it forever as something to aspire to. Thanks for the inspiration! Mary"