Poetry Friday: "The Summer You Read Proust" by Philip Terman

Should this be the summer I finally read Proust? 

I must confess that this theater major-turned-English major (oh, and I threw a philosophy minor in there my senior year, just before I dropped out in existential misery, with no job prospects in sight) has — yikes! — never read Proust. I did, however, end up with several jobs through the years that admirably put my acting/writing/philosophical skills to work. So. There's that. Nothing is ever wasted, kids.

I can't remember when or how I stumbled across this short and as-perfect-as-a-well-baked-Madeleine poem by Philip Termin. I found it this week in my "Poetry Friday Possibilities" file and it really, really makes me want to read Proust. (Or maybe I just can't get Madeleines and/or Proust off my mind since reading Jama's last Poetry Friday post.) 

The trouble, of course, is that I also really, really want to get through my never-ending, already-teetering TBR stack. But the other trouble is that I read a piece in Lit Hub called "Six Reasons Why You Must Read Proust" and now I want to read Proust. (One of Lit Hub's reasons: "If you are or are considered a human, you must and you can read Proust." Well, then. I'm generally considered to be a human, so apparently Proust is going on my TBR list, if not yet on the literal, teetering stack.) 

But another trouble is that I'm such a mood reader! If I start Proust and I'm not in the mood for Proust all summer long, well, then what kind of catastrophe will befall me and my reading life? (Can you tell I was a theater major? I have to inject drama into everything. Imagine my painfully contorted face as I strive to convey the urgency of this dilemma to you, dear reader!) 

Are there any other problems? Honestly, it's probably nothing a Madeleine can't cure. I can tell you (with no drama) that there is not a single problem with this short and lovely poem. Read it, savor it as you would a buttery Madeleine, and then ponder with me your relationship with Proust. And please, please, please let me know what you've done about Marcel, or what you plan to do, won't you? 

The Summer You Read Proust
by Philip Terman

Remember the summer you read Proust?
In the hammock tied to the apple trees
your daughters climbed, their shadows
merging with the shadows of the leaves
spilling onto those long arduous sentences,
all afternoon and into the evening—robins,
jays, the distant dog, the occasional swaying,

....

(Read the rest here at The Writer's Almanac.) 

P.S. Atticus found our copy of Swann's Way for me, so I guess it is going on the literal, teetering stack. :) 

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The Poetry Friday round-up this week is at The Apples in My Orchard. 

Photo thanks to Pixabay.