Jack Gilbert, me and you

Have you ever read Jack Gilbert's poetry? It's pretty astonishing -- wild and angry and incredibly passionate. I got a copy of Collected Poems in the mail yesterday and, as is my wont, flipped it open. This is what I read:

Meaning Well

Marrying is like somebody
throwing the baby up.
It happy and then throwing it
higher. To the ceiling,
Which jars the loose bulb
and it goes out
as the baby starts down.

Don't be tempted to wonder about yourself when you read poetry as if all words were from a collective unconscious. Don't be tempted to worry or wonder about me. My mind is drawn toward Jung and the notion of synchronicity or the string theorist's games of chance. Or maybe it's just words on a page, a random stringing together. Meaning well.