My Weariness of Epic Proportions ...

It is only this year that I have discovered Charles Simic, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, an excellent essayist, and an award-winning poet and writer. It was one of those rare moments during Winter term, when I quoted Simic to a professor and was called on it, only to find that this professor was not only one of Simic's students, but had forged a friendship with him as well. It was a cool "hyperlink"--as if I knew someone who'd befriended greatness. Of course that whole thing got me to thinking of the concept of six degrees of separation, but that's another post.

While looking for poems to memorize for my Creative Non-fiction class on Thursday, I ran across this poem of Simic's which links to my current mythology class, my political viewpoints, and the concept of "the garden" and what is available to us in times of peace:

My Weariness of Epic Proportions

I like it when
Achilles
Gets killed
And even his buddy Patroclus--
And that hothead Hector--
And the whole Greek and Trojan
Jeunesse doree
Is more or less
Expertly slaughtered
So there's finally
Peace and quiet
(The gods having momentarily
Shut up)
One can hear a bird sing
And a duaghter ask her mother
Whether she can go to the well
And of course she can
By that lovely little path
That winds through
The olive orchard

So, here are the poems I'm considering for memorization (obviously I've looked for shorter poems that somehow resonate): e.e. cummings' In Just, Buffalo Bill's Defunct or Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Carl Sandburg's Monotone or Grass, or Charles Simic's Fear. Any opinions? Favorites?