Mark Strand (1934-2014) Tribute List

Former Poet Laureate of the United States and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Mark Strand died of cancer on November 29. He was 80 years old. Radio host Michael Silverblatt called Strand "a gloomy gus," and while many of his poems are dark, it would be a mistake to dismiss Strand's searching and sad voice as merely a downer. Like the sharpest scalpel, in the right hands something potentially dangerous can heal, and empathizing with Strand's meditations on his mother, his family and most importantly himself can be a healing experience. Here are ten vocabulary words from Mark Strand's poems.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. seep
    pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings
    my mother, with her hair in a bun,
    her face in shadow, and the smoke
    from her cigarette coiling close
    to the faint yellow sheen of her dress,
    stands near the house
    and watches the seepage of late light
    down through the sedges,
    the last gray islands of cloud
    — "My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer" 1979
  2. brevity
    the attribute of being short or fleeting
    That's all
    There was to it. No more than a solemn waking
    To brevity, to the lifting and falling away of attention, swiftly,
    — "A Piece of the Storm" 1998
  3. snarl
    utter in an angry, sharp, or abrupt tone
    I am a new man,
    I snarl at her and bark,
    I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
    —"Eating Poetry" 1979
  4. crux
    the most important point
    Trees can sway or be still. Day or night can be what they wish.
    What we desire, more than a season or weather, is the comfort
    Of being strangers, at least to ourselves. This is the crux
    Of the matter.
    — " The Night, The Porch" 1998
  5. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    The son
    touches the mother's hands one last time,
    then turns and sees the moon's full face.
    An ashen light falls across the floor.
    If the moon could speak, what would it say?
    If the moon could speak, it would say nothing.
    — "Mother and Son" 2005
  6. inconsolable
    sad beyond comforting
    Inconsolable, I gave myself to the sullen
    glory of great poems and ended up here, on the
    windiest corner of the windy city.” “Go to Oslo,”
    said the young woman, “there is no wind in Oslo.”
    —"There is No Wind in Oslo" 2012
  7. annul
    cancel officially
    Over the valley where the wind sings its circular tune
    And trees respond with a dry clapping of leaves—was overly

    Simple no doubt, and short-sighted. For soon the leaves,
    Having gone black, would fall, and the annulling snow

    Would pillow the walk, and we, with shovels in hand, would meet,
    Bow, and scrape the sidewalk clean. What else would there be

    This late in the day for us but desire to make amends
    And start again, the sun’s compassion as it disappears.
    — "The Next Time" 2008
  8. luster
    the property of something that shines with reflected light
    Jessica, it is so much easier
    to think of our lives,
    as we move under the brief luster of leaves,
    loving what we have,
    than to think of how it is
    such small beings as we
    travel in the dark
    with no visible way
    or end in sight.
    — "For Jessica, My Daughter" 1978
  9. pang
    a sudden sharp feeling
    I still recall that moment of looking up
    and seeing the woman stare past me
    into a place I could only imagine,
    and each time it is with a pang,
    as if just then I were stepping
    from the depths of the mirror
    into that white room, breathless and eager,
    only to discover too late
    that she is not there.
    — "Mirror" 2008
  10. meek
    humble in spirit or manner
    The meek are hauling their skins into heaven.
    The hopeless are suffering the cold with those who have nothing to
    hide.
    It is over and nobody knows you.
    There is starlight drifting on the black water.
    There are stones in the sea no one has seen.
    There is a shore and people are waiting.
    And nothing comes back.
    Because it is over.
    Because there is silence instead of a name.
    Because it is winter and the new year.
    —"The New Year" 1990
Created on Sat Nov 29 19:19:12 EST 2014 (updated Mon Dec 01 11:11:10 EST 2014)

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