Photo Cred 2014: Evi (Evgenia)
Poems are all up to the reader’s interpretation. While the poet may have a specific meaning in mind, the reader may find a different meaning after reading the poem. With the poem “To Converse with the Greats”, I interpreted it as this… In order to understand, one must have experience. The lines “by trying their blindfolds on” and “by rewriting them” are phrases that speak about experience and seeing the same point of view. What’s more of a mystery with this poem, is that it does not finish its thought at the end. It leaves the reader wondering, what it means to converse with the greats. It’s a poem shrouded in mystery and confusion.
Source:
To converse with the greats
BY VERA PAVLOVA
TRANSLATED BY STEVEN SEYMOUR
To converse with the greats
by trying their blindfolds on;
to correspond with books
by rewriting them;
to edit holy edicts,
and at the midnight hour
to talk with the clock by tapping a wall
in the solitary confinement of the universe.