The Heming-Way (poem) by Danae Wilkin on AuthorsDen

The Heming-Way
by Danae Wilkin → (All Poetry by Danae Wilkin)
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 Rated "PG13" by the Author.

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I'd read most of the works written mentioned in the 1st episode of Ken Burns's documentary on Hemingway aired earlier this week, but it led me to lay tribute to them all.

The Heming-Way Hills Like White Elephants Under Spanish sun Telling us why Babes might be presents Unwanted Undone Or cropped hair And earthquakes of passion Under man Bridges blown Bells Tolled Sessions fashioned Marlins fought By wiry man Told to boy Skeleton’s return Only proof Battle for testing Wearing not winning Old Man vs Sea Pamplona bulls ran Chasing friends that he knew Stealing from life Through drink and their chatter The Sun Also Rises So what’s that little matter The nurse and the Great War Swords into plowshares A nurse and bloody fields The Lost Generation Says Farewell to Arms Bitter with loss and gore Finds even childbirth in peace Can bring so much more Moveable Feasts Of Paris twixt wars Where writers and artists Converge In bars and cafes All the good stuff Yet nonfiction cannot match What else came before Merely fodder Like Green Hills of Africa Hunting for kudu Or bullfights in Iberia Metaphors for life and death All in an afternoon What we may love By sunlight or moon Becomes so much more When it stews and it brews So let in a little air After saying you mustn’t Hemingway is calling you Man woman The blunt one He knows by Indian Camp You think you’ll not die But now you must know Life kills the bravest Because it cannot break them Thus says impulsive Papa Or a gun with a shoeless toe

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on April 9, 2021

I watched all three episodes. My greatest impression was that Hemingway broke all the writing rules and still became an international phenomenon. But he was so fortunate to not have to care about a livelihood with the wealth of his family and his second wife to carry him through life like a rich man, experiencing death close up, especially by going to war as a correspondent but getting into it like he did as an ambulance driver in the war to end all wars. Surviving his first real brush with death. Enough for a lifetime, but he always sought more.

I have been accused of writing fiction from my life experience. Hemingway wrote his life and it was so interesting, that readers couldn't put it down. Eventually even making up parts of his life that weren't even true to carry the myth beyond.

I have not read Hemingway like you have, but I did read The Old Man in the Sea and was mesmerized by the tale. Like him, I always sought adventure, but on the cheap. My cousin lived a life more like Hemingway.

Thank you for these verses that cover much of what Hemingway's storied life revealed. How he could convey emotion and detail when the world was coming apart around you like nearly no other. For we know not for whom the bell tolls.

Ron

Reviewed by Odin odin@aflx.com

Reviewed on April 7, 2021

One only has to watch the documentary with its non-cliche depiction of the writer to know that both Burns and Hemingway remain at the top of their game. Your stanzas of overview are perfect in their sense of mystery and intrigue, just as Hemingway would wish it, I'm sure. Thanks for alerting your readers to this most outstanding documentary.