we know
from the beginning that the darkness
is beyond us there is no explaining
the dark it is only the light
that we keep feeling a need to account for
With The Pupil, Merwin has basically returned to his more standard style after experimenting with longer poetry in The Folding Cliffs and The River Sound (admittedly, the “long” poetry in The River Sound was still very short compared to The Folding Cliffs, but it was also long compared to Merwin’s typical style). I don’t feel there’s a lot to say about this one; it’s quite good, as Merwin often is. The Marfa Lights is probably my favorite poem here; it starts as a meditation on a strange natural phenomenon that takes place near the tiny town of Marfa, Texas, and then becomes a melancholy rumination on how we often find things in life kind of ineffable or inexplicable. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – Merwin seems to have moved out of his long poem phase and back to his more standard style; loved his longer works mostly, but no complaints here either. 3 ½ stars.