Donald Justice

Is an American poet who grew up in Florida and when to the University of Miami best known for his "finely crafted verse that frequently illuminates the pain of loss and the desolation of an unlived life". Donald Justice has published thirteen collections of poetry, He won the Lamont Poetry Prize from the Academy of American poets in 1961. He has also received many other awards including the Pulitzer prize for Poetry, the Bollingen Prize and the Lannan Literary Award.


I tried really hard to find a video of Donald Justice reading his poetry but I can't seem to find one so I decided to post a video of someone else reading his poetry.

Pantoum Of The Great Depression

Our lives avoided tragedy
Simply by going on and on,
Without end and with little apparent meaning.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.

Simply by going on and on
We managed. No need for the heroic.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.
I don't remember all the particulars.

We managed. No need for the heroic.
There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows.
I don't remember all the particulars.
Across the fence, the neighbors were our chorus.

There were the usual celebrations, the usual sorrows
Thank god no one said anything in verse.
The neighbors were our only chorus,
And if we suffered we kept quiet about it.

At no time did anyone say anything in verse.
It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us,
And if we suffered we kept quiet about it.
No audience would ever know our story.

It was the ordinary pities and fears consumed us.
We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.
What audience would ever know our story?
Beyond our windows shone the actual world.

We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.
And time went by, drawn by slow horses.
Somewhere beyond our windows shone the actual world.
The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.

And time went by, drawn by slow horses.
We did not ourselves know what the end was.
The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.
We had our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues.

But we did not ourselves know what the end was.
People like us simply go on.
We had our flaws, perhaps a few private virtues,
But it is by blind chance only that we escape tragedy.

And there is no plot in that; it is devoid of poetry.

My Thoughts on "Pantoum Of The Great Depression"

I believe Justice did a good job of expressing the feeling of despair that people must have felt during the great depression but more importantly he emphasized the spirit and tenacity of the time. Times were hard but people made due with what they had and moved on. Also the last line which he stated that "it is by blind chance only that we escape tragedy.

And there is no plot in that; it is devoid of poetry." I think he was playing on the theme of people just accepting the situation for what it was and not really expressing how they really felt sort of like an untold story that would of been great had some decided to tell it. "It is the devoid of poetry" the great depression went without poetry is what I believe he was hinting at.


More information about Donald Jusitce's work can be found here:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/donald-justice