W. S. Merwin: "After a Storm" | 92Y Readings by 92Y published on 2013-05-08T20:44:59Z Merwin opens with “After a Storm”—a poem that deals both with the evening’s ostensible theme (autobiographical poetry) and an earlier reference “to the program which some of us saw last night and that was an understatement of what we all expect.” He was referring to The Day After—an ABC-television film about the consequences of nuclear war—that aired on Sunday, November 20, and was viewed by more than 100 million Americans. “Not the least sickening thing about that movie was the discussion that followed itMcClatchy. “It was the sound of [the politicians’] rhetoric that sickened; the sound, even, of language itself after such images. No poet is more sensitive to the ambivalence of language itself, at once our most delicate and our most imprecise instrument, than W. S. Merwin. The changes in his style over the years are a record of his wariness and of his devotion. A record, too, of the ferocious moral integrity that is the hallmark of Merwin’s work.” Recorded November 21, 1983 at 92nd Street Y. Comment by 808jgirl After a Storm 00:20, Late Wonders 3:25, from, "OPENING THE HAND": Birdie 4:40, Aperitions 7:25, Yesterday 11:50, Berryman 13:35, The Black Jewel 16:05. Unpublished, at the time: Now Ranting 17:15, West Wall 19:15, The Sound of the Light 22:38, and Before Us 24:08 2013-05-13T06:46:02Z