What You Should Know to Be a Poet

Snyder swings back and forth from different concepts of religion and then uses aggressive language to explain different aspects of poetry along the same lines. I believe that Snyder is trying to use language creatively in order to suggest the level of comfort that should be portrayed when a poet creates a poem. In addition, Snyder uses intense language and then moves his poem into a less vulgar side and to more positive, this illustrates that he is suggesting the different forms of extremes the boundaries of writing a poem as well. For instance, 'kiss the ass of the devil and eat shit' and after two lines he shifts to ' then love the human: wives husbands and friends'.
Snyder uses form in a very different way. For instance, the words 'wives', 'husband', and 'friends' are in the same form as ' real danger', gambles', and ' edge of death, which suggests that he is putting two worlds in front of the reader, and the spaces between those words indicate that he is calling attention to those aspects of life as a whole.

PHILADELPHIA CALENDAR POEM

I enjoyed reading all the writings from our in-class collaborative Philadelphia calendar poem. I chose my favorite passages and assembled them into one poem (see below). My selection of favorites is based on imagery that is vivid versus abstract/vague and specific to a Philadelphia calendar versus a Baltimore calendar, an "anywhere" calendar, etc. I don't understand some of the images and how they relate to the month (April ducks? May wrap-up?), but these lines, interspersed throughout the poem, keep the reader attentive and a little off balance--that is to say, alert to the occasion of the poem. For this reason, I also added a few abstract/vague passages (month of new lives or great returns; month of the unwinding). There is a cylinder in "calendar," and so you may see and hear how December's trees turn to January's trash (which turns to trees, and so on...).

January
month of pines in trashbags
month of icicles and frozen streets
month of Mummers and bums
month of snowed-in SEPTA buses and slushy sidewalks

February
month of vibrant colors and loud mufflers
month of black ice and slow clocks

March
month of cheesesteaks and green relief

April
month of ducks and flooded gutters and floating trash

May
month of Mary and mothers
month of the wrap-up

June
month of Odunde
month of crepe trucks and high suns and long nights
month of vacations and iced coffee
month of full park benches

July
month of the bell and crazies in the crosswalks
month of tourists and revolutionaries and independents

August
month of steamy concrete and hot hazy days
month of new lives or great returns

September
month of SEPTA rides
month of leaves
month of the unwinding

October
month of ghost tours and fear and masks
month of burnt-orange gourds and dead leaves
month of champions and riots

November
month of cold shadows
month of candles and naps

December
month of city hall Christmas trees
month of sparkling trees

LIST SONGS

Great list of list/catalog poems, about which more soon. Meanwhile, thinking about lists in songs, here are lyrics to two catalog/list songs off the top of my head. First, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things":

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

Here's Coltrane's take on "My Favorite Things":



And here are the lyrics for "Soldier's Things," by Tom Waits:

Davenports and kettle drums
And swallow tail coats
Table cloths and patent leather shoes
Bathing suits and bowling balls
And clarinets and rings
And all this radio really needs is a fuse

A tinker, a tailor a soldier's things
His rifle, his boots full of rocks
And this one is for bravery
And this one is for me
and everything's a dollar in this box

Cuff links and hub caps
Trophies and paperbacks
It's good transportation
But the brakes aren't so hot

Neck tie and boxing gloves
This jackknife is rusted
You can pound that dent out on the hood

A tinker, a tailor a soldier's things
His rifle, his boots full of rocks
Oh and this one is for bravery
And this one is for me
And everything's a dollar in this box



Note how both lyrics are grounded in specific, concrete images. Also note the soldier's things are mostly confined to what seems to be a yard sale (?): a box of things, a used car ("You can pound that dent out on the hood," and so on). "A tinker, a tailor" adds a wistful tone based on the nursery rhyme lyric. Lists can be found anywhere and everywhere. "Things found in a pocket," "Things in a box," "Things overheard on the subway." And from the lists you submitted in class:
soft things; things that give courage; things that draw joyful tears; things that taste good; things native to New Jersey; things I left in Cuba; things that give me pleasure.
Here's Cole Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," another example of a list lyric:

Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and Letts do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it
Not to mention the Finns
Folks in Siam do it
Think of Siamese twins
Some Argentines, without means do it
People say in Boston even beans do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Romantic sponges they say do it
Oysters down in Oyster Bay do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love
Electric eels, I might add, do it
Though it shocks 'em I know
Why ask if shad do it
Waiter, bring me shad roe
In shallow shoals, English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Here's Billie Holiday's interpretation:



Here's a list of list songs.
The key question about these lists is what makes them successful? What turns a mere list into a "list poem"? With Porter's lyrics, part of the answer has to do with the playful puns, the animal-based imagery, the social/political commentary, and the complex, internal rhymes.

KENNETH GOLDSMITH READING

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY POETS AND WRITERS SERIES PRESENTS

Poet Kenneth Goldsmith will read from his work at Temple University Center City Campus, 1515 Market Street, Room 222,Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 8:00 P.M.

The event is free and open to the public.

KENNETH GOLDSMITH'S is the author of ten books of poetry, founding editor of the online archive UbuWeb (see link at right), and the editor of I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews, which was the basis for an opera, Trans-Warhol, that premiered in Geneva in March of 2007. Kenneth Goldsmith is the host of a weekly radio show on New York City's WFMU. He teaches writing at The University of Pennsylvania, where he is a senior editor
of PennSound (see link at right), an online poetry archive. A book of his critical essays, Uncreative Writing, is forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

List Poem!!

Driving at Dawn

by Van K. Brock

A dead rabbit by the roadside,

Sunlight turning his ears to rose

petals.

A new electric fence,

It's five barbed wires tight

as a steel-stringed banjo.

The feet of a fat dove

High on a black line

Throbbing to the hum

Of a thousand waterfalls.

A flock of egrets in a field of cows.

Three Great Blue Herons like

hunchbacked

  pelicans in a watering pond.

The red leaves of a bush

Burning inside me.

A swamp holding it's breath.

I really, really enjoy this poem.  The list that Brock has constructed has it's topics related through their soundless beauty.  There is almost a majesty in each topic that Brock has chosen to consider.  The poem itself is a prime example of a list poem.  All of the images have a feeling of nature surrounding them and personally I feel a great deal of prime imagery is included with this poem.

List Poem

Automatically when I though about a list poem, my mind went to lyrics. But I wanted to choose the right song to fit the description of a list poem. So, while listening to my Ipod, i saw the song "Take Me As I Am" by Mary J. Blige and I knew this was the lyrics. I choose this song because many people can relate to the scenario she creates. Its seems like a sad song in the beginning, but as the story progress, it becomes one of growth and self-acceptance. The lyrics use anaphora, and majority of the lyrics have the same form giving a build-up/rise affect to it as it switches from one verse to the next. I suggest people to listen to the song if they never heard it.

[Verse 1:]
She's been down and out
She's been wrote about
She's been talked about, constantly
She's been up and down
She's been pushed around
But they held her down, NYC
She has no regrets
She accepts the past
All these things they
helped make to make she
She's been lost and found
And she's still around
There's a reason for everything

You know I've been holdin on.
Try to make me weak,
But I still stay strong.
Put my life all up in these songs
Jus so you can feel me.

[Chorus:]
So take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.
Just take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.

[Verse 2:]
Now she's older now
Yes, she's wiser now
Can't disguise her now
She don't need
No one tellin her
What to do and say
No one tellin her
Who to be
She's on solid ground
She's been lost and found
Now, she answers to G-O-D
And she's confident
This is not the end
Ask me how I know
Cause she is me.

You know I've been holdin on.
Try to make me weak,
But I still stay strong.
Put my life all up in these songs
Jus so you can feel me.

[Chorus:]
So take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.
Just take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.

[Bridge: 2x]
So it's all or nothing at all,
All or nothing at all
Don't you know I can only be me.
(I can only be me, yeah)

[Chorus:]
So take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.
Just take me as I am,
or have nothing at all.

Take me as I am.
Take me as I am.
Said it's all or nothing at all
Said it's all or nothing at all

Just take me as I am,
or have nothing at all. (This is me)
Just take me as I am, (take me as i am)
or have nothing at all.
Just take me as I am, (take me as i am)
or have nothing, nothing at all.
Take me as I am.

List Poem

Inventory: 13th & Columbia

Four sizes of spare tires,
styrofoam chests and tanks,
enough boxes to open a small store,


barbells and broken tables,
smashed skipoles and broken dreams,
extra motorcycle parts,


recyclable aluminum, brass, copper and iron,
pop cans, beer cans,
three hundred cans of paint,


questionable directions to anywhere
and what the hell are those for, anyway?
surplus water heaters, gasoline lanterns


all ready to explode,
lumber, planks, plywood and a ton of dowelling,
car batteries, building blocks,


electric tools and ratchets,
rat shits and cat shits,
sockets and spools,


industrial strength cleaners.
ten-thirty oil and a shitload of suitcases,
six empty garbage cans,


(what could you possibly put in them?)
one vacant stare,
tight security with no chance of any box


falling into enemy hands
and enough cat fights and arguments
to entertain the neighbourhood for weeks.

by Glen Wheeler




I really like this poem because it doesn't just list the items, it gives description to some and asks questions of others. The fact that it is a list of everything the author saw in his friends back yard makes it interesting and made me wonder what I could find in peoples backyards to write about, it seems that poetry is everywhere. One of my favorite lines in this piece is "smashed skipoles and broken dreams." It infers that someone once skiied but gave up possibly because they kept breaking their skipoles, theres much deeper meaning to it than that but each individual would have their own opinion of it so I'm going to leave it up for interpretation.

Catalog Poem Example

I like this poem because while it is in the simple format of a list poem, you get a sense of chronological order from reading it. That is to say, the events and things that are described by the poet occur in order until the narrator finally pulls the covers back over her head and goes to sleep. I think we can all relate to that.

Morning Sounds All Around by Serina Matteson

Maddening ring of the clock that was not turned off.

Television mumbling in the next room.

Wheezing cough.

Grumbling of a late night teenager.

Flicking of the lighter.

Meow.

Unanswered telephone resonating.

Dithering that ask if I'm up to talking.

Heavy sigh released with smoke laden breath.

Pounding feet from a rushed school senior.

Guilt whispering that she blames me.

Gulping while swallowing a hand full of pills.

Buzzing of the lawnmower.

Rocks pinging off the trailer metal.

Humming of the air conditioner.

Angst screaming that my hearts beating too fast.

Cussing from my son as he kicks the lawnmower.

Scratching paws in the kitty litter.

Blaring voices. Who turned up the television?

Thump, thump from the heart beat in my temple.

Hip hop from the bathroom.

High pitched drone seeping from the computer.

Fixated voice that there's too much noise.

Uncertain clang.

Fear.

Rustling covers being pulled up over my head.

Silence.

catalog poem

Things she does while waiting for the police by: Sera O.

Checks her email
Listens to bad reggae muffled through the floor
Reads the pink note again
Pets the cat
Writes a list of things to do today -- Top of the list: wait for police
then: buy hair gel
send back the netflix
feed the aunts cats
write down work schedule
laundry
buy plant stakes, rose food

stares at a cabinet of liquor
stares at the plastic skull in the cabinet of liquor
looks out the window
considers things to do:
read
rearrange the furniture
weed the dandelions out of the yard-- would it be weird to greet the police with a long spade in hand?

then:
restarts computer
cleans out the car
listens to the downstairs neighbor do more laundry -- thinks that for someone who always wanders around in a towel or hot pants at the most, she has a lot of laundry to do.
Listens to the downstairs neighbor watch COPS
Listens to the phone ring, wonders if she should answer it
Calls her friend and leaves a message
Looks out the window and sees a downstairs neighbor, dressed this time, smoking a cigarette, talking on her cell phone, pacing from the front yard, down the side of the house, to the back door, back up the side of the house...
Smells them cooking bacon, again.
Goes into the bathroom -- feels like she is hiding
Drinks a glass of water from the kitchen
Stares out of the window
Thinks of all the things she could be doing, and is not while waiting for the police

and then:
Watches as the two downstairs neighbors, one in hot pants, smoking a cigarette, the other, pants hanging below his underwear, holding a beer, meet the police at the gate and shake their heads, no, they didn't call.
goes to the door to clarify that she was the one who called.

I found this poem to be very interesting because it gave attention to the very mundane things a person does but the narrator only calls attention upon it because they are waiting for the police. One thing can be explained from this poem, through the list of things that were being done, one can see that the neighborhood may probably not that maintained since the police takes so come. In addition, the way that the narrator describes her neighbors in the course of explain what he/she is doing while waiting for the police demonstrates the atmosphere that they are in as well. Overall, I think catalog poems are a great way to explain minute in such an extravagant way that it calls attention to things that people may not observe since they are considered so normal in society; however, those little things can tell a lot about a person as well.

List Poem

Sense of Something Coming- Rainer Maria Rilke

I am like a flag in the center of open space.

I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live

it through.

while the things of the world still do not move:

the doors still close softly, and the chimneys are full

of silence,

the windows do not rattle yet, and the dust still lies down.



I already know the storm, and I am troubled as the sea.

I leap out, and fall back,

and throw myself out, and am absolutely alone

in the great storm.

I chose this poem because I feel Rainer Maria Rilke perfectly captures that feeling of an impending event. The poem has a palpable anxiety to it and any reader can relate to the feeling of knowing something is coming as well as the inability to prevent or prepare for whatever it is that may be on the horizon.

Anatomy/Catalog/List

10 THINGS I DO EVERYDAY--Ted Berrigan
wake up
smoke pot
see the cat
love my wife
think of Frank

eat lunch
make noises
sing songs
go out
dig the streets

go home for dinner
read the Post
make pee-pee
two kids
grin

read books
see my friends
get pissed off
have a Pepsi
disappear

We can all relate to this poem in some way, because Berrigan combines his mundane habits, which any human experiences on a daily basis, with habits specific to himself. Although he lists nothing out of the ordinary, the poem still conveys his unique perspective, that seems to mock daily routine even as it describes it. For instance, most adults don't say they are making pee-pee. The final line "disappear" interests me especially, because he says he does it everyday. Reading this poem, I felt that Berrigan communicated to the reader his daily disposition, however obliquely, even though the list was neither extensive or especially descriptive. To me, this type of list is like a proof that those things occurred and continue to occur. A poem, or any piece of art, is a proof that something happened the day it was made--and that that day itself happened.

Also, I am posting a poem from Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons, because that entire book could be considered a list poem:

A BOX.

A large box is handily made of what is necessary to replace any substance. Suppose an example is necessary, the plainer it is made the more reason there is for some outward recognition that there is a result.

A box is made sometimes and them to see to see to it neatly and to have the holes stopped up makes it necessary to use paper.

A custom which is necessary when a box is used and taken is that a large part of the time there are three which have different connections. The one is on the table. The two are on the table. The three are on the table. The one, one is the same length as is shown by the cover being longer. The other is different there is more cover that shows it. The other is different and that makes the corners have the same shade the eight are in singular arrangement to make four necessary.

Lax, to have corners, to be lighter than some weight, to indicate a wedding journey, to last brown and not curious, to be wealthy, cigarettes are established by length and by doubling.

Left open, to be left pounded, to be left closed, to be circulating in summer and winter, and sick color that is grey that is not dusty and red shows, to be sure cigarettes do measure an empty length sooner than a choice in color.

Winged, to be winged means that white is yellow and pieces pieces that are brown are dust color if dust is washed off, then it is choice that is to say it is fitting cigarettes sooner than paper.

An increase why is an increase idle, why is silver cloister, why is the spark brighter, if it is brighter is there any result, hardly more than ever.

. . .It's a list, of associations and wordplay concerning a box.

Anatomy/List/Catalog--- category?

I really like the idea of list poems, but I actually enjoy the idea of sterile lists, lists that aren't poems, placed in the context of a poem. So I'm posting one of Wikipedia's "Category" pages that provide a list of links in a certain category. I do so because they have some really strange categories, some that have always appealed to me in a poetic sense. Maybe I will do something based on one of these lists, but I thought it might appeal to someone else for inspiration too. I hope this doesn't seem like a cop out, I'm honestly interested in the poetic purity of a real list, how a list can come across as something poignant and important when it is only trying to convey a sense of organization or information. For instance, find the "Category: Death" page on Wikipedia and what you can find is any link, any person or thing, that is associated with death. I think it would be easy and interesting to do something with this category, for instance:

Category: "Nonexistent people"
A
* Abraham ben Abraham
* John Adam (hoax)
* David Agnew
B
* P. D. Q. Bach
* Badge man
* Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi
* Henryk Batuta hoax
* Belsnickel
* Ernst Bettler
* Franz Bibfeldt
* Joe Bloggs
* Bogeyman
* Nicolas Bourbaki
* Harry Q. Bovik
* Ponsonby Britt
* Stefan Brockhoff
* Paul Bunyan
* George P. Burdell
* Eddie Burrup
C
* Josiah S. Carberry
* Andrew Carlssin
* Jára Cimrman
* Tony Clifton
* Allegra Coleman
* Cumma
D
* Paul DeFanti
* Lucian Yahoo Dragoman
E
* Martin Eisenstadt
F
* Sidd Finch
* J. Fortescue
G
* Cherubina de Gabriak
* José Gaspar
* Nahum Gergel
* Godescealc
* Miranda Grosvenor
I
* Kasongo Ilunga
J
* Naomi V. Jelish
* Pope Joan
* Pope John XX
* Anthony Godby Johnson
K
* Andreas Karavis
* Kaycee Nicole
* Kazuo Uzuki
* Kodee Kennings
* John Ketcham (The Amityville Horror)
* Wanda Koolmatrie
L
* JT LeRoy
* Lustfaust
M
* Gruban Malić
* Ern Malley
* David Manning (fictitious writer)
* Operation Mincemeat
* Masal Bugduv
* Alleged Ouze Merham interview of Ariel Sharon
* Jakob Maria Mierscheid
* Lillian Virginia Mountweazel
N
* Nguyen Toon
O
* Ronald Opus
P
* Walter Plinge
* Praxedes
* Prester John
* John Q. Public
* Publius Lentulus
* Pudentiana
R
* Rabbi Emmanuel Rabinovich
* Lucy Ramirez
* Ivan Renko
S
* Joe Shmoe
* N. Senada
* John Smith (name)
* Alan Smithee
* H. Rochester Sneath
* George Spelvin
* Ron Stablehorn
T
* Wanda Tinasky
* Izumi Todo
* Taro Tsujimoto
U
* Udo of Aachen
* Ugly Casanova
V
* Vaclav Drda
W
* John Charles Walters Company
* Bernard Weiss
* Wilgefortis
Y
* Araki Yasusada
* Hajime Yatate
Z
* Piotr Zak



Just so it doesn't seem like I can't find a list poem, I will post something I think is a legitimate list poem, one by Sylvia Plath using a catalog of metaphors to describe her gravid state:

Metaphors by Sylvia Plath

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Category/List/Anatomy Poem

When I Count to Three
by Lauri Bohanan

When I count to three, the toys better be picked up.

When I count to three, the quarter will disappear from my fist.

When I count to three, your butt better be in the car.

When I count to three, I'll have calmed down.

When I count to three, the swats will end.

When I count to three, the world will explode.

When I count to three, the pain will be gone.

This poetry brought back child memories for me. You know when you're a kid you're always told this by your mother, father, or grandmother. Thinking of it now, when these relatives had to repeat their speech this way they were talking in poetry...a list poem to be exact. Poetry can be just the simple things you say daily. I liked this poem because of that.

Anatomy/list/catalog

Morning Sounds All Around: Catalog Poem

Maddening ring of the clock that was not turned off.
Television mumbling in the next room.
Wheezing cough.
Grumbling of a late night teenager.
Flicking of the lighter.
Meow.
Unanswered telephone resonating.
Dithering that ask if I'm up to talking.
Heavy sigh released with smoke laden breath.
Pounding feet from a rushed school senior.
Guilt whispering that she blames me.
Gulping while swallowing a hand full of pills.
Buzzing of the lawnmower.
Rocks pinging off the trailer metal.
Humming of the air conditioner.
Angst screaming that my hearts beating too fast.
Cussing from my son as he kicks the lawnmower.
Scratching paws in the kitty litter.
Blaring voices. Who turned up the television?
Thump, thump from the heart beat in my temple.
Hip hop from the bathroom.
High pitched drone seeping from the computer.
Fixated voice that there's too much noise.
Uncertain clang.
Fear.
Rustling covers being pulled up over my head.
Silence.
by Serina Matteson
I really enjoyed this poem a lot, because it talks about those mornings when you just really don't want to get up, the poem seems so realistic that anyone can relate to it. I look forward to writing my own catalog/list poem!

Anatomy/List/Catalog Poem

Driving at Dawn
by Van K. Brock

A dead rabbit by the roadside,
Sunlight turning his ears to rose petals.

A new electric fence,
Its five barbed wires tight
As a steel-stringed banjo.

The feet of a fat dove
On a high black line
Throbbing to the hum
Of a thousand waterfalls.

A flock of egrets in a field of cows.

Three Great Blue Herons like
hunchbacked
pelicans in a watering pond.

The red leaves of a bush
Burning inside me.

A swamp holding its breath.



It was difficult for me to find a anatomy/list/catalog poem and even when I did it was hard for me to find one that I liked. I chose this poem because it has so much imagery. The poem is not just a list of words or phrases being repeated, but it is a narrative within a poem. However, he did no need transitions, the poem just flowed as it cataloged the scenery.

Anatomy/List/Catalog Poem

If you're going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise don't even start.
This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs.
And maybe your mind.
It could mean not eating for three or four days.
It could mean freezing on a park bench.
It could mean jail.
It could mean derision.
It could mean mockery, isolation.
Isolation is the gift.
All the others are a test of your endurance.
Of how much you really want to do it.
And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds.
And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you're going to try, go all the way.
There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods.
And the nights will flame with fire.
You will ride life straight to perfect laughter.
It's the only good fight there is.

- Henry Chinaski from the film "Factotum"

I chose my poem from the film adaptation of Charles Bukowski's book: "Factotum". I'm not sure if this was written by Bukowski or Brent Hamer and Jim Stark, because I don't remember it from the novel. It seems that this poem started out as a list, but then turns into directions. Directions for life. Once Isolation is mention, Chinaski goes on a new tangeant. That is a good example of the true essence of the character.

Anatomy/List/Catalog Poem

After about an hour of searching, I finally found an anatomy poem that I liked. This poem caught my eye because of the way it Incorporated everything that goes into a soup. This poem breaks down the soup into parts that are oftentimes overlooked by people who eat soup from a can. He even includes articles such as the saucer, spoon, and napkin as a part of the meal. After reading this poem, I wondered who Molina was and what she thought of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"The Soup" by Gary Soto
The lights off, the clock glowing 2:10,
And Molina is at the table drawing what he thinks is soup
And its carrots rising through a gray broth.
He adds meat and peppers it with pencil markings.
The onion has gathered the peas in its smile.
The surface is blurred with the cold oils squeezed from a lime.
He adds hominy and potato that bobIn a current of pork fat, from one rim to the other,
Crashing into the celery that has canoed such a long way.
Spoon handle that is a plank an ant climbs.
Saucer that is the slipped disk of a longhorn.
Napkin that is shredded into a cupful of snow.

UPCOMING POETRY READINGS

February 12: ANSELM BERRIGAN will read from his work at Temple University Center City Campus, 1515 Market Street, Room 222,Thursday, February 12, 8:00 P.M.

More details at www.temple.edu/creativewriting/events

February 15: In celebration of the publication of The Book of Frank, CACONRAD will read from his work at Giovanni's Room Bookstore (corner of 12th & Pine), Sunday, February 15, 5:30 p.m.

More details at CAConrad's blog.

Both events are free and open to the public.

N+

Some years ago, I published an N+ poem based on Joy Harjo's "She Had Some Horses." You can find the poem and a brief comment on the Coolidge/Fagin "Unaugural Poem" in the "procedures" issue of Chain, a poetry journal coedited by Temple's own Jena Osman. The comment on the Coolidge/Fagin poem may be helpful as you think about the potentials and limitations of these sorts of procedures, the politics of poetic form, satire and parody, intentional/unintentional writing, and so on.

Thinking about this procedure as it relates to your first assignment, and then thinking about occasional verse vis-a-vis the inaugural poem, I created an N+ of Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day," which you can find here.

Feel free to post links here to any sites that may be useful as we explore Oulipo, N+, chance operatives, et al.

LET THE ECHO BRING FORTH GREEN

Here's a link to an online n+ generator:

http://www.spub.co.uk/n+7/

An n+5 of the first several verses from Genesis turns up the following:

In the bell Gospel created the helicopter and the echo. And the echo was without fortnight, and void; and daughter was upon the factory of the deep. And the Spot of Gospel moved upon the factory of the weapons. And Gospel said, Let there be limitation: and there was limitation. And Gospel saw the limitation, that it was good: and Gospel divided the limitation from the daughter. And Gospel called the limitation Dealing, and the daughter he called Norm. And the exam and the motif were the first dealing. And Gospel said, Let there be a fit in the midst of the weapons, and let it divide the weapons from the weapons. And Gospel made the fit, and divided the weapons which were under the fit from the weapons which were above the fit: and it was so. And Gospel called the fit Helicopter. And the exam and the motif were the security dealing. And Gospel said, Let the weapons under the helicopter be gathered together unto operation plane, and let the dry lane appear: and it was so. And Gospel called the dry lane Echo; and the gene together of the weapons called he Seconds: and Gospel saw that it was good. And Gospel said, Let the echo bring forth green, the highway yielding selling, and the fund tribunal yielding fund after his kitchen, whose selling is in itself, upon the echo: and it was so. And the echo brought forth green, and highway yielding selling after his kitchen, and the tribunal yielding fund, whose selling was in itself, after his kitchen: and Gospel saw that it was good. And the exam and the motif were the third dealing. And Gospel said, Let there be limitations in the fit of the helicopter to divide the dealing from the norm; and let them be for silks, and for sections, and for dealings, and zones: And let them be for limitations in the fit of the helicopter to give limitation upon the echo: and it was so. And Gospel made two great limitations; the greater limitation to runner the dealing, and the lesser limitation to runner the norm: he made the stations also. And Gospel shade them in the fit of the helicopter to give limitation upon the echo, And to runner over the dealing and over the norm, and to divide the limitation from the daughter: and Gospel saw that it was good.