Poetics 2

The topic of my List Poem, was chosen as a result of a long romantic dry spell that’s finally been broken. I’ve recently met someone who has most of the qualities I’ve been seeking out in a mate. I am excited and nervous to be embarking on this new and exhilarating relationship. I chose to write on this theme, because it is the newest thing happening in my life. I found the Sample Poems Ojibwa, and Loucheux helpful in both format and style. The descriptiveness helped me to find my own way of putting the words together. The Object Poem written earlier, helped me with finding the right way to express what I wanted to, without having to use long phrases. I was able to find words that embodied the meanings of what I wanted to say. The challenges of writing a List Poem, were to not sound too boring or repetitive, evoking the full meaning in a small amount of words, and making it all sound poetic and beautiful at the same time. A List/Catalog Poem is a challenge because the lines are shorter and you have to find a way to list what you want to, without being too redundant, or the reader will lose interest. In the process of writing this poem, I discovered that I can express myself about a passionate subject without being verbose. That was a good lesson for me.

I work at a bakery that has a bit of a mouse problem, which is where I got the idea to write a list poem of all the places that I have seen mice at the bakery. The list was fun because it could be anything, it never occurred to me art can be created by making a list. I have never read a poem that is about anything like things that insane people are afraid of. David Antin’s list poem inspired me, forcing me to see art in a new way. That is why I chose the topic of mice, a topic that is not usually associated with art. As I started writing the list poem about places mice are at the bakery, the poem began to loose the structure of a list poem and started to become a story. It is sort of interesting that my list became a story because I not write stories. Thinking back, the story aspect to my poem is probably due to the nature of the topic I chose. Perhaps in the future when I need to write a story, I’ll start with a list. The exercise we did in class of writing a group poem about each month of the year inspired me to incorporate time into my poem, which may also contribute to the story nature of my list poem.

Poetics 2

For my list poem I chose to write about the summer because it is my favorite time of the year. It was fairly easy to write because my family has a house in North Wildwood that we go to each year. My summer wouldn't be complete without the Jersey Shore. I kind of modeled my poem after the moon poems we read even thought I wasen't doing a calendar. The goal was that people reading the poem would be taken back to their fondest summer memories and that it was descriptive enough that people could see the images in their head.

I wanted people to be able to relate to my poem so I had trouble with whether I should generalize the lines or make them more specific to my personal summers. After the workshop, I'm still not sure which to do because the opinions went both ways. I think what I'm going to do when I revise my paper is change the title to either July, Summer or Wildwood. Hopefully I will be able to narrow down the details in my poem and make them more specific and less cliche.

I liked the list poems more than the object poems. It was more "free-lance" writing and just had to be listed and even thought structure is important I fell like it was more open to making it your own. Maybe I just really liked my topic but it was an easy poem to write. I have a lot I want to change after my workshop so hopefully it will come across clearer and less cliche. I also really like the list poem because it was very personal as opposed to The Eraser poem where I wasen't really a part of the object.

Lists & List Poems

I found the above list on the sidewalk and added it to my collection of found language. Most found lists are practical and not meant to be interesting as language--quickly scribbled mental placeholders on the way to objects, places, things to do. The above is most likely a list of things to buy at the hardware store, a narrative of decoration lurking in this list of things: hang the drapes, paint the walls.

What makes a list a list poem? In the above example, if, say, "earthworms" appeared after "rollers," or "holy rollers" instead of "rollers," the list would swerve from obvious ("things to decorate house") to curious, forcing the reader to wonder how earthworms or holy rollers relate to the other items in the list.

Compare the above practical list to the impractical-but-surprising list in the following poem, written by children, that appears in Larry Fagin's The List Poem:

King Midas Touch

1 pound egg shells
2 pounds of mosquitoes (bones removed)
1 purple duck with polka dots
1 golden egg
A half of a frog
1 toenail of a dodo bird
3 feet of an ant (wash carefully)
1 eyeball of a cross-eyed bat
1 rose stem

The above poem combines uncommon/impossible objects and images ("mosquitoes (bones removed)" and "cross-eyed bat") with common words, phrases and lists found in instruction manuals like cookbooks (quantity-followed-by-object, like "1 pound egg shells"; noun-driven lines studded with occasional verbs, like "wash"). This combination of the extraordinary (content) and the ordinary (form) makes the above list closer to a list poem than to a list.

The relations between items/objects in a list poem often serve in place of metaphor. In list poems, instead of metaphors that conspicuously announce relations ("My love is like a red, red rose"), the list creates relations in a more oblique way. Here's an example of a found list taken from titles of artworks in the spring 2008 Tyler School of Art thesis exhibition:

Lookout
Sketch for path-o-matic
Multiple accounts of disturbing the piece
Intermission accomplished
Beautygirls
Blasterbike
Everything is possible
Compost
Fabulation
Can I go home yet
A place to see before you die

From any found list, you can of course rearrange or work into and between words and phrases and images: is "Lookout" a place or a command? Are the Beautygirls on Blasterbikes? If so, where do they go? What is a blasterbike, anyway? If everything is possible, then what fabulations arise from compost? Is home among the places to go before you die? Because the intent of this list of titles is less determined than the found list of things-to-buy, it includes more oblique possibilities. And from the above list, of course, you can rearrange or work into and between the words and phrases.

Here's a found list poem based on the names of pro wrestlers:

The Rock
The Undertaker
The Big Bossman
Goldust
Godfather
Golga
Edge
Blue Meanie
Tiger
Dr. Death
The Animal
Hawk
Thrasher
Mosh
Faarooq
Skull
8-Ball
El Pantera
Diamond Dallas
Rowdy Roddy
Bam Bam Bigelow
The Warrior
The Disciple
The Giant
Big Poppa
Wrath
Disco Inferno
Barbarian
Raven
Glacier
British Bulldog
The Anvil
Psychosis
La Parka
Tokyo Magnum
Lodi
Tough Tom
Mean Mike
Bobby Blaze
Bull Pain
Roadblock
Johnny Swinger
Johnny Attitude
The Ringmaster
Cactus Jack
New Diesel
New Razor Ramon
Doomsday
Unibomb
Christmas Creature
The Mountie
Cannonball Kid
Kamakazi Kid
The Interrogator
Earthquake
Shark
Avalanche
Typhoon
Tugboat
The Shockmaster
Canadian Strongman
2-Cold Scorpio
Flash Funk
Warlord
Kabuki

Lists of words heard on the train; lists of the names of mixed drinks; lists of the names of shoes in a fashion catalog . . . the possibilities are endless.

Here's a list poem, "Interior Blues," by Sherwin Williams:

Splashy drizzle
Great Falls
Jay Adrift
Mediterranean Regatta
Dockside Rapture
Blue Cod
Fresh Water
Belize Leisure

And another entitled "White":

Ionic Ivory
Panda
Polar Bear
Pearly
Heron
Flour
Dover
Egg shell
Eaglet
Venetian Lace
Roman Column

CATALOG/LIST POEMS

Here's the link to the Philadelphia Calendar Poem by former students. You can also find the link under "Labels" to the right.
And here's a favorite catalog/list poem, from Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno:

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having considered God and himself he will consider his neighbor.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day's work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness when God tells him he's a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him, and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defense is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord's poor, and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually—Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can sit up with gravity, which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick, which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master's bosom.

For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Icneumon rat, very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God's light about him both wax and fire.
For the electrical fire is the spiritual substance which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, though he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

--Christopher Smart, from Jubilate Agno

Poetics 1

I enjoyed writing a poem about an object. The most difficult part of the assignment was choosing the object. I practiced writing the object poem about mundane things such as a bagel and bottle of hand sanitizer. Because I am a painter I approached the poem like doing a painting of a still life. My practice poems were accompanied by drawings to help get me into the right mind set for writing an object poem. My drawing of hand sanitizer, and poem I did at work out of boredom. The hand sanitizer had no meaning behind it and so I ended up choosing to write my object poem about an object that I had already painted on my own; an orchid given out at the memorial service of a friend. While painting the orchid I thought about my friend but visually represented the orchid. I wanted to some how preserve and represent my friend through the still life painting while also staying true to the orchid. The process of writing about the orchid was similar to painting it; I wrote about it from observation trying to visually represent it, but at the same time attempted to cast a subtle layer of meaning behind the visual representation of the orchid.

Poetics 1

When I first sat down to write about an object, I got an immediate writers block. I sat and sat, looked around the room and couldn't find what I wanted to write about. Then the Ah Ha! moment came to surface. As I was taking off my sweatshirt I smelled me perfume, so I decided I would write about the perfume bottle. After sitting and describing the bottle for 20 minutes, I didn't like the way it was turning out. Then I began to look around the room, when i glanced at the T.V. an Apple commercial was on, I thought yeah! my iPod!

As I begun to write I foucused on the shape, look, and color of the iPod. After I got that covered I foucused on what it does and how it works. I figured I wanted to write a poem that rhymed but with no certain style.

I felt like this was difficult to write because it was a topic I need to follow, compared to any other poem I usually just write what I feel that day with no limits.