No, precious reader, you are not forgotten. As my seniors are preparing for graduation and my juniors are turning the corner as the new school year approacheth, everything seems to be caving in on the school front. June\u2019s just a ridiculous month with ridiculous deadlines and ridiculously little time to post on a ridiculously nondescript blog.<\/p>\n
I have however been reading and playing around with a lot more poetry than previous months this past year. The most recent Dean Young collection is flooring me and I\u2019m ever so slowly going through Mr. Berryman\u2019s Dream Songs. I read a couple everyday \u2013 though I feel hopelessly lost sometimes I anticipate actually finishing this book. This has lead me to an interesting thought about poetry, poets, and how we go about picking our \u201cfavorites.\u201d In my more impressionable undergrad years, it wouldn\u2019t take much for me to jump on board various (overly canonized) authors \u2013 one poem that struck the right chord was often enough to do it. I can think specifically of one Bob Kaufman, one T. S. Eliot, and one Elizabeth Bishop. And while I still admire all of the aforementioned poets today, there\u2019s only one that\u2019d still be relegated to \u201cfavorite,\u201d these days (not so fast, Eliot!).<\/p>\n
Perhaps not being as focused on academic minutiae and not bogged down with as much journalistic riff raff as I\u2019ve been the past few years, I\u2019ve been playing around with form a bit more. I\u2019ve been on a pantoum kick of late. The structure is playful (google it yourself!). I\u2019m not particularly proud of these poems \u2013 the content is like what? and the meter is a bit off (I\u2019ve been shooting for nice, clean octameter). Yes, I am fully aware of the weak slant rhyme in the second poem- just leave it, will ya? However, maybe this will be a place to occasionally put up new work for the hell o\u2019 it? Eh.<\/p>\n
Pantoum 1<\/strong>
\nWe dip in time like rocket ships
\nUninhibited in zero gravity
\nEnergy pulsing fingertips
\nAwaiting the new news delivery<\/p>\nUninhibited in zero gravity
\nWe now link limbs in synchronicity
\nAwaiting the new news delivery
\nRubbing shins under one\u2019s humidity<\/p>\nWe now link limbs in synchronicity
\nNudged shoulders, jostled arms, lost grip
\nRubbing shins under one\u2019s humidity
\nStumble off course find a new trip<\/p>\nNudged shoulders, jostled arms, lost grip
\nEnergy pulsing fingertips
\nStumble off course find a new trip
\nWe dip in time like rocket ships.<\/p>\nPantoum for five books<\/strong>
\nThe jazz we sing is savory
\nUnclothed unseen in your Iran
\nRas and yams electricity
\nShut eyes dried nose lost in Sudan<\/p>\nUnclothed unseen in your Iran
\nWe dance in journals fraught with fear
\nShut eyes dried nose lost in Sudan
\nTrujillo\u2019s reign for us to smear<\/p>\nWe dance in journals fraught with fear
\nQuixote in his windmill dreams
\nTrujillo\u2019s reign for us to smear
\nUncouth in mouth and all too free<\/p>\nQuixote in his windmill dreams
\nRas and yams electricity
\nUncouth in mouth and all too free
\nThe jazz we sing is savory<\/p><\/blockquote>\nTell people this is awesome:<\/h3>