March 2

Sisters by Lucille Clifton

About some of the poems in Golden Smoke:
How do these work with the section title Wordless Charcoal and epigram:
"A poet unties writing and ties it up again differently."-- Jean Cocteau

We think of Cummings, or Collins, reworking Adages... a little Lewis Carroll,
Jabberwocky...Ogden Nash –


Old Japanese Mask (cleave poem): How does the form (read vertically as columns, then again across)
and the non-existent English title (Un-measurable is not an English word) and breakdown of words echo, before looking at the pictures?

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How the next three poems fit into the idea of a "false" or "Half" cadence? What part of the story is hinted at? Can you suspend disbelief -- believe some part of it comes from something true?
Section title: Half Cadences (Hinges for a Story)
Epigram: Go home and write/a page tonight./And let that page come out of you—/
Then, it will be true.-- Langston Hughes (Theme for English B)
Falling Rock Zone
What the Repo Man saw
Rug-wrapped Thought

In Falling Rock Zone – the title refers to a “real” sign – then leaps to an invented sign and repeated “save” implying except for. What feeling tone comes through?

How does a persona of a “Repo Man” vs. a photographer change the tone?
Rug-wrapped thought, suggests the persona of the Rug speaking. What light is shed not just on the young girl/woman, but on a bigger universal by this use?



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Section Title: Scrambled
“Art is filled with magic, /willing to dare us to suspend belief,
and trick us with surprises that delight.” – Dean Young

Without delight, is there still magic? How does a discrepancy with the epigram operate, since over half the poems cannot delight, but rather address the pain of war, dementia, madness? Does it matter, since this section contains the title poem and overall conceit of paradox?

In the Waiting Room
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Section Title: Color for Burnt Land
"By Art Alone we are able to get outside ourselves, to know what another sees of this universe which for him is not ours."

How do these two poems work with the section title and epigram?
The first plays on noun/verb homonym and sound; the second, another persona poem of a rock carved into the shape of a Madonna and child.


Wind Will : NB: An Abrolhos squall (or Abroholos squall or simply abroholos) typically occurs from May through August (austral winter) near the Abrolhos Islands off the coast of eastern Brazil near 18°S latitude, located between Cabo de São Tomé and Cabo Frio.
The southeast trade winds of the tropical South Atlantic Ocean acquire heat and moisture traversing the warm Brazilian current offshore, providing moisture for this rain and thundersquall phenomenon. The Abroholos squall typically occurs along Antarctic cold fronts penetrating into the tropics.

Madonna and Child (song of a rock witnessed in Cappadocia)