Luck in Sarajevo by Izet Saajlić translated by Charles Simic
Being of Three Minds by Howard Nemerov
The Makers by Howard Nemerov
On the Extraordinary Beauty of the Ordinary -- Nano poems by Sabina Messeg
Eclipse by MJ Iuppa
146 (All overgrown by cunning moss) by Emily Dickinson
Judith came up with the idea of Nemerov's poem which is not some variation on a villanelle,
but some called a viator. It consists of any stanzaic form in which the first line of the first stanza is the second line of the second stanza and so on until the poem ends with the line with which it began. The term, Viator comes from the Latin for traveller. An example of Skelton's form may be found in his excellent reference book, The Shapes of our Singing, and is entitled Dover Beach Revisited.
Not only are lines repeated but also end-words, colors -- green, red, gold
The discussion brought up the Austrian and Hapsbug flags, German, English Eagle, a crowned Lion.
The joy of repeated forms for me lies in the challenge of twisting language...
the constancy of the repeated first line contrasts nicely with the variations of the end words.
The Archduke's death was an accident providing an excuse for a war, wrapped in the lie of
"be home for Christmas" and "the war to end all wars". Blindness, visions of dragons' teeth
in the field filled with "human filings..."; wheel of chance.
The next poem takes place in 1992. My notes refer to "spatial planning" -- the second stanza
the irony of air-dropped food which falls on someone's legs. Luck?
Perhaps the next poem helps us understand why we wish for it, count on it, hope for it...
Identity : Difference:
likeness lies. The authority of logos.
Stanza two brings in the magician... on the way to accessibility (build tower of Babel ) leads
to the unexpected... Money changers and religion...
Little i gave us a lot of fun: Ego, how it wants to be deified, but back to "difference" --
we are not God, and defy Him, puffing up our names.
The Makers: Pleasing phrases; metaphors;
relationship: The makers (poets) are the first to say "above, beneath, beyond....
Ending the poem on "of" on purpose.
Nano poems, like Haiku. extra spaces...
Eclipse: metaphor for extinction of a black person-- what is it to be an "oily smudge" of a man...
Dickinson: Feminist poem -- references to Brontës.
**
I am typing these comments a week after discussion. Believe me, it was rich and rewarding...
and begs a better explanation. Read the poems -- imagine at least 3 ways of responding to them.
Then comment on this blog.
I don't have time to do so right now.
The joy of repeated forms for me lies in the challenge of twisting language...
the constancy of the repeated first line contrasts nicely with the variations of the end words.
The Archduke's death was an accident providing an excuse for a war, wrapped in the lie of
"be home for Christmas" and "the war to end all wars". Blindness, visions of dragons' teeth
in the field filled with "human filings..."; wheel of chance.
The next poem takes place in 1992. My notes refer to "spatial planning" -- the second stanza
the irony of air-dropped food which falls on someone's legs. Luck?
Perhaps the next poem helps us understand why we wish for it, count on it, hope for it...
Identity : Difference:
likeness lies. The authority of logos.
Stanza two brings in the magician... on the way to accessibility (build tower of Babel ) leads
to the unexpected... Money changers and religion...
Little i gave us a lot of fun: Ego, how it wants to be deified, but back to "difference" --
we are not God, and defy Him, puffing up our names.
The Makers: Pleasing phrases; metaphors;
relationship: The makers (poets) are the first to say "above, beneath, beyond....
Ending the poem on "of" on purpose.
Nano poems, like Haiku. extra spaces...
Eclipse: metaphor for extinction of a black person-- what is it to be an "oily smudge" of a man...
Dickinson: Feminist poem -- references to Brontës.
**
I am typing these comments a week after discussion. Believe me, it was rich and rewarding...
and begs a better explanation. Read the poems -- imagine at least 3 ways of responding to them.
Then comment on this blog.
I don't have time to do so right now.
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