Poem for Poetry Thursday
Happy Poetry Thursday. I am in Atlanta for the AWP Conference--will post photos and updates later tonight.
Today’s poem is a found poem, found on (read: shamefully lifted from) the back cover reviews of a few poetry books. I was daydreaming that if I got my manuscript published, what would it say on the back cover. And then I thought of all the melodramatic text that goes in some of those reviews and testimonials, full of contrasts. This is one I really want to refine so I’ll post a revision next week. Could use suggestions for a title.
What I Want Someone to Say on the Back Cover of My First Poetry Collection
Say I am a hammer. Say I am a velvet wrecking ball, a rip tooth saw, a nine-millimeter with one bullet left in the chamber. Say my poetry is that bullet. This collection frightens and comforts you. It is my best work ever, in which I have brought all of my faculties to bear. Say my words leave you stripped to the core, to the underlife you never knew existed. Say I’ve created a new poetic that beckons the best traditions of the Masters. I have created a shower of metaphors plucked from annihilation for this reckoning, shining a spotlight on an America hardly ever seen in contemporary literature. Say these poems evoke sympathy for the damned, yet celebrate our resilience. Say this is a must-read for anyone who has ever truly lived. Say that this is the present you’re already homesick for.
Today’s poem is a found poem, found on (read: shamefully lifted from) the back cover reviews of a few poetry books. I was daydreaming that if I got my manuscript published, what would it say on the back cover. And then I thought of all the melodramatic text that goes in some of those reviews and testimonials, full of contrasts. This is one I really want to refine so I’ll post a revision next week. Could use suggestions for a title.
What I Want Someone to Say on the Back Cover of My First Poetry Collection
Say I am a hammer. Say I am a velvet wrecking ball, a rip tooth saw, a nine-millimeter with one bullet left in the chamber. Say my poetry is that bullet. This collection frightens and comforts you. It is my best work ever, in which I have brought all of my faculties to bear. Say my words leave you stripped to the core, to the underlife you never knew existed. Say I’ve created a new poetic that beckons the best traditions of the Masters. I have created a shower of metaphors plucked from annihilation for this reckoning, shining a spotlight on an America hardly ever seen in contemporary literature. Say these poems evoke sympathy for the damned, yet celebrate our resilience. Say this is a must-read for anyone who has ever truly lived. Say that this is the present you’re already homesick for.
Comments
"Serrated Society"
gautami
Parallel Streams
Poet Laureate
have fun at the conference!
Love,
D.
Blurbperfect!
Actually, I love this as a companion piece to my poetry contest prose poem a couple weeks ago. There's gotta be money in this sort of thing, no?
I know you're having a great time in Atlanta.
Wish you were here!