More Poetry Shoppin'

I've become increasingly pleased with the gems I've turned up in Seattle's used bookstores--I was in Magus Books just off the Ave last night, and I plucked two more unknowns (to me) from a rather large poetry section. Most books run around $6, so it is quite reasonable to pick up a few.

Here's a selection from Michael Earl Craig (http://www.jubilat.org/n9/craig.html):


IN THE JANUARIED MOUNTAINS

My little horse must think it queer.
But who cares what he thinks?
Listening to an animal might get me killed
look what happened to Walter.

And so I go on.
Not just with life in general
but with this particular day.
And I allow things to happen,
like the snow to come down,
like Tom Waits' Alice to create
a tiny stainless drain somewhere
in my core this morning.

And I dig out and put on
a very old pair of tennis shorts
that look like a dinner napkin.

And I step out into the yard
and kneel, and pet the studded radial,
like running a hand across an open field
of steel babies' teeth.

And I think about flogging him.
The horse!
I think about going back out there to find him.
And I think about Klaus Kinski.
What would Klaus Kinski do? I think
about how in theory the hammer
is never to hit the anvil.
I think about how a butterfly, if
permitted, will crawl neurotically
all over a soldier's face for half an hour.

The snow sifts down like so many blankets.
As I move out across the pasture
I think about this . . . and Kinski. And anvils.

I can't say I'm surprised to find
my little horse breathing a dent for himself
in the snow. Nor that the dent looks strangely
like a baby Jesus. A baby Jesus on his back,
sinking into the snow.


...I rather love the title--"Januaried." I like messing about with super familiar words in this way.

Here's a Robert Gluck:

Torch Song for
Bright-in-Fame Luck to Read

If mountains should
speak my language,
stars crumble, fall
and feel me this radiant

decay. Short Tight Tiny Skirt,
my name is eternity;
Mr. Motive, Miss Locket,
Mr. Jacket.

Say you want me,
strangers in many ways.
From fetus to antithesis
name me in the dark.


...so, again, my ability to pluck curious and unusual work from piles and piles of it was tested. I enjoy the process--I tell myself that I'm looking for work that immediately strikes a new chord for me--that seems unfamiliar straight away. It's getting harder and harder to turn up work that hits my retina this way, but I'm still managing.

Here's one link that popped up when searching for Gluck--it's got some Dodie Bellamy on it, who is an author who will be reading on the UW-Bothell campus this quarter.

http://www.cultureport.com/newhp/lingo/lingo6.html

...your assignment: Read loads and loads of poetry. Read for Beauty over content, at least at first--allow the first impression of the poems & language to wash over you. Building up a poetry "base" will help you explore unusual avenues in your own writing.

Dani