Thirteen Ways of Looking at 50+ Years of Poetry, 1

[David W. Parsley]

THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT 50+ YEARS OF POETRY

I

 

Among twenty snowy mountains

the only moving thing

was the drum of the printer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unpublished

© David W. Parsley 2011

[Tinker]

Hi David, I have read this many times and I am still pondering. I got a melancholy timber from this short pictorial piece. I like it!

 

~~Tink

[David W. Parsley]

Hi, Tinker, great to hear from you. Someone once told me that the difference between serious and light verse, is only whether you wish to pet the dog or kick him. Still the same dog.

 

This thirteen section piece is going to come out over the next several weeks, not necessarily in order. It is my chance to make fun of the excesses and experimentation seen in the English poetry scene, over most of the 20th Century - even poems I like, such as "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," by Wallace Stevens. I have Ezra Pound, W. S. Merwin (one of my favorite poets!) and John Ashberry in my crosshairs, and others to follow. It should be fun.

 

On the more dog petting side, I am currently creating a tribute to significant breakthroughs in world history and culture over the last two millennia, including admiring imitations of famous poets. It is called "Notes from the Common Era." The twelve parts of that one should start showing up sometime this winter (or so), depending how my luck goes with submittals to periodicals. Steps back to the more ambitious stuff you saw from me earlier in my PMO debut.

 

NOTE: This particular stanza mimics Stevens, substituting a printer drum for the blackbird's eye. The mock-somber implication is that contemporary creativity is inert, cold, desolate. We just keep writing anyway and printing it out. (Man, I hate myself for writing that. Really sounds bad when said explicitly...)

 

- Un(mostly)repentant Dave

[Aleksandra]

Very nice piece, Dave. I'll echo Tink's words :).

 

Aleksandra

[JoelJosol]

David, in its brevity and presentation, the poem nearly mimics the haiku :-)

[tonyv]

The long title followed by the short poem excited and prepped me for the more that is to come. I think it's a novel idea: a single comprehensive work to cover half a century. Can't wait to see the Cummings one, lol.

 

NOTE: ... The mock-somber implication is that contemporary creativity is inert, cold, desolate. We just keep writing anyway and printing it out. (Man, I hate myself for writing that. Really sounds bad when said explicitly...)

I don't think we're the only offenders. Just look at all the movies and music that are constantly being remade.

 

Tony