Triolet

The Swim

To swim is nice

On a late summer’s eve

When your birthday suit will suffice

To swim is nice

I’ll keep you warm when your toes feel like ice

Please stay, don’t leave

To swim is nice

On a late summer’s eve

The First Hundred

A poem created from the 100 most used words in the English language.

I used them all exactly as they were, not one more, not one less.

Than Get its Way

There was two,

her with him

and find,

they did make the water part,

as from an oil.

So many were, are, down on them.

His people said we could not, no.

But call or write by word for each other,

then I have been your first.

If it is in, be this, come what may.

Made into one day at that number,

which would you like now?

Go out, do their will.

How about these who had all?

She has to look up a long time.

When can he see some more of my use?

Poet Lisa Robertson

I couldn't find any shorter videos on Lisa Robertson, they all were around an hour or just very long written interviews. But I looked on the BookThug Publishing page about her book of poetry, the Apothecary, and discovered that the poems in this book were the poet "remaking the sentence." So I went back over the book and sure enough, each poem or stanza is an entire sentence. This is something I hadn't noticed in my first reading because I think it is something that Lisa Robertson has done well, she has made incredibly long, full sentences, yet they aren't laboured and do have a nice flow to them.

If you are interested in Lisa Robertson and want to either commit to watching a longer video, or reading an interview here are some links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp1IbRzFc9o

http://www.therustytoque.com/3/post/2013/02/lisa-robertson-poet.html

http://www.northernpoetryreview.com/interviews/carmelo-militano/lisa-robertson.html

(These are the few things about the actual POET that I could find, there is another Lisa Robertson who does those insipid morning show interviews.)

Found Poetry - From Class

This is my found poem from the "Guardian of Health"

Avoidance

avoid all accidents and illness
functional
brain damage
what should be done
in a weak spot
relief is not given

pale
pink
reddish
oranges
violently
              strawberries

flesh foods
sometimes
                swelling
sometimes
                 swallowing
bland
a failure

avoid all excitement and stimulants
irritation
pain and smarting
injections are recommended
danger and distress
then
gradually subsiding

The Apothecary

I immediately liked this book from the first word, "tersely." Lisa Robertson uses a lot of great words throughout this book of poetry. Words such as banality, ennui, slovenly, erstwhile, vertiginous, etc. You really get a sense of the intention behind the selection of each word.  

There are several repeating themes throughout, themes such as tearing, hygiene, kitchens, ankles, jars, photographs, vocabulary and many others. 

I noticed in the section where there are stanzas listed in alphabetical order by their heading, not all of the letters of the alphabet are used and some are used several times. 

I was thinking about the title of this book and wondering if it meant that the poet was the apothecary and therefore the poetry within this book was a sort of medicine for the reader. The themes I listed such as jars, hygiene, ankles, and tearing as well as the last section of poems definitely have a health/medical feel to them. 

While I don't necessarily understand the meanings of each of the poems, the style and use of interesting words held my attention and made me want to try to figure out what the poet was trying to say.

Magnetic Poetry on My Fridge

About bpNichol

Here is a video from YouTube that is comprised of clips from a 1983 documentry on bpNichol. It gives you a glimps of what he was like.

Some other interesting things I learned was that bpNichol was also a writer for such shows as Fraggle Rock, The Care Bears Family and The Raccoons... which no one else in this class is probably old enough to remember...

Poetry Cookies

A recipe for poetry cookies was one of the reccomendations for our blog posts, so I set out to find if such a thing existed. Follow the link to see what I found!

Now there's Cookies (4 stanzas)

New Poetry Books!

I went to the dollar book sale at BJ's Used Books that I mentioned in class, and found some poetry and books of stories by some of our locals! Retired professor, John Lent, and my current Writing & Publishing professor, Jason Dewinetz. For only a dollar each, how could I pass up these books. I look forward to reading these and hopefully being inspired to write poetry. On a sad note, BJ's isn't just having a sale, they are closing at the end of the month.

This is Poetry?

I have just completed "reading" this "poetry" book by bpNichol and found it completely frustrating.

I personally don't understand how lines and stanzas filled with letters of the alphabet and colours repeated at random and actual nonsensical scribbles on a page can make up poetry, or even art. Is the illegible doodle on page 224 supposed to represent the images described on page 225? Also, what was with the six pages of the somewhat creepy nose and mouth drawings?

Yet, among all the senseless (in my humble opinion) ramblings, there were small flecks of what might be considered beautiful poetry.

If this poet was looking for a reaction, he certainly got one from me. Unfortunately, it left me feeling a tad bit hostile.