Ginsberg "America"-
I really like the voice that Ginsberg speaks with in the poem yet I don't know if I am a victim of seeing him perform this schtick on youtube. I think that playing into the audience is important and lines like "Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb" and "You should have seen me reading Marx" are intelligent and counter-cultural to the time, but are they inherently poetic? I don't necessarily think so. I think they are witty and poignant and social criticism is a great way to express oneself, but I think they remind me more of an aspiring comic than a poet.
Spicer "Imaginary Elegies" I-
The imagery with the eye and the camera and sight and dealing with time as instants, as well as the images of nature spliced within, is brilliant. I read and re-read this section before advancing to part II so I knew I had to write about it exclusively. Toward the end of the piece when he begins to speak from random voices, I don't know if I was captivated or confused and distracted. Part of me wants to ingest the whole piece as wonderful because of the wordplay and imagery in the beginning and the other part of me (The part that thinks Barnacle Bill=Random and Too random= cheesy and forced) disagrees. I sit and teeter on the edge of this piece but because the wordplay in the beginning is done so masterfully, I will read it again.
John Wieners-
"Two Years Later" is a short and sweet. I picture a man's skull after the electric chair because Wieners uses shock, electric, and burnt together. I don't know why this image is brought about but it is inspiring. The second half seems to be the substance of the poem; no matter what happens to a man (person) their "spirit" and beauty remains with them.
"My Mother" is packed with powerful images (so is your mom, BOOM!). But seriously, in the beginning Wieners creates a sense of importance by giving each line it's own space and separation from the others. I see an old woman talking to men on the subway who can't see the prying eyes of a loved one following her.
"As if heaven cared"
Such a brilliant line I had to separate it myself. The poem hides a lot of emotion intentionally and I think it is quaint and descriptive without being overt.
These are excellent, honest comments, Tommy. I might disagree with you about some of the particulars (for me, a line like "You should have seen me reading Marx" works poetically in that it stays in my head and does things, things I can't explain purely by virtue of its "meaning"), but I like the way you describe your responses as a reader carefully, in detail.
ReplyDelete