/lit/ - Literature

Heather Christle

http://bostonreview.net/BR33.5/christle.php

I like that poem.

I enjoy the poetry of Lyn Lifshin. I like her particular perspective.

>Waiting, The Hallways Under Her Skin Thick With Dream Children

Lace grows in her eyes like
fat wedding,
she is pretty, has been baking

bisquits of linen to stuff into his mouth
all her life,

waiting for him. The hallways
under her skin are thick with dreamchildren.

Who he is hardly matters, her rooms
stay for him,

her body crying to be taken
with rings and furniture, tight behind doors

in a wave of green breath and wild rhythm,
in a bed of
lost birds and feathers,

smiling, dying

Very rarely does anyone write in form anymore.


Never met an honest man who won an honest race
Pass a stone to anybody falling into place
Leave it off the record or you leave it all behind
Open up your window and I’ll take you for a ride

Found a new apartment cause I couldn’t make the rent
Haven’t heard a Hail Mary rattle ever since
Banking all my money on a solitary cell
Didn’t mean to call you but you never kiss and tell

Chain your manners to the leg of someone else’s table
Meet me underneath the weeping willow by the stable
Wear your raven dress and pull your socks up to your knees
Dance along the riverbed and fall in love with me

Roll around the mud and kick your shoes into the air
Wrap a dandelion in the ribbon in your hair
Steal your daddy’s pistol and we’ll shoot it at a plane
Smear off all your make up and I'll make you scream my name

Sing out to the mountains as you hold onto my hand
Nothing is as complicated as a simple man
Name it what you want to if it’s all about display
Diamonds in a graveyard isn’t half the price you pay

Never met an honest man who won an honest race
Pass a stone to anybody falling into place
Leave it off the record or you leave it all behind
Open up your window and I’ll take you for a ride

There are like hundreds of allegedly great poets writing today, even in just the English language. How do I find out which ones are the best?

>>3064845
You have to decide for yourself. What kinds of poems do you like - aesthetically, lyrically, dramatically?

I really like Prevert. It's translated from French so you obviously lose a few of the poetic techniques that he uses to convey his message; he uses feminine terms for masculine objects, for instance. Still though, I love the whole idea of monotony strangling the relationship He's also great at showing how suffocating the whole experience is for the speaker.

Breakfast

He poured the coffee
Into the cup
He put the milk
Into the cup of coffee
He put the sugar
Into the coffee with milk
With a small spoon
He stirred
He drank the coffee
And he put down the cup
Without speaking to me
He lighted
A cigarette
He made circles
With the smoke
He shook off the ash
Into the ashtray
Without speaking to me
Without looking at me
He got up
He put
A hat on his head
He put on
A raincoat
Because it was raining
And he left
In the rain
Without a word
Without looking at me
And I buried
My face in my hands
And I cried.

Edward Hirsch
Galway Kinnell
Howard Moss
Anne Carson
Charles Wright
Alfred Corn
Mark Strand

>>3064905
I've actually heard of all fo those people. I wonder why.

>>3064907
Because I get all of my book recommendations from Harold Bloom, obviously.

They're really good poets though.

>>3064910
Have you read anything by Henri Cole? Bloom seems to be really fond of that guy.

>>3064915
I'm afraid not, but I'll probably get to him some day. So many books, so little time.

puwp
bumb

I like John Ashbery, Michael Robbins and recently J.H. Prynne.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177258
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/240798
http://jacketmagazine.com/06/pryn-kins.html

>>3064875
That's good poetry these days?

I got up from my bed
I put my clothes on
With a twist of my hand
I opened the door
I walked down the hallway
I stubbed
My toe
Pain in the morning
Doesn't seem as harsh
Waking thoughts
Bombard me
Only the sunlight
coming through
the blinds
exists

>>3064875
This poem would be much better if the entire relationship element was removed. It could be a funny deadpan piece but instead it ends up a kind of Bukowski-esque melodramatic bleh.

>>3065474
Even the deadpan falls flat though. It's just not inspired enough.

>>3065481
True, using coffee and cigarettes to express things about a character is tumblr-core.

bump

>>3067476
>rangaha bumping her own thread rather than waiting for someone else to bump it, thus admitting no one else was going to post.

Anne Carson's writing makes me giddy.

Is rangaha hot?

>>3067606
shut the fuck up

Seamus Heaney, duh

>>3067591
I read Autobiography of Red and I don't get it. It's about a gay love triangle, or something? And the main character is some red monster with wings. There were some parts of the book I liked but I'm really not sure what to make of it.

>>3067531
she did this last time as well.

Poetry tends to be something best appreciated by authors more than the reader