Fellow MFA student Miles sent me a copy of Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar, along with a Jerry Garcia b&w post card for my edification. I haven't thought about this poetic novella in awhile and hadn't seen the original hippie artifact paperback in longer, so this is a welcome sight. I emailed Miles that I would have to buy beverages over which we might discuss this blast from the past.
Rededicating this week to Geoffrey Chaucer. Tomas, my adviser, suggests seven days of Chaucer to fill my head with his poetry. That's a real good idea. I will hit some of the major poems, Parliament of Fowls, Troilus and Cressida, The Legend of Good Women and some of the short poems. I will also listen to my Canterbury Tales vinyl sound recordings.
It came to mind that I need to consult with Jill Franco on my gender re-imagining of In the Penal Colony. She has, no doubt, thought a lot more about this sort of thing than I.
Bad Book Club discussed Kung Fu High School, by Ryan Gattis last night, to great effect. We have three new members and the discussion has really gotten energized. Although Mr. Gattis seems to have had high artistic intent in writing this novel, it is Very Bad, perhaps due to a disconnect between that intent and the actual execution. He seems to have not integrated art and plot. I was predisposed to
like the book as he attempts to vocalize a teen-age female as his narrator, but does so quite unconvincingly. Props for trying, but dude.
Two new poems I am fairly happy with:
1. Cattle Mutilations Reported
a externally-sourced-text re-composition. I worked this one around and around and around
and
2. Painting the Bridge
a spontaneously composed, formalist free verse poem that came to mind when I heard the Scottish saying, "It's like painting Forth Bridge" (meaning: it's a job that is never finished)
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