One of my favourite books when I was a kid was Dr. Suess's classic Wacky Wednesday (1974). In it, a kid wakes up to find everything backwards and out of place. Wednesday is drawing to a close, but I thought it might be a good time to talk about two poems and a great song that use mixed up images as their main conceit.
The first is Nikki Giovanni’s 1983 poem, “I wrote a good omelet.” There are no words for my inexhaustible love of Ms. Giovanni (she has a new collection out this year: buy it!) And this poem is undoubtedly one of her wittiest. The first line gets the premise across easily: “I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem...after loving you.” A Wacky Wednesday-esque list of backwards activities follows—written in Giovanni’s brilliant fleet style. At the last, her day ends as it began:
Elizabeth Bishop’s poems roll off the tongue with equal ease, but no one would describe her works as witty. I love how so many of her poems end with devastating lines that jolt you hard. In the following poem, “Insomnia,” Bishop imagines the world backwards as seen through her dresser mirror in the middle of the night. Three last words make this slight and somewhat precious poem punch you in the gut:
Dolly Parton’s 1999 bluegrass album “The Grass is Blue” is brilliant for many reasons (Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent as collaborators!), but foremost is the title track. With the exception of the flora in Kentucky, “blue grass” is a bit of an oxymoron. As is everything in the song, in which Dolly imagines a world backwards in much the same way Bishop did:
Another genius gem by Dolly. Happy Wednesday!
The first is Nikki Giovanni’s 1983 poem, “I wrote a good omelet.” There are no words for my inexhaustible love of Ms. Giovanni (she has a new collection out this year: buy it!) And this poem is undoubtedly one of her wittiest. The first line gets the premise across easily: “I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem...after loving you.” A Wacky Wednesday-esque list of backwards activities follows—written in Giovanni’s brilliant fleet style. At the last, her day ends as it began:
I rolled my bed...turned down my hair...slightly
confused but...I don't care...
Laid out my teeth...and gargled my gown...then I stood
...and laid me down...
to sleep...
after loving you
Elizabeth Bishop’s poems roll off the tongue with equal ease, but no one would describe her works as witty. I love how so many of her poems end with devastating lines that jolt you hard. In the following poem, “Insomnia,” Bishop imagines the world backwards as seen through her dresser mirror in the middle of the night. Three last words make this slight and somewhat precious poem punch you in the gut:
[...] that world inverted
where left is always right,
where the shadows
are really the body,
where we stay awake all night,
where the heavens are
shallow as the sea
is now deep, and you love me.
Dolly Parton’s 1999 bluegrass album “The Grass is Blue” is brilliant for many reasons (Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent as collaborators!), but foremost is the title track. With the exception of the flora in Kentucky, “blue grass” is a bit of an oxymoron. As is everything in the song, in which Dolly imagines a world backwards in much the same way Bishop did:
There's snow in the tropics
There's ice on the sun
It's hot in the artic
And crying is fun
And I'm happy now and I'm glad we're through
And the sky is green
And the grass is blue
Another genius gem by Dolly. Happy Wednesday!
Hey Keithee,
ReplyDeleteBishop's "Insomnia" shook me; since been in a mood for poetry all morning.
Thanks for sharing. Keep blogging!
You just know how to break my heart with good poetry!
ReplyDeleteLove you!
-Alexa