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More movie free verse:
But not to last
I’m surprised you didn’t come here sooner.
It’s not an easy thing to meet your maker.
And what can he do for you?
Can the maker repair what he makes?
Would you like to be modified?
Stay here.
I had in mind something a little more radical.
What
What seems to be the problem?
Death.
Death.
Well, I’m afraid that’s a little out of my jurisdiction, you —
I want more life, fucker.
Turns out, writing poems by recontextualizing movie quotes gets to be addictive.
I call this one:
I could tell you stories
You might say I sell peace of mind.
Insurance is my game.
Door-to-door.
Human contact’s the only way
to move merchandise.
In spite of what you might think,
I’m pretty good at it.
It doesn’t surprise me.
I believe in it.
Fire, theft, and casualty aren’t things
that only happen to other people.
Writing doesn’t work out,
you may want to look into it.
Providing basic needs
you could do worse.
I’ll keep that in mind.
My submission to the World Poetry Movement’s Bill Murray poetry contestis composed entirely of lines from Groundhog Day, in order and unaltered, recontextualized as an homage to the free verse of Frank O’Hara. I call it:
Meditations in a Celebrity Emergency
It’s your choice.
What’s it gonna be?
I’m thinking.
All the long-distance lines are down?
What about the satellite?
Is it snowing in space?
Don’t you have a line you keep open for emergencies
or for celebrities?
I’m both.
I’m a celebrity in an emergency.
Can you patch me through on that line, please?
Can I have one more with booze in it?
I like it here.
update: In the excitement of stumbling across such a lovely little piece of prose poetry, I didn’t notice that the WPM is probably operating a classic publishing scam. I fully expect to get a letter next month notifying me that I’m a semi-finalist and offering me a super-special author’s rate on the book.
Which is too bad, ’cause the accidental poem is a gem.
It’s unanimous!
You’re Ulysses!
by James Joyce
Most people are convinced that you don’t make any sense, but compared
to what else you could say, what you’re saying now makes tons of sense. What people do
understand about you is your vulgarity, which has convinced people that you are at once
brilliant and repugnant. Meanwhile you are content to wander around aimlessly, taking in
the sights and sounds of the city. What you see is vast, almost limitless, and brings you
additional fame. When no one is looking, you dream of being a Greek folk hero.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
… and…
You can thank me later. Alan Rickman reading Sonnet 130:
[The sonnet gets a lot more interesting when you understand the Elizabethan slang and idiom at play here. Trust me when I say it's positively filthy.]
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.” — Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye
Updated to add the obligatory Onion link: Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger. Pullquote:
“He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers,” said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don’t have to look at them for four years.
I recently spent an afternoon flipping through CDs and websites looking for a first dance song that would suit both our tastes. It’s turning out to be tricky, especially since most of Elvis Costello’s work is better suited to a divorce proceeding than to a wedding.
After a few hours, I has a “well, duh!” moment and turned to Google. Ach, my eyes! Ze google does nuzzing! Well, nuzzing except remind me why I have assiduously avoided The Knot: The Knot’s first pick for hip first dance songs is Elvis Costello’s “Alison.”
“Alison.”
Now, I was eight when “Elvis Costello released My Aim is True. “Alison” is probably the first Elvis Costello song I knew word-for-word all the way through, probably the first Elvis Costello song I sang in the shower, probably the first Elvis Costello song that spurred me to buy an Elvis Costello album as I crept toward my teens. This is a song I loved long before I could really get it. This song twangs a string deep inside my chest.
And even as a kid, I understood that “Alison” is not a song about finding your true love and life companion.
No, really. The lyrics to “Alison,” listed by the official Elvis Costello website and fan club, emphasis mine:
Oh it’s so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl.
And with the way you look I understand
that you were not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress.
I’m not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticky valentines,
’cause I don’t know if you’ve been loving some body.
I only know it isn’t mine.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
Well I see you’ve got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying
in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
I’ll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
cause I can’t stand to see you this way.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
My aim is true.
The writing, she is not going well. Even though there is plenty left to tell, the will to share it has petered out. Blar blar blar. Okay I’ll keep going one more day, but at this point, at a little over 8,000 words, I am not so hopeful to make up the deficit over the course of this week, especially if I have to begin cleaning for the move. However, I am house-bound tomorrow due to the 24-hour urine test (joy!) which has required me to forego tomatoes, nuts, chocolate and various fruits. (Do you know how hard it is for me not to eat tomatoes? It’s almost like telling me not to eat broccoli.) So I may give it one more full day before officially throwing in the towel. Wednesday I will celebrate with salsa.
Elli
Elsa
