13 Ways of Looking at Words

"I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after."

–Wallace Stevens

Image from Carl Hammer Gallery

Words are arrows and sand and magic and glitter all joined together to make firecrackers. Choosing “just the right one” is an art to those of us who dabble in poetry writing.

I’ve been known to spend many-an-evening in front of my fridge creating poems is with Fridge Magnets. Remember that 80’s invention: the original set that came in a clear, plastic box, then the Shakespeare set, then the Spanish set, and yes, even the erotica set?

In my many wanderings over four continents, I’ve left behind many-a-magnetic poem on refrigerators and I have made a habit of leaving behind poetry magnet sets on apartments I’ve abandoned.

Somewhere, I imagine, a tattooed skinhead looks at the fridge of his new (my old) apartment, and takes that first move to rearrange a line, or put to unrelated words together like “unjust” and “cherub” to see how they look together. He’s pausing. Squinting. And then, after a drag on his cigarette, he’s decides that … no… the word “unjust” sounds much better with “sparrow”. Then, he reaches out a calloused finger to place the word “warm” before “cherub”.

And he likes it. And then: he’s hooked.

Lost your fridge magnets? Check out Enter the Fridge to reminisce about fridge poetry days. It's almost easy as the real thing!

Some Sunday evenings I meet with Java and Ashtray to read poetry. We sit on the balcony and smoke clove cigarettes. We watch the sun set and the thousands of mango crows flying in to roost before they head off towards the pagodas and the river. We discuss how Wallace Stevens should have had more than “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” because here, there are thousands. We talk about what makes a poem… about the often pretentious, prescribed poetry that gets published in The New Yorker… about why Charles Bukowski has more space on bookstore poetry shelves than Rumi or Billy Collins…. about how other poets think, and why we agonize over line and space exact word choice…. We talk about what makes a poem.

The following poem was generated by “Rob’s Amazing Poem Generator” (via havecoffeewillwrite) by entering the URL of my blog. Fridge magnet poetry and “poem generators” like this are fun tools to use. They're interesting because they force us to juxtapose unrelated words to create meaning… or non-meaning, which is often, just as fun.

Try generating a poem from your blog or your favorite website at the poem generator.

Here's my generated poem:

I love
you in
Life, Poetry

Beirut.

WE Are
the spectrum
I would be: wood smoke If
I would be: Mercury

If I would be: surprise

If I would be: 7
in Asia

If I Were..... a traveling
carnival

Nights in Fun

Powered by Yann
Martel

If
I would be: Pluto If I
were a
collection of cell phones

One shot.

All hail

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Comments

[Amelia]

I need to come and join a poetry session soon I think. Shamash withdrawal symptoms!
I liked the poetry-on-a-fridge concept too, though it often detoriated into inventing Shakespearian epithets in my house. One of my favourite damning descriptions was (Pace Chaucer) 'I trowe he were a gelding or a mare' Sadly I can't claim credit for that one. I just got stuck on 'Away, saucy wench!'
Amelia - anathema to romance,x

[Datta]

Just reading your writing makes me feel the beauty that language can have. Choosing the right words is an art form.