(no subject)
I'm reading The Best American Poetry 2005 (ed. Paul Muldoon & David Lehman), and there are some great poems I cannot help sharing :)
Urban Myth by Jamey Dunham (this might be the best metaphor of parent-child relationship ever :) )
A couple awaiting the arrival of their first-born delivers instead a ring-tailed lemur. They are beside themselves. The father beats the obstetrician with clenched fists. He curses the nurses and flings himself to the floor bawling. The mother stands up on the table and denounces God. The next day they go home. The lemur eats all of the houseplants and defecates in the sink. It refuses to come down from the refrigerator and keeps them up all night chasing flies along the window screens. The parents are mortified, but being optimistic people they remain patient. They dress the lemur as a boy and name it Colin. They send it to the finest schools and indulge it with every extravagance. Finally their hard work pays off. One morning upon entering the nursery they find a neat stack of money in the lemur's place.
The Poets March on Washington by James Cummins
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
Five Roses in the Morning by Stephen Dunn
March 16, 2003
On TV the showbiz of war,
so I turn it off
wishing I could turn it off,
and glance at the five white roses
in front of the mirror on the mantel,
looking like ten.
That they were purchased out of love
and are not bloody red
won't change a goddamned thing -
goddamned things, it seems, multiplying
every day. Last night
The roses numbered six, but she chose
to wear one in her hair,
and she was more beautiful
because she believed she was.
It changed the night a little.
For us, I mean.
Urban Myth by Jamey Dunham (this might be the best metaphor of parent-child relationship ever :) )
A couple awaiting the arrival of their first-born delivers instead a ring-tailed lemur. They are beside themselves. The father beats the obstetrician with clenched fists. He curses the nurses and flings himself to the floor bawling. The mother stands up on the table and denounces God. The next day they go home. The lemur eats all of the houseplants and defecates in the sink. It refuses to come down from the refrigerator and keeps them up all night chasing flies along the window screens. The parents are mortified, but being optimistic people they remain patient. They dress the lemur as a boy and name it Colin. They send it to the finest schools and indulge it with every extravagance. Finally their hard work pays off. One morning upon entering the nursery they find a neat stack of money in the lemur's place.
The Poets March on Washington by James Cummins
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
What do we want?
Immortality!
When do we want it?
Now!
Five Roses in the Morning by Stephen Dunn
March 16, 2003
On TV the showbiz of war,
so I turn it off
wishing I could turn it off,
and glance at the five white roses
in front of the mirror on the mantel,
looking like ten.
That they were purchased out of love
and are not bloody red
won't change a goddamned thing -
goddamned things, it seems, multiplying
every day. Last night
The roses numbered six, but she chose
to wear one in her hair,
and she was more beautiful
because she believed she was.
It changed the night a little.
For us, I mean.