I now have poems about:
Elisabeth Elliot the evangelist
my grandmother Erma Ruth Rogers Tyner
Helene Cixous the post-structural feminist
a crazy guy I met on the street
Frederic Law Olmstead who designed Central Park
Xanana Gusmao the PM of East Timor
Joe Louis the boxer
Mario Mendoza who they named The Mendoza Line after
and Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
I love them a lot a lot. If anyone has any requests, any person they want me to write a bio-poem about, comment away. If the poem makes it into the book I will thank you and give you credit. I am most interested in writing about interesting, nice people that don't get thought about a lot or discussed at work.
9 comments:
I am excited for this book. Poems about Helene Cixous and Soren Kierkegaard are calling to me. I like the idea of these pieces, too. I'll have something coming out soon in Action Yes that deals with Heidegger, Rousseau, Descartes, Debussy, Wittgenstein, Beckett, and Bataille, but in a bent (as Blake Butler aptly described the pieces) sort of way but in prose. I wrote (a twisted) one about Paul de Man that is in the People Who Died in 1983 section of Everyday Yeah.
I am interested to see more of your poems. Are you writing a full length book or a chapbook? Or just seeing what happens?
I will let you know if I think of anyone you can write poems about.
I read and enjoyed the Paul de Man piece. I thought it was very savvy. Everyone: go read it.
I'm writing a full-length. They said 100 pages but they must be crazy, that's like two books practically.
I'm glad you liked the Paul de Man piece. Thanks for linking.
Hey, how about a poem about Maurice Blanchot? Philippe Sollers? Lautreamont or Witold Gombrowicz or Klossowski? Schleiermacher, Schopenhauer, Alfred Jarry, Pirandello? The guy who invented suspenders? The world's top latex tycoon? I'll be back with more. Can't wait for the book. I'm glad it will be full.
Or a poem about Gillette, the disposable shaver guy?
Olmstead also designed Lake Park in MKE..but you probably know that already and maybe it even gets mentioned in the poem. I went to one of Cixous's seminars in Paris and she gave a wonderful textual analysis of Jean Genet, and pointed out that at the points where he gets masculine in his writing, he actually becomes ultra-feminine. Keep writing about those peeps.
Hey Kiki, Milwaukee does factor into the Olmstead poem but gets overshadowed by Buffalo.
I have found Cixous to be much easier to listen to than to read. She's so inspiring. Cixous in '08!
I would like to read a poem about Rod Carew or Thurman Munson or Roberto Clemente.
That's cool, I like writing the baseball ones.
Maday -- those are some interesting suggestions. Maybe I'll just do you suggesting people.
yes, the Carew and Munson and Clemente would be nice.
adam, that would be cool. go crazy. i'm already here, and it's okay.
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