The Best American Poetry

Games Poets Play [by Heather Christle]

This evening I was reading this post on The Hairpin, all about "low-effort toddler games" like "Do You Like My Hat?" and "Hide Things in Your Clothes," and it reminded me of a passage from the children's book Pinky Pye, wherein a cat types up a list of suggested games:

 

The very clever cat then goes on to explain more complicated games, which you might enjoy reading (beginning on page 118).

And this led me to thinking of all the games I've played with poet friends, which now I will tell you how to play, in case you find yourself with guests or selves to entertain this weekend.

1. Game of First Lines

This is just like Balderdash, only instead of inventing definitions for obscure words, you invent first lines for titles. Pull a literary journal off the shelf, open to the first poem, read the title aloud, and then have your friends write down a convincing option for a first line, while you write down the actual one. Gather them all together, read them out loud, and have everyone guess which is real. Points to anyone who guesses right, or whose line manages to fool someone. Or don't keep track of points. Then pass the journal to the next person, so you get a chance to invent.

2. Game of Following the Rules of Vasko Popa's Game Poems

I just made this up, but I think it would end in tears. Here is how you play "Seducer"

One caresses the leg of a chair
Until the chair moves
And motions him coyly with her leg

Another kisses the keyhole
Keeps kissing it and how 
Until the keyhole returns the kiss

A third one stands to the side
Watches the other two
And shakes and shakes his head

Until his head drops off

3. Game of Not Listening

When you are stuck in an audience listening to someone who is dull or going on for too long, write down words and phrases she says, in order, but very selectively, so that by the time she finishes you have a much better speech she could have made had she only known how to edit herself. Extra points if you arrange her own words into an entirely different subject.

4. Game of Constant Similes

Pretend that every time someone says "like" as filler (of the "um" variety) he is embarking on making a simile it is your job to understand.

5. Game of Stacking Books

This game I borrowed from Matthea Harvey, who borrowed it from the artist Nina Katchadourian. Go to a place full of books. Find titles you'd like to arrange into a poem. Stack them in an order that pleases you. Depending on whether or not you think the place is trying to keep the books in a different order, you might consider leaving them there for someone to discover. Or take a picture.

6. Game of "Life of Game"

Listen to Loren Goodman.

7. Game of Thinking of Something

Think of something. Tell your friends you are thinking of something. See if they can guess what it is. If you are not with friends, try just thinking of something.

Those are all of the games I know. I'm lying. Those are half of them, but I am trying to raise my level of mysteriousness, which is part of a game I'm not telling you about.

--Heather Christle

 

Costco & Cocktails {Loren Goodman}

SEOUL, Korea -- October 22 & 23

As breath of Autumn's being bathes Seoul in hectic red, young men's fancies turn to... Costco!

Colleague Kelly Walsh and I discuss the possibility of a Costco run several days in advance. After a lunch meeting on entrance admissions and interview procedures Thursday afternoon, we tentatively agree to embark on a shopping adventure the following day. Upon answering his call Friday morning, we again discuss the benefits and detriments of a Coscto shopping spree. After a brief silence, my ear meets with a statement of indubitable gravity: "I'm running low on cheese." All doubt eliminated, I set out to Jongo to meet Kelly in his taxi bound for Sangbong, the location of the nearest Costco (there are at least three in Seoul).  

The rendezvous point: Jongno 4-ga

This is where I wait for Kelly's taxi. As I wait, I see the following sign:

 

Pondering the moment of my chance encounter with this quaint shop, its window display seems a portent: is not every moment of our lives consumed with time?

I try to discern Kelly's form in the many taxis that pass. Little do I know, at this time he is approaching the Han River, far in the opposite direction. With little knowledge of the city and even less command of the language, after two years I still find it difficult to get around; Kelly has been here less than two months. 

 

 

Once there, it is as if the entire staff recognizes the ardors of our journey, and welcomes us accordingly. While Kelly gets his papers in order, I take the opportunity to sanitize my cart handle.

Costco: Plaisir et jouissance 

Three Poems by Loren Goodman

RICHARD 111

            by George

I was fascinated by Richard 111
But I wondered about the first
Hundred and ten plays—
Could they have been so good?

WCW

The cat stepped
Over the enjamb-
Ment one
Forefoot first
Then the second
Then the other

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

After 120 years of
Reaction and explication
There is still no basic core
Of agreement on how
Wuthering Heights is
Structured or what
It is about

               -- Loren Goodman

Doenjang Jjigae [by Loren Goodman]

SEOUL, Korea -- October 21, 2009

 

Seoul. Homophonic city of dreams. And everything in Seoul ain't always what it seems. Too much, too much, too many people, too much!

At least that's how I felt when I got here, two years and two months ago. Coming from Japan, it took a long time to adjust. Perhaps differences stand out most when things are similar.

And then there is change... near the end of summer, I start to feel more comfortable. I believe this is the result of many factors: finding a pool, getting off the couch, and perhaps most of all, this:

Finding Your Inner Poetry Hat {Loren Goodman}

SEOUL, Korea -- October 20

(Photo by Maciej Gryzbowski)

If there's one thing I want to do this week, it's find my inner poetry hat. Not that I haven't been searching. For months all I can find is this one:

Your Desk is Your Head: The Inner Sanctum {Loren Goodman}

SEOUL, Korea, October 19 --

From time to time these words from Sonny Mishra come to mind.

“The nature of prose is to perish…”

Looking for these words of Paul Valery, I find others:

“Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a thought, or all thought, when he wants to”  

and others:  

“At times I think and at times I am.”

Pirooz says something that strikes home: strike out and there’s no home run. Then he says this: “Your desk is your head.” Or “Your room is your mind.” I forget. We spend the majority of baseball practice stealing home.

Which suits you best?

A desk of one’s own. 

A desk with a view.

This desk enwraps me; love requited, passion attained. But I am conscious of a desk more mysterious than this.

When you ask me to speak about women and poetry I sit down on the banks of a river and begin to wonder what words mean. If my desk is my head, what are my feet? This room has a mind of its own.

In the Land of 3,895,121 Parks {Loren Goodman}

Thunder storms shock and roll through Seoul over the past few nights and days, scrubbing the skies and streets and electrifying leaves through the parks. My roommate and I often walk to the park. As we get closer, even the sidewalks turn soft green. 

There are over 3.85 million Parks in Korea. Why should there be any less? Many of these are in Seoul. Most of them are people. Some of them are public. I notice as I walk that there is a person in every park. Is there a park in every person?

Both Lorca and Rilke wrote poems in Parks. Rosa Parks.

What is your favorite poem written in, about, or on a Park?

Loren Goodman, Guest Blogger October 18 - 24

 This week we welcome back Loren Goodman as our guest blogger.  Loren is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature at Yonsei University/Underwood International College in Seoul, Korea.

His first book of poems, Famous Americans, was selected by W.S. Merwin for the 2002 Yale Series of Younger Poets. His chapbook Suppository Writing (2008) is available from The Chuckwagon. Welcome, Loren

In Other News . . .

    We just learned that we come in at #13 in the Wikio literature blog rankings.  Wikio is the number 1 news aggregator and blog-indexing website in Europe, indexing nearly 200,000 English-language sources. Congratulations to us!

The Best American 2009 retains its #1 spot on the poetry anthology best-seller list.  BAP '08 climbs to the #6 spot, with 52 weeks on the list. 

-- sdh

Buddha's Birthday {Loren Goodman}

The Lotus-copter: Happy Birthday, Buddha! Won't you take me down to heaven on a midnight ride?

It's late; I'm preparing for tomorrow's classes, when the sounds of music waft through my window. The sifting, ratcheting beats of Korean traditional drum music, crowd sounds and chanting. The sounds of dancing. I turn back to work, and Dr. Park calls: "Loren! Where are you? Do you hear the music? I'm in the street. Come outside!" I wanna move. Jongno isn't just for protests: tonight is celebration, procession: Buddhist Lamp Festival!

International Scholars' Day {Loren Goodman}

 Spring. The campus erupts in lavender, pink & green. Some students wear clothes that match the flora (see stripe shirted fellow in background). I'm on my way to the Third Annual International Scholars' Day Reception and Banquet, held at the President's house on campus.

What's it like to be an International Scholar? Let's take a look.