Sexy Poets Quiz [by Molly Arden]

Match the poet with the quote from his or her poem:

1.  "I groped for him before I knew"

2.  "you slip/ half-a-foot deep into someone you like"

3.  "new memory like a seltzer in my crotch"

4.  "he kissed her Anne Sexton/ and she returned the favor, caressing

            his Ted Berrigan"

5.  "that slippery ingress ... its complicated fragrance"

6.  "Gently, with my lips/ loosen the button./ Have them slip into my hands/

            Like two freshly poured beer mugs"

7.  "she wanted him hung up on her breasts, not on her feet"

8.  "The clam shell opens./ The oyster is eaten."

9.  "At each beat of his heart it threw/ An odd little nod my way.  From the

            slot of the spout/ Extended a drop of transparent viscous goo"

10. "nude ghosts seeking each other out in the silence"

Charles Simic                Marge Piercy                    Albert Goldbarth

Emily Dickinson             David Lehman                  Allen Ginsberg

Elizabeth Alexander       Michael Ryan                    Jim Cummins

                                    W. H. Auden

If you know the right match-ups, please let me know -- in a comment.  I need to know because I lost the sheet on which I wrote the identifyuing names. It's not easy being a mother. Also, if you have a good sexy line thaty belongs in a poem that has not yet been written, go right ahead and let us know. It will enter the public domain of ouir collective consciousness. Immature poets imitate. Mature poets steal. --Molly

Comments

[april havoc]

I guessed Dickinson.

[Alexander Lazarus Wolff]

Number four is David Lehman, for certain.

[jim c]

The ones I'm certain of:
2-Michael Ryan
3-Elizabeth Alexander
4-David Lehman
6-Charles Simic
7-Perry Mason

The ones that are left are even more fun. I think #9 is Allen Ginsberg's "Sphincter"? But it could be Auden's "The Platonic Blow." If the former, then Auden might be #10, though that one is lugubrious enough to be Marge Piercy. I'll say #1 (holding up a foam finger) is ED (pun intended) for the meter; #8 is Marge Piercy and #5 is the, um, slick Albert Goldbarth (though those could easily be reversed, Cowgirl).

I wish Molly had been MY mother. Then I could've been a ... (complete this sentence)

Immature poets steal away into the bathroom. I'll be a while ...

[jim c]

That was a blast. Molly, you are a DEAR!

[Joel Weiner]

1) Mae West
2)Me
3) Joe Biden
4) David Lehman
5)Elizabeth Arden
6)David Lehman
7) Dolly Parton
8)Melania Trump
9) The Goo Goo Dolls
10) Shakespeare

[jim cc rider]

Number one is from WILD KNIGHTS, WILD KNIGHTS, a porno flick made by an unemployed English major in 1969. It stars Burt Reynolds and is a remake of THE SEVENTH SEAL, with real seals. Swear to god. (I prefer the sequel, WILD STRAWBERRIES, WILD STRAWBERRIES. It's the second one in the trilogy.)

[Susan Mitchell]

The lines up for identification reminded me of: recently a student brought me a poem she’d found online by a young male poet. The poet had written a poem dedicated to me which began “I wish I had Susan Mitchell’s ovaries.” I burst out laughing, though I have no idea what that even means.

[David Lehman]

That, dear Susan, is a great anecdote. Thanks!