Frederick Seidel has arrived

I wrote a poem about Milan today. Why? Because I had a photo of it from the time I was there of some political graffiti that I had never really considered the meaning of, and now, today, I suddenly realised what they were probably on about and the fact that I took a picture of it is quite ironic. Damn, irony, seems like such a dirty word these days.

And yes, I am reading Frederick Seidel. Good guess. Chris lent me her copy of his Poems 1959-2009 (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, NY, 2009). So excited, because I can't afford it right now and Chris hasn't even read it. So I'm incredibly grateful for that.

The poems are in reverse chronological order, so I started with his newest stuff from Evening Man (2008). Some of the end line rhyming ones I just couldn't get into. I guess I still have some of that modernist schooling in me that cringes whenever end rhymes come in. I'm sure he is doing it ironically or super-cleverly in some way. I guess I just have to figure out what that is. Funny how reverence can let you get away with stuff eh? If it was some so called 'lesser' poet, I don't think I'd be quite so favourable. However some of them are gorgeous and all, of course, a brutal and astonishing in almost every way. One of the ones I liked (Ode to Spring) I'd read on the internet somewhere, so I guess I'm not the only one. But here is a few lines from Bipolar Novemember, another that I liked:

I get a phone call from my dog who died,

But I don't really.

I don't hear anything.

Dear Jimmy, it is hard.

Dear dog, you were just a dog.

I am returning your call.

I have nothing to say.

I have nothing to add.

I have nothing to add to that.

I am saying hello to no.

How do you do, no!

I am retutning your call.

[...]

Absolutely fucking nuts. I love it!

And here is an example of a heavy rhyme part that tripped me to start with, but I am sure in time, I will come to love. Haha! The end of Coconut:

[...]

Happy birthday, Doctor Hart.

You stopped my heart.

You made it start.

You supply the Hart part. I'll supply the art part.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I guess that's what he wants.

So yeah, many more polarised opinions to come.