Further Reflections on Parsley (Ogden Nash)

This little poem (5 syllables!) by Ogden Nash is an epigram on that bit of green that "decorates" your plate at restaurants. The title is full of pomp (and at 8 syllables is almost double the length of the poem) and I don't know where (but doubt if) the original reflections on parsley are to be found.

Are all epigrams poems? How is this epigram a poem? Or is it a poem which I am falsely calling an epigram?

What is a poem is such a difficult question to satisfactorily answer. Maybe that will be a good post for a later date.

Favorite line: "Parsley" (hahha)

Wild Rose (Bryher)

Wild Rose by Bryher

Eh, this poem sounds very old. It's plainly romantic and a little bit cliche. But the phrasing is unique enough that I'd say that the poem as a whole doesn't fall as a cliche. But I also can't say that I find myself swooning over the images. It's pretty well written, but it's not for me.

Favorite line: "Only the beat of your throat against my eyes"

Only the beat of your throat against my eyes.

These Hands, If Not Gods (Natalie Diaz)

I like poems that combine the holy and the profane. Poet Carl Phillips does this very well. This poem by Natalie Diaz, unlike those by Carl Philips, lacks hesitancy - it's very straight forward and clear headed - but it does mix bodies and sex with holiness and biblical references.

I like her questioning if her hands are not gods with all that they do. How are they not like gods when they can shape her lover's body, his bodily reactions, their shared love? What a wonderful idea and concept for a poem.

Favorite line: "Finally, / a sin worth hurting for."

Finally,
a sin worth hurting for.

won't you celebrate with me (Lucille Clifton)

I don't know the cause why Lucille Clifton wrote this poem, but I can find resonance in my own life.

I get that this poem is a celebration of daily victories, of simply being every.day, but I also find a connection to celebrating that which may have been otherwise. Celebrate life, for it may have been otherwise; celebrate your being, for it may have been otherwise. That kind of thing.

I will celebrate to you! And to myself and to anyone else who finds a connection with this poem.

Favorite line: "won't you celebrate with me / what i have shaped into / a kind of life? i had no model."

won't you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23323#sthash.3XmCBUjJ.dpuf

Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character (Rebecca Wolff)

Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by Rebecca Wolff.

I have had a long day and I am tired, so there won't be much substantial talk about this poem by Rebecca Wolff. Sorry 'bout that.

However, I did want to say that as I read this poem it seemed like a chant or other religious sort-of song. All the repeated and echoed lines.

Favorite line: "There is a curiosity that knows / I know"

There is a curiosity that knows
I know

My Rich Friend (Jason Schneiderman)

This poem, by Jason Schneiderman, reminds me, in tone, of ones by Frank O'Hara. It has a similar breeziness to it.

This rich friend, who has all options open to him, also has the perfect 'out' - the ideal window to jump from if he were to commit suicide. It's a telling observation of N, which illuminates more about him than the rich friend. I really like poems (and stories) which provide more details about the speaker than the subject.

Favorite line: "and then the city going by / ever so fast."

Dear Friends (Edwin Arlington Robinson)

Dear Friends by Edwin Arlington Robinson.

Ah ha! When I read, I noted the rhymes and saw that they had a certain pattern. I looked it up and this poem is a Petrarchan sonnet! Very impressive. I had selected today's poem, not for its form, but because I liked what it said.

I can just picture his friends bemoaning his writing career. It's very sweet - their care - and very misdirected which is why I like his response to them in this poem - it's still sweet and kind, but also firm as he says 'lay off!'. Hehe. I loved the concluding two lines. Made me crack a smile.

Favorite line: "Dear friends, reproach me not for what I do"

Dear friends, reproach me not for what I do,

Anybody Can Write a Poem (Bradley Paul)

Anybody Can Write a Poem by Bradley Paul

Love this. It starts with, as the title says, the idea, the truth(?), that anyone can write a poem and ends with his mother and gives a reason (the reason?) he writes poetry - that he just can't shut up.

I love that this poem contains the modern (an Internet argument) and the ancient (mothers and sons) and also gives a taste of the personalities and relationship between the son and the mother.

I want to read more  from this poet.

Favorite line: "I am arguing with an idiot online."

I am arguing with an idiot online.

Pirate Ships (Brandon Dean Lamson)

I like this poem's (by Brandon Dean Lamson) subject matter and its ease in tone and language. However, I don't like the plainness of its lines or the fact that there is no set pattern for the stanza lengths. Seems sloppy. And the ending falls completely flat for me. Dunno. Perhaps, it echoes for some, but I wish it had ended on a stronger note.

Favorite line: "but I can't focus what's happening"

Coda (Ezra Pound)

The end of a long day, so today's is the appropriately titled 'Coda' by Ezra Pound.

Three (long) lines makes me wonder if you could call this a haiku - an nontraditional one for sure.

Anyway, I like what he is wondering in this poem. If a poem, if art, looks for meaning in all (the wrong?) places does it, perhaps, miss the beauty of the thing itself (the peoples' faces) for the hidden meaning it sees within?

Favorite line: "O my songs"