World Class Poetry Blog

The Poetry Triumvirate: Charles Simic, Best Sellers, And Tattoos
2 February 2008, the poet @ 8:30 pm

Deborah Solomon of The New York Times interviewed U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic. Now there’s a man with a head on his shoulders. Here are a couple of gems:

1. Poetry doesn’t need much promotion. It is doing quite well in this country. (Amen to that)
2. What advice would you give to people who are looking to be happy? For starters, learn how to cook.

What other reasons do you need for reading his poetry?

Introducing The Poetry Best Sellers
It’s not The New York Times, but Small Press Distribution has announced its best sellers in poetry for December 2007. The top 10 of 30:

• Sleeping and Waking by Michael O’brien (Flood Editions)
• This is What Happeneded in Our Other Life by Achy Obejas (A Midsummer Night’s Press)
• Necessary Stranger by Graham Foust (Flood Editions)
• You Are a Little Bit Happier Than I Am by Tao Lin (Action Books)
• Eulogies by Amiri Baraka (Agincourt)
• The Line by Jennifer Moxley (The Post-Apollo Press)
• Case Sensitive by Kate Greenstreet (Ahsahta Press)
• The View From Zero Bridge by Lynn Aarti Chandhok (Anhinga Press)
• Newcomer Can’t Swim by Renee Gladman (Kelsey Street)
• Lip Wolf by Laura Solorzano (Action Books)

Hey, Lady, Show Me Your Tattoo!
The Kenyon Review is passing around tattoos. Reminds me of a poem I wrote in college. Of course, its title was “Tattoo.”

Say young lady with the soft plush eyes,
do you wear pink for comfort
or more for style? Does your hair
flow forever like a river,
a nature spring?
Does the ring upon your
breezy brow
glimmer like moonlight
or reflect the midday sun?
Do you sip dry martinis
with those lush red lips?
And what do you do on Sundays?
Do you sleep in or rise early
for hotcakes and coffee? Is your life
dull and bland or tart and sweet
like that perfume you wear?
Did your diamond-studded nose
come tangled in your figure,
tingling with compassion;
come complimenting pierced navel
with silver-slivered barbell for your belly,
uninhibited, buttoned with desire,
or was that special order?
Do you cherish fine art
cause you sure inspire science;
and do you read for pleasure
like southwest winds brushing skin
through your painted on legs,
or like a book cover hugs too close?
Will you caress the gentle hands
of my knowledge, knead the hard
look of my wandering globe,
and will you lift the fabric
of your melting
dancing
stare
and show me
your newest tattoo?

Get a .pdf broadside of “Tattoo” with a photo of piper.secrets sporting her shoulder blade tattoo. You can get it free by subscribing to my e-zine, Hyperbole.

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