The American Dissident
A Journal of Literature, Democracy & Dissidence

In the Samizdat Tradition of Writing against the Machine

Critical Poetry—Charlotte Walker (Iowa City, IA)                       For more highly critical verse, see Critical Poems.    
 

I wrote a lot of what I called ControVerse for a couple of decades (1980s and 1990s). I still do some writing but only rarely write poetry. I would guess that some people who know me might call me a dissident of sorts. In some circles, I probably get called a lot of bad names for my outspoken and questioning ways. As far as poetry goes, I usually dislike most of what I see that gets printed, especially the no-sense-at-all "Language poetry" that is so popular at the Iowa University Writers Workshop. 

 

Two Variations on the same theme [Published in The American Dissident #13]


Pulitzer Prize “Poetry”

Did you ever try to read it?
Try to read heavy disjointed muck?
Try to savor the elitist rambling?
Well, I assure you, you'll get stuck.

Jori Graham won the last one.
Her flow of words wear on and on.
Long strings of word bump meaning out,
like when a poor thing's sanity is gone.

Take a peek at Jori's twisted "verses",
But, I warn you: do it quick.
Cuz if you linger longer,
The gloop will make you sick.

 

 

Fractured Phraseology
(or...what in the hell is Jori talking about????)
 

They say Jori's a language poet
She's a whiz at twisted jumbles
But she got the Pulitzer in '96
for her fractured far-out mumbles.

I may have to try it
I'll see what I can do
if I try real hard to do it
I could get that big prize too

here goooooos

The mongrel cat dropped dead
as the bean sprouts twittered
and
the crying downspouts gulped
the morning twilight.

O and O and oOOO
Excuse me, oh No, yet yes,
perhaps maybe its
an opening on
tomorrow's eyelids.

But look at the gossamer breeze
and
the rose petal downdrafts and
the twirling gyroscopes as they
crumble
in the cirrus cement mixers.

Oh no, I haven't got that
quite right.
Oh...please forgive me.
You must believe me.

Want to get sicker? Go straight
to Graham. Go to it!

Charlotte Walker (Iowa City, IA)

I wrote a lot of what I called ControVerse for a couple of decades (1980s and 1990s). I still do some writing but only rarely write poetry. I would guess that some people who know me might call me a dissident of sorts. In some circles, I probably get called a lot of bad names for my outspoken and questioning ways. As far as poetry goes, I usually dislike most of what I see that gets printed, especially the no-sense-at-all "Language poetry" that is so popular at the Iowa University Writers Workshop. 
 

 

Two Variations on the same theme [Published in The American Dissident #13]


Pulitzer Prize “Poetry”

Did you ever try to read it?
Try to read heavy disjointed muck?
Try to savor the elitist rambling?
Well, I assure you, you'll get stuck.

Jori Graham won the last one.
Her flow of words wear on and on.
Long strings of word bump meaning out,
like when a poor thing's sanity is gone.

Take a peek at Jori's twisted "verses",
But, I warn you: do it quick.
Cuz if you linger longer,
The gloop will make you sick.

 

 

Fractured Phraseology
(or...what in the hell is Jori talking about????)
 

They say Jori's a language poet
She's a whiz at twisted jumbles
But she got the Pulitzer in '96
for her fractured far-out mumbles.

I may have to try it
I'll see what I can do
if I try real hard to do it
I could get that big prize too

here goooooos

The mongrel cat dropped dead
as the bean sprouts twittered
and
the crying downspouts gulped
the morning twilight.

O and O and oOOO
Excuse me, oh No, yet yes,
perhaps maybe its
an opening on
tomorrow's eyelids.

But look at the gossamer breeze
and
the rose petal downdrafts and
the twirling gyroscopes as they
crumble
in the cirrus cement mixers.

Oh no, I haven't got that
quite right.
Oh...please forgive me.
You must believe me.

Want to get sicker? Go straight
to Graham. Go to it!

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