In Taiwan

Everyone quotes poets and philosophers

with ease: Li Po, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Lao Zi.

We burned paper houses, paper Mercedes

assuring ancestral comforts in heaven.

Why Comedians Make Excellent Poets (but rarely vice-versa)

I am not a funny poet. If I am, it's usually unintentional. :) But I love to laugh and I love certain poetry, so in thinking about poets I most admire folks like Tony Hoagland and Matt Cook come to mind. Not just because they wield words wryly and thoughtfully, but because they're also damn funny--and truthful--and not afraid to say it like it is. To do so and still leave an impression on readers long after the poem has been read is the mark of true genius. 


Truth is, I find poetic inspiration from comedians more so than contemporary poets, though I like to pretend I am both. But really, just think about it for a moment: everything that makes a good joke makes a good poem; most of what makes a good comedian makes a good poet. Look at Stephen Colbert, for example, and the ways his humor mixes with tongue-in-cheek but nonetheless relevant complexities of human language and human nature, particularly during  "The Word" segment of his show. Hey, thanks to Colbert, "truthiness" is now an official part of the American lexicon. Next up? Wikiality or Absinthethinence? What about Americon Dream or Blackwashing? C'mon Webster, whadya say?

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Truthiness
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

l a n g u a g e | o f | h a n d s

Once in India we stood on the edge of a grave 

and looked down at the bones inside. I could not tell

the women from the men or which hands killed;
marveling at the identical stillness; their pelvises

opened the same, like prayer books lacking words.

On Glück's Meadowlands

         Glück engages readers of Meadowlands, her seventh book of poems, by crafting a tight collection of accessible poems featuring candid conversations, provocative commentaries, opposing perspectives, sobering parables and poignant vignettes drawn from her own life as well as guest appearances by Homer's Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus. These unsectioned poems are uniformly neat, short, stylistically similar and best appreciated as a series since the veiled references and deeper implications regarding Glück's own marriage in poems like "Circe's Torment" and "Parable of the Swans" can't help but rise to the surface when paired alongside poems like "The Dream" and "Meadowlands (1, 2, 3),” which show Glück's marriage and family life on the brink of collapse. The drawback to Meadowlands is that despite well timed infusions of levity readers end up on a distressing modern odyssey of sorts—a ride too often weighed down by moments of private suffering made public. Unfortunately, it’s a ride many of us 1.) are all too familiar with, and 2.) prefer to avoid, especially during playtime.

            Sadly, the tagline for Meadowlands may as well be “Much misery, not enough light.” A sense of dark hopelessness and stark admonitions pervade the collection; for example, in "Midnight:"

If I were you

I'd think ahead. After fifteen years,

his voice could be getting tired; some night

if you don't answer, someone else will (26).

h a n s e l | c a n c e l s | t h e r a p y | s e s s i o n | w i t h | g r e t e l

Pt. canceled session w/sister via letter.

No interest in rescheduling. Follow up

Calls on 10/10 and 10/15 unsuccessful;

Billed ins. for missed appt. Current pt.

Status unknown. –Dr. X.

d e a r | f a t h e r

I know you wanted to be scattered like seeds 

across water; dust and ashes and one final sunset. 

Story goes that Mama, stuck inside her grief,

decided to shellac the body, covering it 

with kisses and glaze: a homemade varnish

to seal your soul inside. No one knows 

what to do with such information.

a u b a d e

I wake up to my face mopping up the sunlight. 

It’s bright. The bed is cold, his side especially. 

t r u e | b u g s

In water and on land

I take my beating

trays to capture you;

a simple wish:

I want to hold you

prisoner inside