Poems

First of all: What makes a poem? If I were to write these poems in prose like, for instance:

"...Christ in Pierro's Resurrection will march right over the sleeping soldiers without pausing or lowering his gaze..."

Is it the same thing as the way that Monica Youn writes it w/ stanzas and line breaks? Why or why not? Again, what makes a poem?

1) Youn's "March of the Hanged Men" is an ekphrastic poem. That's a poem that responds to an artwork. Here is the painting, Resurrection, which she's referencing:

Now that you've seen the artwork, how does that affect your reading of the poem?

"The Difference":

Who is the "they" of the poem? "They talk" are the first words of the poem and also some of the last. What are they talking about? Where are they? This poem, like the previous, is told in couplets (2-line stanzas). How else are they similar? How are they different? Why is the poem titled this?

"Why Poetry: A Partial Autobiography":

How is this an autobiography? If this is a life story, then what do we learn about the speaker/poet? What does "I could not learn / to become / my mother for obvious / reasons..." mean? Why do you think he writes, "I knew / I was not safe / in my head..."? How do the words "dark" and "light" work together in the final two stanzas?

Nearly everything you need to know about "Gramercy Park" is on the Wikipedia Page for it. What do you think the last stanza means? Why the repetition of the word "eyes" in the first three stanzas? (Also, notice the slant rhyme between "eyes" and "keys" in the last stanza. Connection?) What does the phrase, "named us all to pieces" mean to you?

What questions do you have about these poems, or about poetry in general?

This semester, I was invited to read w/ another faculty member and two students on campus. Obviously, that was canceled, but I read for the event's organizer professor Lago's blog instead. I'm reading a couple pages from the opening from my novel The World Out There which will come out this July.

Reminder:

The final collection is due this Thursday. I will take these up until 2 pm the following week, 5/14, but that is the last day that I will take them. If you can't meet that final deadline, then I encourage you to withdraw from the class to avoid getting a failing grade. You must upload your collection to Blackboard.

Let me know if you have any questions.