RIP, James Tate. An acquaintance stated it well in an appreciation when he noted that Tate’s “particular brand of whimsical absurdism somehow doesn’t age too well.” Too true, particularly when reading Tate’s many, many surreal prose poems. But there are so many wonderful poems living among their “average” neighbors (which are typically quite good). Today's WORK is from Tate’s first book of poems, published in 1967, when he was just 24. A volume of poems he apparently wrote as a college undergrad.
WORK
“Epithalamion for Tyler”
I thought I knew something
about loneliness but
you go to the stockyards
buy a pig’s ear and sew
it on your couch. That, you
said, is my best friend— we
have spirited talks. Even
then I thought: a man of
such exquisite emptiness
(and you cultivated it so)
is ground for fine flowers.
—James Tate
—from The Lost Pilot
WORD(S)
aposematic /a-POH-sə-mat-ik/. adjective. Animal colorations that warn and repel potential predators. See also the noun form aposeme. From Greek apo- (off, away) + sēmat (sign).
“Short of instinctive programming to avoid the aposematic organism (which is seen occasionally), it is unlikely that any potential prey will be prepared to sacrificially educate its predator. Thus, a combination of camouflage and its antithesis, aposematism, often occur.” (World Heritage Encyclopedia)
“Red or yellow spots are common aposematic colors in frogs.” (John D. Lynch)
“These reproductive leviathans publicly aroused and engulfed each other, or overwhelmed the humans thrown into their path. The organs became more elaborate, more aposematic. They proliferated, reared and tumbled, sucked, slimed, and reproduced.” (Brian W. Aldiss)
WEB
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“The city of Melbourne assigned trees email addresses so citizens could report problems. Instead, people wrote thousands of love letters to their favorite trees.” → When You Give a Tree an Email Address.
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“Print and online readers of a heart-wrenching true story display equal empathy and emotional engagement, regardless of the medium in which they read…” I’m not surprised. It’s not only a matter of the culture(s) around print and electronic reading, but our habits with them that makes the apparent difference. → A Columbia Journalism Review study.
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The interesting stuff isn’t about love, but about “embodied cognition” (which relates to the above link as well), which I am belatedly beginning to notice and understand. → How Grounded Is Your Love Life?
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Today in 1955, deep into the Cold War, legislation is passed requiring the phrase “In God We Trust” appear on all U.S. coin and paper currency. The earliest request for the phrase came in 1861, when the Reverend M.R. Watkinson petitioned the Treasury Department to recognize “Almighty God in some form in our coins” in order to “relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism.” The familiar phrase’s presence has been challenged in court many times, on obvious grounds, but the Supreme Court has chosen not to hear the cases and the challenges have always failed.
WATCH/WITNESS
Sean Hill’s poem “Postcard to my Third Crush” made into a short film by Sam Hoolihan. This is one of many short poetry films produced by Motionpoems which, until today, I’d never heard of, but which features short films of poems by Lux, Beulieu, Merwin, Zapruder, Hicok and many more.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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Reader P. was also moved: “Wow. I read both installments of ‘Innocent Man’, as well as the ‘Guilty Man’ piece linked to them. I am speechless–rare for me. Pamela Colloff is a powerful writer, deserving of much praise. If I were younger, I’d join the Innocence Project, in any capacity I could. This is why I am against Capital Punishment—and why I believe our justice system needs a serious overhaul…sadly, this is not a singular occurrence.”
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Reader C. shares another interesting punctuation court case: “k readers may enjoy this little case that also turned in a comma and incurred the wrath of the judge.”
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Reader B. enjoyed the Frank Stanford poem: “‘The Quiver’ is one fierce war poem.”
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