ASSIGNMENT BASICS: Choose one of these three options.
1. Choose an abstract concept (such as fear, doubt, love, hope, grief, courage, joy, pain). Address the abstract directly, as Harjo does in her Fear Poem (see below). What do you want to tell that abstract? What do you want to know about it? What has it done to you, to the world? What strengths might it have? Be concrete. Be specific. Be clear. Don't explain: SHOW.
2. Write a "how to" poem, like Peter Kane's "Things To Do After a Break-up" in Sacrament of the Mundane. Think of something you would like to know how to do: make a million dollars, write a great paper, impress someone, save the world, bake great brownies, raise a child, survive a Monday, deal with a bully, write the great American novel ... and create a list of instructions. The goal is to ultimately transcend the list - find a revelation - through the concrete details and namings and objects. EARN THOSE ABSTRACTS.
3. Write a catalog about yourself at a certain age; or a catalog about yourself in one particular moment. What did you do? Where were you? What was the weather like? What state of mind were you in - fearful, happy, confused, angry? Who did you spend time with? What were they like? What was the relationship like? Childhood is a hurricane of sensory experiences: think TASTE TOUCH SCENT SOUND SIGHT. You might include all of them, or only one. BE SPECIFIC.
BACKGROUND
The list poem (also known as a catalog poem) consists of a list or inventory of things. Poets started writing list poems thousands of years ago. They appear in chanted lists of family lineage in the Bible and in rich, musical lists of Trojan War heroes in Homer’s Iliad. About 250 years ago, Christopher Smart wrote a famous poem about what his cat Jeoffrey did each morning. It starts with the cat inspecting his front paws and ends with the cat going in search of breakfast; it is utterly fascinating. Walt Whitman is known for the extensive lists in his poems and the inclusive, joyful relish he clearly felt by naming the many details of the world (see "I Hear American Singing" as just one brief example of his technique).
CHARACTERISTICS OF A LIST POEM
- A list poem can be a list or inventory of items, people, places, or ideas.
- It often involves repetition.
- It can include rhyme or not; often involves lots of slant rhyme, alliteration, other sound-related strategies.
- The catalog poem may start as a random list, but is ultimately well thought out.
- The last entry in the list is usually a strong, funny, or important item or event that brings everything else together; think of the “turn” in a sonnet.
WHAT THIS FORM OFFERS
an opportunity to obsess, obsess, obsess!
a structure which, when carefully crafted and revised, can result in a powerful statement
It lends itself to interests or passions you’d like to explore and articulate
really good for a rant, diatribe, manifesto or personal platform
WHAT THIS FORM REQUIRES
List poems make great performance and/or reading materials. Be sure to read your poem out loud as you draft; let your ear help you determine things like repetition, line length, internal rhyme, rhythm, momentum.
Remember to watch Joy Harjo perform “Fear Poem”
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAYCf2Gdycc
and listen to her read "She Had Some Horses" at http://www.rhapsody.com/joy-harjo/she-had-she-some-horses (if you scroll down, you can also listen to her musical version - Harjo's playing the sax and speaking/singing the words).
READING
13 Ways Chapter 7, “Listing and Repetition – Catalog, Complicating, and Syncopating,” has several different kinds of example poems; as well as the List Poems in our class anthology, Sacrament of the Mundane.
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