For this Very Special Halloween episode of Poetry Day, I offer a poem by the Original American Master of the Macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Some find this poem scary, and while the setting and word choice are certainly not cheery, in the end I find this tale of a lonely widower lamenting his beloved (but dead) wife sad rather than frightening.

If you like, you may go to this page to hear Basil Rathbone read "The Raven." Versions are available in mp3 and Real Audio formats.

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."

more...

Posted by: Victor at 05:51 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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In case regular readers of Annika's Journal haven't noticed, she has left Poetry Day in my hands. Since I can do whatever I like with Poetry Day, I've declared the last Wednesday of the month will be dedicated to Bad Poetry. This week: NASCAR Poetry.

A few weeks ago, I had some fun at NASCAR's expense, asking, "Notice there's no real good NASCAR poetry out there?" Believe me, there's not (I looked. Lord, how I looked!) and I doubt there ever will be.

I state this because NASCAR isn't a sport that lends itself to poetry. I realize there is strategy and drama and winners and losers, but the sport in and of itself isn't poetic. In fact, NASCAR and poetry are so far apart, the thought of combining the two was turned into a joke at The Specious Report. Take a look at NASCAR haiku, as printed in that article:

Pit crew watches, waits;
Tire tread and ashpalt embrace
Sweet sigh of relief.

Kids can't really "play" NASCAR, while lots of kids play football, baseball, basketball...you get the idea. NASCAR will never inspire anything like How To Play Night Baseball.

But still, some try. I suspect T. is a very nice person--the kind of person who'll give you the shirt off her back, invite you to her house & feed you until you can't move, and make you feel like a friend you've known since the day you were born. I kind of feel bad about making fun of her poetry.

I mean, she has a poem to her pets on her page! Anyone with pets is OK in my book. But take a look at this:

A Prayer For The Drivers
This is a prayer to say before every race begins
To keep all the drivers safe and God bless whoever wins
So bow your heads with me, and together we will ask
That God protect every driver for each and every lap...
"Dear God in heaven we ask you to watch over this track
and keep these drivers safe and sound for every single lap
watch them and protect them with your caring watchful eye
and bless them each and every time a green flag lap goes by
we pray there are no cautions because of a crash
and let them continue to race this race until the very last
so which ever driver makes his way to Victory Lane
we, the fans, know you heard our prayer
and blessed us all the same...
Amen"

Umm...OK. This is a nice sentiment (although every time I read God bless whoever wins I want to continue The rest of you LOSERS can go to hell! ) but the meter is generic (when it's not blown completely), the rhyming is forced at times, and it almost sounds as if it was produced by the head of the Prom comittee who's about to blow her own deadline or something...I dunno. Bad poetry leads to bad analogies.

Posted by: Victor at 05:05 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 One might think that I'd relish the weekly opportunity to bitchslap this nitwit. Alas, it's reached the level of beating an idiot child, and this I can not do. One holds that he MUST be one of God's creatures, although one found on the more extreme end of the spectrum of stupidity. I shall avert my gaze.

Posted by: Casca at October 25, 2006 06:18 AM (Y7t14)

2 haha, bad poetry leads to bad analogies, lol speaking of racing poetry, one lyric immediately jumped in my mind: "Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the flags goes up, Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup." Sounds familiar? i love that song, remember the video here. there's no cars in it, but the lyrics are definitely about some type of car race.

Posted by: annika at October 25, 2006 07:51 AM (qQD4Q)

3 BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Strawman gets PWN3D!

Posted by: Radical Redneck at October 25, 2006 09:47 AM (IsmEM)

4 Hello Victor, What a great theme. I actually grew up around a place that sponsered a stock car. I could hear the races at night and I lived like 5 miles from the track. The only other thing I had to add is that there is a very cool murder mystery series by Janet Evonovich (or something like that) one of which is called Metro Girl. Drake Steel

Posted by: Drake Steel at October 29, 2006 10:31 AM (vrCzD)

5 Funny that you didn't come across my blog during your search: http://nascarpoetry.blogspot.com/ It's mostly lyrics to popular songs altered into NASCAR race reviews, but the site started out with a handful of poems about NASCAR. I admit that none of my work is T.S. Eliot, but for the benefit of your argument, I suggest you take a gander.

Posted by: Brock Beard at October 31, 2006 05:25 PM (0WbFA)

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The first poem I really liked was by e.e.cummings. In my senior year of high school, many, many, years ago, the best teacher I ever had used it when he taught us poetry. I bet if the county had approved that poem, more of us would enjoy poetry to this day.

(The teacher, Mr. S, wasn't afraid to bend the rules. One day I'll tell you what he did to the quarterback of the football team.)

Sadly, I can't find that poem. I would have sworn it was called "Thanksgiving" and that the first line was "by virtue of by virtue i" but my gf's copy of e.e.cummings: Complete Poems (1904-1962) doesn't list that line in the index of first lines.

Too bad I can't find it. You'll just have to wait.

Anyway. My gf suggested the following poem, and I agree it should be featured. It's a simple, fun little poem, that looks a lot more complex than it is. In fact, she saw me looking at it, face twisted in thought, and she asked me what I thought.

"It's a fun read," I answered, "but I can't quite figure out what it means."

She may have sighed. "Just read the last line. That's what it's about!" she answered. I think she's right.

I'm very fond of
black bean
soup(O i'm
very
fond of black
bean soup
Yes i'm very fond
of black bean soup)But
i don't disdain
a beef-
steak

Gimme gin&bitters to
open my
eyes(O gimme
gin&
bitters to open
my eyes
Yes gimme gin&bitters
to open my eyes)But
i'll take straight rum as
a night-
cap

Nothing like a blonde for
ruining the
blues(O nothing
like a
blonde for ruining
the blues
Yes nothing like a blonde
for ruining the blues)But
i use redheads for
the tooth
-ache

Parson says a sinner will
perish in the
flames(O parson
says a
sinner will perish
in the flames
Yes parson says a sinner
Will perish in the flames)But
i reckon that's better
than freez-
ing

Everybody's dying to be
someone
else(O every
body's
dying to be some
one else
Yes everybody's dying
to be someone else)But
i'll live my life if
it kills
me

Posted by: Victor at 05:40 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 380 words, total size 2 kb.

1 For he's a jolly good fellow, For he's a jolly good fellow, For he's a jolly good fellow, But not much of a poet.

Posted by: Casca at October 18, 2006 06:16 AM (Y7t14)

2 I love that poem.

Posted by: red at October 18, 2006 08:57 AM (rNgdr)

3 Once you get notoriety you can get away with anything...I'm a redhead with a toothache today

Posted by: Scof at October 18, 2006 09:39 AM (a3fqn)

4 Does nobody get that cummings was a posing stylist stealing from the substance of others? He stole this from TS Elliot, who stole it from someone else. Fuck it, i should have been a set of ragged claws, scuttling across floors of silent seas.

Posted by: Casca at October 19, 2006 06:09 AM (Y7t14)

5 Stealing? what is the problem, that's inherent in the poem. If you're not stealing you ain't gonna be any good.

Posted by: Scof at October 19, 2006 08:02 AM (a3fqn)

6 Where the fuck is Annika?

Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 19, 2006 08:53 PM (Qi/rF)

7 Thanks for the cummings. He sings in the most distinctive voice, alive and in the present without the sentimentality of a capital letter. love the way the poem looks on the page. The Pope should start a ceremony like Ash Wednesday but where the blessing is 'the only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.'

Posted by: michael at October 20, 2006 11:53 AM (5eMjz)

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Two weeks ago, I presented baseball poetry. Baseball lends itself to poetry--both are cerebral, complex, and boring to those of lesser intelligence. Notice there's no real good NASCAR poetry out there?

My other favorite sport is hockey. Maybe because it's easy to get tickets, maybe because it's a beautiful game, maybe because the first words my gf ever spoke to me were because of hockey...I like hockey a lot.

Two years ago, I wasn't watching hockey. No one was, because of the lockout. Little did we know that soon, in mid-February, the 2004-05 NHL season would be cancelled. People were Pissed Off.

Canadian poet Richard Harrison has published an entire book of hockey poetry, Hero of the Play, and he was one of those Pissed Off people. Soon after the season was cancelled in 2005, the following poem was published:

NH Elegy

Once, men came home from war,
or from the sides of family graves,
to lace up skates and play for it
as if everything could be remade
in a silver bowl passed hand to hand.
For years it etched the seasons
with their winning names,
and took the touch of triumph
into each triumphant house. It paused
just once – to mourn the dead, and
stayed unmarked to mark their passing.
Today, left idle in the Hall of Fame,
while rich men quarrel to no profit at its base,
untouched upon its plinth it stands.
And all who see it can tell you now
how a fallen thing is one that no one holds.

Of course, the 2006-07 hockey season started last week. The league has expanded from the Original Six teams to thirty teams, the Great Canadian Game...well, there are only 6 teams from cities in the Great White North. There are teams in Phoenix, Florida, Tennesee, and the defending Stanley Cup champions play in North Carolina. They're also winless, but there's a lot of season yet to go.

My beloved Caps have played only two games and they're 1 and 1, which, where they're concerned, is slightly above par for them in October. Yeah, baby...it's hockey season.

Game on!

Posted by: Victor at 05:30 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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One of the first albums I ever bought (waaay back when CDs were called "albums" and they were huge, delicate things stamped on black vinyl) was Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. My best friend Dave had a copy of it, and I liked it enough to save up my allowance and buy it. I probably bought it for one song; The moderately-hard rocking (Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket. I mean, the rest of the album was good, but that song rocked! Moderately.

As I grew older, I came to appreciate the album for more than that song. Maturity changes one's point of view, and songs that meant one thing suddenly mean something else five, ten, or thirty years later. I'm almost ashamed to admit it took me about thirty years to finally realize what one of Bernie Taupin's best poems was about, but better late than never, eh?

(I think. I mean, it's all in the interpretation, isn't it?)

The poem/song is called Writing and it's a beautiful little song. The junior-high school kid who bought this album was probably bored by this song about two people writing a book or something, with its cutesy lyrics and lite-rock guitar work. In fact, I'm sure I used to skip over this song when listening to the album.

But suddenly, one day last week, this song completely changed for me. Sometimes, maturity is not overrated.

Writing

Is there anything left
Maybe steak and eggs?
Waking up to washing up
Making up your bed
Lazy days my razor blade
Could use a better edge

It's enough to make you laugh
Relax in a nice cool bath
Inspiration for navigation
Of our new found craft
I know you and you know me
It's always half and half

And we were oh oh, so you know
Not the kind to dawdle
Will the things we wrote today
Sound as good tomorrow?
Will we still be writing
In approaching years?
Stifling yawns on Sundays
As the weekends disappear

We could stretch our legs if we've half a mind
But don't disturb us if you hear us trying
To instigate the structure of another line or two
Cause writing's lighting up
And I like life enough to see it through

And we were oh oh, so you know
Not the kind to dawdle
Will the things we wrote today
Sound as good tomorrow?
Will we still be writing
In approaching years?
Stifling yawns on Sundays
As the weekends disappear

We could stretch our legs if we've half a mind
But don't disturb us if you hear us trying
To instigate the structure of another line or two
Cause writing's lighting up
And I like life enough to see it through
Cause writing's lighting up
And I like life enough to see it through

(NOTE: This is the song as sung by Elton John. Bernie Taupin might have sent it to Elton in a slightly different format.) more...

Posted by: Victor at 07:44 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 never heard it. i'll have to check it out on iTunes. i love EJ. Elton John for UN Sec Gen!

Posted by: annika at October 04, 2006 12:34 PM (fTmcd)

2 You just haven't been alive quite long enough or spent enough time in retail malls or doctor offices. Sir Elton is one of the very most overplayed pop idols in the universe. I used to like his stuff too, but now it just fills me with dread and agony. I just heard that crap waaaaaaaay too much. Along with, The Beatles, The Mommas and the Poppas, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, and for some reason which mystifies me, Micheal McDonald.

Posted by: kyle8 at October 04, 2006 12:54 PM (HA+F5)

3 Kyle, Did you really just include The Beatles, the great rock group of all time, with Michael Fucking McDonald and Phil Fucking Collins. I'm pretty sure there must be some sort of sin associated with that kind of bad musical analysis :-) Well, at least your politics are always solid.

Posted by: blu at October 04, 2006 04:21 PM (j8oa6)

4 actually i hate the beatles, (post revolver) but i like michael mcdonald and phil collins

Posted by: annika at October 04, 2006 07:04 PM (qQD4Q)

5 Yeah, who needs Strawberry Fields when you can listen to "Ya I'm Gonna Be There" or "Just Another Day in Paradise." If you tell that Michael Bolton is just a misunderstood genius I just might hurl.

Posted by: blu at October 04, 2006 07:14 PM (hXbaB)

6 Michael McDonald, eh? There's a great little video celebration of his career and the late-70s soft rock scene at www.yachtrock.com - me and my best friend, being the Steely Dan fans and musicians we are, have gotten a huge kick out of those short episodes!

Posted by: Chris at October 04, 2006 07:44 PM (g1lWg)

7 Ugh! I never got the whole soft rock, Steely Dan thing. Hate it, always have. And Blu, doesn't matter to me how great the Beatles were, being a reasonably intelligent person with an imagination and some taste I just cannot listen to the same goddam crap one billion trillion times and not get sick and tired of it. I'll tell you what there ought to be a law about. There ought to be a law forbiding the public playing of any song more than say thirty farking years old. My nightmare is that I will be a ninety year old in an old folks home and they will still be playing that lame ass shit.

Posted by: kyle8 at October 05, 2006 02:57 AM (ersXq)

8 Michael Bolton is just a misunderstood genius. (Who knew making Blu hurl was that easy?)

Posted by: Victor at October 05, 2006 03:06 AM (l+W8Z)

9 I'm entering the desert. I think I'll drop some acid and listen to Dark Side of the Moon... the lunatic is on the hill...

Posted by: Casca at October 05, 2006 04:31 AM (I6Vpt)

10 Victor, LOL Kyle, For me its when the stations play the same song over and over again. So, you start with a song you really like (or at least enjoy) and end up despising it. That's why I'm generally listening to CDs instead of the radio.

Posted by: blu at October 05, 2006 07:50 AM (hXbaB)

11 I’ll look for the CD. The lyrics are quite impressive.

Posted by: Flowers at October 05, 2006 09:39 AM (vcUSw)

12 Hmmm. For me, Writing was always one of the highlights of that album. It's a great little ditty that leads into the awesome Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Good stuff. Too bad Elton doesn't write music like that anymore.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 05, 2006 06:01 PM (fkQTo)

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