Lyric meditations on writing poetry in a time of ecological crisis and right wing populism_x000D_
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During the time of an increasingly powerful alt-right which was also the time when species extinction was ever increasing, Juliana Spahr sat down to read Brecht. She was looking for an answer to Brecht's question about the dark times, about whether there will also be singing during the dark times. The answer that Brecht provides is that yes, that poets will sing of the dark times. In the six ars poeticas that Spahr writes, she sings of the dark times but also of coral, the pop song's possible liberation, and the love of comrades. She writes not only of the rich history of what politics and poetry have done with each other, but what they might yet do together._x000D_
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[Sample Poem]_x000D_
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from ARS POETICA 1: CORAL _x000D_
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To write poetry after Castle Bravo._x000D_
Then to write poetry after 1500 feet._x000D_
After high-quality steel frame buildings_x000D_
not completely collapsed, except_x000D_
all panels and roofs blown in._x000D_
After 2,000 feet._x000D_
After reinforced concrete buildings collapsed_x000D_
or standing but badly damaged._x000D_
After 3,500 feet._x000D_
After church buildings completely destroyed._x000D_
After brick walls severely cracked._x000D_
After 4,400 feet._x000D_
After 5,300 feet._x000D_
After roof tiles bubbled and melted._x000D_
After 6,500 feet._x000D_
After mass distortion of large steel buildings._x000D_
To write the Cold War and doves._x000D_
The Cold War and tapeworms._x000D_
The Cold War and sails of ships._x000D_
The Cold War and the steel of bridges._x000D_
To write poetry after that._x000D_
To write in a world with few nutrients,_x000D_
one that rocks back and forth._x000D_
The same beginning in both the sea and the land._x000D_
To write poetry that knows a hard, cup-shaped skeleton._x000D_
And then poetry that knows_x000D_
the long, stinging tentacles capturing._x000D_
Knows the water._x000D_
The Atlantic and the Pacific._x000D_
The connections between._x000D_
The one moving into the other._x000D_
To develop poetry in the stomach_x000D_
that then exits through the mouth_x000D_
which is the anus._x000D_
To write poetry in the blue_x000D_
that is the absence of green._x000D_
Light penetration._x000D_
Whorls of tentacles._x000D_
The slime earth too._x000D_
Hunters and farmers._x000D_
Shallow water._x000D_
Few nutrients._x000D_
High fecundity._x000D_
Rapid growth._x000D_
Multiarmed morphology and tube feet._x000D_
To write tube feet._x000D_
To write the exact place._x000D_
Seaward slope place._x000D_
Sea terrace place._x000D_
Algal ridge place._x000D_
Coral algal zone place._x000D_
Seaward reef flat place._x000D_
Islet or interisland reef crest place._x000D_
Lagoon reef flat place._x000D_
Lagoon terrace place._x000D_
Lagoon floor or basin place._x000D_
Coral knolls, pinnacle and patch reefs place._x000D_
To write poetry after.
- ISBN13 9780819501523
- Publish Date 4 February 2025
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country US
- Publisher University Press of New England
- Imprint Wesleyan University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 72
- Language English