550: Favorites, Dislikes, Imitations and Parodies

For a favorite poem, I chose a collection of poetry rather than a particular poem. The name of the collection is "Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry" by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser. The work is a lovely little compilation of postcards the two poets wrote back and forth to each other after Ted's having been diagnosed with cancer. The two felt that writing to each other in poetry got at the heart of what they were trying to "say" to each other far-better than conventional prose letters and, so, corresponded for several weeks in poetry. Each piece is simple in style and structure, more like a Haiku, Zen-like, capturing the essence of life and existence in moving snapshots. Influenced by the collection, I wrote the following poem:

After Midnight

In nothing but nightclothes,
he ran through the streets of the
neighborhood at 1:00 a.m.
shouting, “Wake Up! Wake Up!”

Until a neighbor,
young, really, at thirty-four,
called the police,
who later arrested him for “disturbing the peace.”

–J.F. Lewis, February 10, 2007


Below is my parody of a poem out of Valparaiso Review that I particularly disliked. The scorned poem is "Iceland" by Kim Bridgford. The original is below.

~KIM BRIDGFORD~

ICELAND



The surface is both green and tipped with ice,
Its rocks like tortured lovers in the air.
Its flowers in the north are like the trace
Of women pinning grief up in their hair.

Its history speaks of families making claim
And poetry that helps to make a name
For kings of Europe. Out of the battle's grave,
Poetry will salvage what's to save.

Reykjavik's a palette flung to dry,
The weather never one thing or another.
It is a place of woven ancestry,
With people's names reflective of their father,

And down the middle the shiver of a line
Like a drying fish with sunlight on its spine.

© by Kim Bridgford

My Parody....

Iceland: Latitude 38.6 W, Longitude 43.3 N.

The landmass is of grass and glacier,
its outcrops evidencing severe erosion due to heavy wind.
Flora found in the north, including red-leafed clover
like similar species in Bend.

Its history is Jurassic,
And replete with fossils identified by Dr. Fitzpatrick
For the Museum of the Rockies. Out of the Pleistocene layer,
Dr. Zu will salvage any fossilized hair.

Reykjavik’s a useful depot,
The weather, however, is problematic.
It is a place of Icelandic bravado,
And the fervor can be systemic.

And down the center the melting crevasse
Like that in Antarctica’s semi-frozen mass.