Reading your poems teaches me so much about a part of the world I know not enough about. And the writing is always so engaging. You take the reader by the hand, and lead us through your stories.
Sherman, what made you write this in the cadence of Dr. Seuss? In a certain way, I read that as a way to gain distance from the subject matter, which is confessional in some ways. In another way it can be seen as a method that renders the subject problematized, due to it making it even more intimate than it already is. It invites a level of pathos into the subject, which is good, in my humble opinion. because pathos is unavoidable when confronting the subject. I've not yet listened to any of your material including this one. I guess I am a purist. Written material deserves to be read first. There's a relationship there between the form on the page, (line breaks, line endings in a hard or soft vowel, etc...) and the thing in itself, the poem, the writer's intention. (Joyce is my personal savior.) So, I can't respond yet, to the manner in which you read it (Junior). Also, I think there's a relationship between the written thing and the process of reading as it occurs. As one reads, images and processes unfold in one's mind. What particular images get called into being with any particular reading determines how one interprets the poem and one's reality (hopefully). As writers, we hope our readers get something from our projections on the page, even better, something meaningful. All that said, what I hear as I read your poem is like a Dr. Seuss book. I love Dr. Seuss and detest how some people a couple years ago maligned him.
I've been to meetings with people missing pieces from a life of alcoholism. They were the ones everyone listened to. Some of them I haven't thought of in a while, thanks for the reminder.
When I read the poem earlier today I recoiled from the injustice of the pain suffered. When I listened to you reading the poem, replete with your Indian cadence, I felt the same heartbreak but now infused with transcendence. Thanks, Sherman.
So many of our beloveds drank themselves to death. Now I can see them. Constellations visible day and night. Thank you for this, on the page and in lilting rez voice.
oh I love stuff like this. Have you ever read Don Juan by Byron? It's 500 pages of s similar classic rhyming scheme. you get so locked into it, you start to think in that same scheme yourself.... And it's super musical and rythmic and also the story is super funny and smart and lots of sex!
Sherman, you populate the sky with many salmon constellations, rooted in camas (and yes, rice and cranberries) and nourished with song, tears and laughter. Thank you for feeding our souls.
I love this poem, Sherman. Thank you.
Thank you, Jim.
Thank you, Arjan!
Reading your poems teaches me so much about a part of the world I know not enough about. And the writing is always so engaging. You take the reader by the hand, and lead us through your stories.
Now I want to learn about salmon constellations.
Thank you, Mr Alexie, for your wonderful words.
Thank you, Arjan.
Sherman, what made you write this in the cadence of Dr. Seuss? In a certain way, I read that as a way to gain distance from the subject matter, which is confessional in some ways. In another way it can be seen as a method that renders the subject problematized, due to it making it even more intimate than it already is. It invites a level of pathos into the subject, which is good, in my humble opinion. because pathos is unavoidable when confronting the subject. I've not yet listened to any of your material including this one. I guess I am a purist. Written material deserves to be read first. There's a relationship there between the form on the page, (line breaks, line endings in a hard or soft vowel, etc...) and the thing in itself, the poem, the writer's intention. (Joyce is my personal savior.) So, I can't respond yet, to the manner in which you read it (Junior). Also, I think there's a relationship between the written thing and the process of reading as it occurs. As one reads, images and processes unfold in one's mind. What particular images get called into being with any particular reading determines how one interprets the poem and one's reality (hopefully). As writers, we hope our readers get something from our projections on the page, even better, something meaningful. All that said, what I hear as I read your poem is like a Dr. Seuss book. I love Dr. Seuss and detest how some people a couple years ago maligned him.
Thank you, Taegan.
Oof that last stanza sings! Thanks for this one Sherman it’s a treasure
WONDERFUL POWERFUL IMAGRY," Mouse often dabbed
his face with a bandanna because he still cried from his empty eye sockeT"
S. Alexie makes us think, and want to know why! Thanks you!
Thank you.
I like many pieces of this poem, particularly the 'salmon constellations' visible in daytime (Alive in our hearts and minds, or just down the block).
Thank you.
I've been to meetings with people missing pieces from a life of alcoholism. They were the ones everyone listened to. Some of them I haven't thought of in a while, thanks for the reminder.
Yes, I've been in those meetings, too. Thanks, Steve.
When I read the poem earlier today I recoiled from the injustice of the pain suffered. When I listened to you reading the poem, replete with your Indian cadence, I felt the same heartbreak but now infused with transcendence. Thanks, Sherman.
Thank you, Kate.
I love this poem, Sherman. Thank you.
Kathy
Thank you!
So many of our beloveds drank themselves to death. Now I can see them. Constellations visible day and night. Thank you for this, on the page and in lilting rez voice.
Thank you.
And I love the rhymes! It's like the drum kicks in....
It's Native drums combined with French drums. This poem started out as a villanelle:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/villanelle#:~:text=A%20French%20verse%20form%20consisting,final%20couplet%20in%20the%20quatrain.
oh I love stuff like this. Have you ever read Don Juan by Byron? It's 500 pages of s similar classic rhyming scheme. you get so locked into it, you start to think in that same scheme yourself.... And it's super musical and rythmic and also the story is super funny and smart and lots of sex!
I have not read Don Juan! 500 pages! Vikram Seth has an amazing novel in verse, The Golden Gate, comprised of 590 sonnets in iambic tetrameter.
The thing to remember about Lord Byron is he was The Rolling Stones of his time. “Mad, bad and dangerous to know.”
Ha!
so sad, so real!
Thanks, Blake.
Sherman, you populate the sky with many salmon constellations, rooted in camas (and yes, rice and cranberries) and nourished with song, tears and laughter. Thank you for feeding our souls.
Feeding our souls, indeed.
Ah, Kerry, you just wrote some poetry yourself! Thank you.
Wonderful compliment--many thanks!
Ha! Gotcha!