ALL THAT DETH JAZZ
I had a great little moment with Catullus yesterday. Say what you will about "contemporary" translations of the classics, but there's something great about making those old Latins just as body- and fart-humor obsessed as the rest of us. Did you know that Catullus has this dis poem about an accquainance who (and I'm paraphrasing here) only shits ten times a year? And his shits are like tiny pearls that wouldn't even dirty your fingers if you rolled them in your hands. Or something. Maybe it takes some potty jokes to get me to read the classics. And if that's true, look out, Joyce, you are next on the list.
I am getting heavy bored of hearing how everything in poetry relates to T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. Poetry grad school can fatigue you in those ways, I guess, but I don't get tired of metrics. A few months ago, taking the bus home from workshop, I noticed that every business name on Guadalupe St. is either trochaic or dactylic: Slices & Ices, Hole in the Wall, etc. Which I excitedly shared with my nerd friends, prompting an exciting conversation about the linkage between commerce and accentual syllabics. (This probably has something to do with T.S. and Ezra, but believe me I do NOT want to hear it.)
I can't decide if I'm too myopically into poetry or if I need to focus focus focus more. On the one hand, I feel like I need to read everything ever, and just think harder in general, but sometimes I look around at my friends who all have other things going on in their lives and I get jealous.
I had a great little moment with Catullus yesterday. Say what you will about "contemporary" translations of the classics, but there's something great about making those old Latins just as body- and fart-humor obsessed as the rest of us. Did you know that Catullus has this dis poem about an accquainance who (and I'm paraphrasing here) only shits ten times a year? And his shits are like tiny pearls that wouldn't even dirty your fingers if you rolled them in your hands. Or something. Maybe it takes some potty jokes to get me to read the classics. And if that's true, look out, Joyce, you are next on the list.
I am getting heavy bored of hearing how everything in poetry relates to T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. Poetry grad school can fatigue you in those ways, I guess, but I don't get tired of metrics. A few months ago, taking the bus home from workshop, I noticed that every business name on Guadalupe St. is either trochaic or dactylic: Slices & Ices, Hole in the Wall, etc. Which I excitedly shared with my nerd friends, prompting an exciting conversation about the linkage between commerce and accentual syllabics. (This probably has something to do with T.S. and Ezra, but believe me I do NOT want to hear it.)
I can't decide if I'm too myopically into poetry or if I need to focus focus focus more. On the one hand, I feel like I need to read everything ever, and just think harder in general, but sometimes I look around at my friends who all have other things going on in their lives and I get jealous.
