Yes, Virginia, there IS a book of poetry and poetry-criticism (mostly the latter) blurping like bitumen though the constricted pipelines of my brain, blurping, blorping toward publication. As I have joked elsewhere, a guaranteed worst-seller! Anyway, here's the back-cover blurp... er, blurb, unless the publisher thinks of something better:
Questions, questions, questions...
So does Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice” actually MEAN
anything? What about Jonathan Swift’s “Verses on the Death of Doctor Swift”?
Why are the profligate professors flapping all over the map about THAT poem?
And how does it happen that after four centuries the same damn professors STILL don’t have a clue about Shakespeare’s “The Phoenix and the Turtle”? Okay,
admittedly a clue or four about this part of the poem, or that little bit. But no
general idea whatsoever about the poem as a whole. Nothing at all. Nada. Zilch.
When will our theory-infested, jargon-ridden Blithering Class muster the brainpower to
decipher it? Never? Or maybe when they read this brilliant book? Again, what’s
the deal with all those ultra-weird Bob Dylan songs on the Basement Tapes? Uh, let me
guess, did Bobby plagiarize those hillbilly-flavored goofs from somewhere? What?—from Shakespeare?? Are
you joshing me? Hillbilly Shakespeare??? Wait a minute, how much Shakespeare is in this book anyway?
Quite a lot? Maybe 30% or more? Shakespeare... wow... seriously boring. Worse than frigging high school! What?—and this
book has some of Andersen’s own poetry too? There's poetry wafting in from nasty, redneck, tar-tarnished
ALBERTA? From a cabbie??! LMFAO! C’mon, admit it, this is a really, really
boring book, right? Total snooze-button, right?
Tedious answers inside!
* * *
Ah yes, have some fairly definite ideas about the front-cover too, but your alleged critic will be coy about THAT. Hey, it'll be a bit cartoonish, with a teensy pic of John Lennon in one corner, saying, "...and for those of you who want to know why Old Flat-Top has feet down below his knees, that'll be answered inside too..."
Heh. =]
