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A girl

Ezra Pound

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Al eerder schreef ik over Ezra Pound (1885 – 1972) en deze week werd ik weer eens herinnerd aan zijn bestaan. Op 13 juli 2013 schreef ik over de poëzietheorie van Pound en op 14 januari 2013 kwam zijn gedicht ‘In a Station of the Metro’ voor op een lijstje met de 9 meest vreemde gedichten die je ooit las. Ik zag dat ik dit gedicht toen niet plaatste, vandaar vandaag twee gedichten van deze bijzondere dichter.

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In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

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A Girl

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast –
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child – so high – you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

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Ezra_Pound_2                                                                                                                Ezra Pound in 1913

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Met dank aan Poemhunter.com

McDonalds is onmogelijk

McDonalds is impossible

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Op de website van poetryfoundation.org kwam ik het gedicht ‘McDonalds is impossible’ tegen van Chelsea Martin.

Chelsea Martin heeft een bijzonder aardige website http://www.jerkethics.com/writing.html waarop meer gedichten te vinden zijn maar ook video’s artwork en nog veel meer. De reden dat ik dit gedicht van Chelsea plaats is dat ik hier pas een gedicht met de titel Burger King heb geplaatst en dan mag de grote concurrent natuurlijk niet ontbreken. Tel daarbij op de bijzondere inhoud van dit boeiende gedicht en je snapt waarom ik jullie dit niet wilde onthouden.

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McDonalds is impossible

Eating food from McDonald’s is mathematically impossible.
Because before you can eat it, you have to order it.
And before you can order it, you have to decide what you want.
And before you can decide what you want, you have to read the menu.
And before you can read the menu, you have to be in front of the menu.
And before you can be in front of the menu, you have to wait in line.
And before you can wait in line, you have to drive to the restaurant.
And before you can drive to the restaurant, you have to get in your car.
And before you can get in your car, you have to put clothes on.
And before you can put clothes on, you have to get out of bed.
And before you can get out of bed, you have to stop being so depressed.
And before you can stop being so depressed, you have to understand what depression is.
And before you can understand what depression is, you have to think clearly.
And before you can think clearly, you have to turn off the TV.
And before you can turn off the TV, you have to free your hands.
And before you can free your hands, you have to stop masturbating.
And before you can stop masturbating, you have to get off.
And before you can get off, you have to imagine someone you really like with his pants off, encouraging you to explore his enlarged genitalia.
And before you can imagine someone you really like with his pants off encouraging you to explore his enlarged genitalia, you have to imagine that person stroking your neck.
And before you can imagine that person stroking your neck, you have to imagine that person walking up to you looking determined.
And before you can imagine that person walking up to you looking determined, you have to choose who that person is.
And before you can choose who that person is, you have to like someone.
And before you can like someone, you have to interact with someone.
And before you can interact with someone, you have to introduce yourself.
And before you can introduce yourself, you have to be in a social situation.
And before you can be in a social situation, you have to be invited to something somehow.
And before you can be invited to something somehow, you have to receive a telephone call from a friend.
And before you can receive a telephone call from a friend, you have to make a reputation for yourself as being sort of fun.
And before you can make a reputation for yourself as being sort of fun, you have to be noticeably fun on several different occasions.
And before you can be noticeably fun on several different occasions, you have to be fun once in the presence of two or more people.
And before you can be fun once in the presence of two or more people, you have to be drunk.
And before you can be drunk, you have to buy alcohol.
And before you can buy alcohol, you have to want your psychological state to be altered.
And before you can want your psychological state to be altered, you have to recognize that your current psychological state is unsatisfactory.
And before you can recognize that your current psychological state is unsatisfactory, you have to grow tired of your lifestyle.
And before you can grow tired of your lifestyle, you have to repeat the same patterns over and over endlessly.
And before you can repeat the same patterns over and over endlessly, you have to lose a lot of your creativity.
And before you can lose a lot of your creativity, you have to stop reading books.
And before you can stop reading books, you have to think that you would benefit from reading less frequently.
And before you can think that you would benefit from reading less frequently, you have to be discouraged by the written word.
And before you can be discouraged by the written word, you have to read something that reinforces your insecurities.
And before you can read something that reinforces your insecurities, you have to have insecurities.
And before you can have insecurities, you have to be awake for part of the day.
And before you can be awake for part of the day, you have to feel motivation to wake up.
And before you can feel motivation to wake up, you have to dream of perfectly synchronized conversations with people you desire to talk to.
And before you can dream of perfectly synchronized conversations with people you desire to talk to, you have to have a general idea of what a perfectly synchronized conversation is.
And before you can have a general idea of what a perfectly synchronized conversation is, you have to watch a lot of movies in which people successfully talk to each other.
And before you can watch a lot of movies in which people successfully talk to each other, you have to have an interest in other people.
And before you can have an interest in other people, you have to have some way of benefiting from other people.
And before you can have some way of benefiting from other people, you have to have goals.
And before you can have goals, you have to want power.
And before you can want power, you have to feel greed.
And before you can feel greed, you have to feel more deserving than others.
And before you can feel more deserving than others, you have to feel a general disgust with the human population.
And before you can feel a general disgust with the human population, you have to be emotionally wounded.
And before you can be emotionally wounded, you have to be treated badly by someone you think you care about while in a naive, vulnerable state.
And before you can be treated badly by someone you think you care about while in a naive, vulnerable state, you have to feel inferior to that person.
And before you can feel inferior to that person, you have to watch him laughing and walking towards his drum kit with his shirt off and the sun all over him.
And before you can watch him laughing and walking towards his drum kit with his shirt off and the sun all over him, you have to go to one of his outdoor shows.
And before you can go to one of his outdoor shows, you have to pretend to know something about music.
And before you can pretend to know something about music, you have to feel embarrassed about your real interests.
And before you can feel embarrassed about your real interests, you have to realize that your interests are different from other people’s interests.
And before you can realize that your interests are different from other people’s interests, you have to be regularly misunderstood.
And before you can be regularly misunderstood, you have to be almost completely socially debilitated.
And before you can be almost completely socially debilitated, you have to be an outcast.
And before you can be an outcast, you have to be rejected by your entire group of friends.
And before you can be rejected by your entire group of friends, you have to be suffocatingly loyal to your friends.
And before you can be suffocatingly loyal to your friends, you have to be afraid of loss.
And before you can be afraid of loss, you have to lose something of value.
And before you can lose something of value, you have to realize that that thing will never change.
And before you can realize that that thing will never change, you have to have the same conversation with your grandmother forty or fifty times.
And before you can have the same conversation with your grandmother forty or fifty times, you have to have a desire to talk to her and form a meaningful relationship.
And before you can have a desire to talk to her and form a meaningful relationship, you have to love her.
And before you can love her, you have to notice the great tolerance she has for you.
And before you can notice the great tolerance she has for you, you have to break one of her favorite china teacups that her mother gave her and forget to apologize.
And before you can break one of her favorite china teacups that her mother gave her and forget to apologize, you have to insist on using the teacups for your imaginary tea party. And before you can insist on using the teacups for your imaginary tea party, you have to cultivate your imagination.
And before you can cultivate your imagination, you have to spend a lot of time alone.
And before you can spend a lot of time alone, you have to find ways to sneak away from your siblings.
And before you can find ways to sneak away from your siblings, you have to have siblings.
And before you can have siblings, you have to underwhelm your parents.
And before you can underwhelm your parents, you have to be quiet, polite and unnoticeable.
And before you can be quiet, polite and unnoticeable, you have to understand that it is possible to disappoint your parents.
And before you can understand that it is possible to disappoint your parents, you have to be harshly reprimanded.
And before you can be harshly reprimanded, you have to sing loudly at an inappropriate moment.
And before you can sing loudly at an inappropriate moment, you have to be happy.
And before you can be happy, you have to be able to recognize happiness.
And before you can be able to recognize happiness, you have to know distress.
And before you can know distress, you have to be watched by an insufficient babysitter for one week.
And before you can be watched by an insufficient babysitter for one week, you have to vomit on the other, more pleasant babysitter.
And before you can vomit on the other, more pleasant babysitter, you have to be sick.
And before you can be sick, you have to eat something you’re allergic to.
And before you can eat something you’re allergic to, you have to have allergies.
And before you can have allergies, you have to be born.
And before you can be born, you have to be conceived.
And before you can be conceived, your parents have to copulate.
And before your parents can copulate, they have to be attracted to one another.
And before they can be attracted to one another, they have to have common interests.
And before they can have common interests, they have to talk to each other.
And before they can talk to each other, they have to meet.
And before they can meet, they have to have in-school suspension on the same day.
And before they can have in-school suspension on the same day, they have to get caught sneaking off campus separately.
And before they can get caught sneaking off campus separately, they have to think of somewhere to go.
And before they can think of somewhere to go, they have to be familiar with McDonald’s.
And before they can be familiar with McDonald’s, they have to eat food from McDonald’s.
And eating food from McDonald’s is mathematically impossible.
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chelsea

Het leven van alledag in poëzie

Americain Life in Poetry

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In de verenigde Staten is The Poetry Foundation samen met the Library of Congress het project ‘ Life in Poetry’ begonnen tussen 2004 en 2006. De initiatiefnemer was Poet Laureate Consultant bij de Library of Congress. Ted Kooser.

American Life in Poetry ( http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org) is een gratis wekelijkse column voor kranten en online publicaties waarin een gedicht centraal staat van een modern Amerikaans dichter. Daarnaast wordt er een korte introductie gegeven van de dichter door Ted Kooser. De missie van dit project is om poëzie te promoten. Er zijn geen kosten aan verbonden zolang kranten en online publicaties de tekst in zijn geheel overnemen inclusief de copyrightregels die onder de teksten staan. American Life in Poetry heeft ook een Facebookpagina: https://www.facebook.com/americanlifeinpoetry

Hieronder een mooi voorbeeld, column nummer 155 (van de inmiddels 441) met een gedicht van Marianne Boruch.

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The American poet Elizabeth Bishop often wrote of how places—both familiar and foreign—looked, how they seemed. Here Marianne Boruch of Indiana begins her poem in this way, too, in a space familiar to us all but made new—made strange—by close observation.
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Hospital
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It seems so—
I don’t know. It seems
as if the end of the world
has never happened in here.
No smoke, no
dizzy flaring except
those candles you can light
in the chapel for a quarter.
They last maybe an hour
before burning out.
And in this room
where we wait, I see
them pass, the surgical folk—
nurses, doctors, the guy who hangs up
the blood drop—ready for lunch,
their scrubs still starched into wrinkles,
a cheerful green or pale blue,
and the end of a joke, something
about a man who thought he could be—
what? I lose it
in their brief laughter.

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American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2006 by Marianne Boruch, whose most recent book of poetry is Grace, Fallen from, Wesleyan University Press, 2008. Poem reprinted from “TriQuarterly,” Issue 126, by permission of Marianne Boruch. Introduction copyright © 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

AliP

boruch

Poëzie in stripvorm

Strips en gedichten

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Een stripverhaal of graphic novel zoals de term in het Engels luidt, is een beeldverhaal zoals we allemaal wel kennen. Maar gedichten verwerkt tot stripverhalen of graphic novel zijn uitzonderlijker. Ik heb er maar enkele kunnen vinden. De Contrabas schreef er in 2010 al eens over. Een mooi voorbeeld van een gedicht verwerkt tot stripverhaal of graphic novel is het gedicht van Emily Dickinson ‘I was not death, for I stood up’.

Het gedicht en enkele stukken uit het stripverhaal kun je hieronder lezen. Meer informatie over stripverhalen en poëzie vind je op http://www.decontrabas.com/de_contrabas/2010/09/po%C3%ABtische-strip-of-verstripte-po%C3%ABzie-lies-van-gasse.html

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It was not Death, for I stood up,

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It was not Death, for I stood up,
And all the Dead, lie down –
It was not Night, for all the Bells
Put out their Tongues, for Noon.

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It was not Frost, for on my Flesh
I felt Siroccos – crawl –
Nor Fire – for just my marble feet
Could keep a Chancel, cool –

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And yet, it tasted, like them all,
The Figures I have seen
Set orderly, for Burial
Reminded me, of mine –

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As if my life were shaven,
And fitted to a frame,
And could not breathe without a key,
And ’twas like Midnight, some –

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When everything that ticked – has stopped –
And space stares – all around –
Or Grisly frosts – first Autumn morns,
Repeal the Beating Ground –

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But most, like Chaos – Stopless – cool –
Without a Chance, or spar –
Or even a Report of Land –
To justify – Despair.
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dickinson (1)
emily_poet_tshirt_logo1

Stevie Smith

Gedicht.

Dit is het gedicht dat Joris Lenstra vertaald voordroeg bij Ongehoord Rotterdam! van de Engelse dichter Stevie Smith (1902 – 1971). Hier in de oorspronkelijke versie.

Not Waving but Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

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Stevie Smith, March 1966

Gedichten op vreemde plekken

Deel 31: De postzegel

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De Royal Mail  gaf deze postzegel in 2001 uit. Het gedicht “’The Ad-dressing of Cats’” is in zijn geheel op de postzegel afgedrukt. De dichter is T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) die in 1948 de Nobelprijs voor Literatuur kreeg.

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Postzegel

 

Omdat het zo’n prachtig gedicht is.

Wordsworth (1770-1850)

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“Daffodils” (1804)

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I wander’d lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

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Continuous as the stars that shine

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And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch’d in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

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The waves beside them danced; but they

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Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed — and gazed — but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

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For oft, when on my couch I lie

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In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

Somewhere I have never travelled

E.E. Cummings

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Somewhere i have never travelled

 

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

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E.E.

Uitslag poll

Omdat de poll overduidelijk uitwijst dat E.E. Cummings favoriet is onder jullie lezers, als het gaat om Engelstalige dichters, hier nog een gedicht van zijn hand.

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i am so glad and very
merely my fourth will cure
the laziest self of weary
the hugest sea of shore

so far your nearness reaches
a lucky fifth of you
turns people into eachs
and cowards into grow

our can'ts were born to happen
our mosts have died in more
our twentieth will open
wide a wide open door

we are so both and oneful
night cannot be so sky
sky cannot be so sunful
i am through you so i
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e.e.


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Poemhunter

E.E. Cummings

Zoals jullie wel zullen weten ben ik een groot liefhebber van het werk van E.E. Cummings.
Nu kwam ik pas op de site http://www.poemhunter.com en daar  enorme veel van zijn gedichten te lezen. Een aanrader!

Hier een voorproefje:

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You shall above all things…

youshall above all things be glad and young
For if you’reyoung,whatever life you wear

it will become you;and if you areglad
whatever’s living will yourself become.
Girlboys maynothing more than boygirls need:
i can entirely her onlylove

whose any mystery makes every man’s
flesh put spaceon;and his mind take off time

that you should ever think,maygod forbid
and (in his mercy) your true lover spare:
for thatway knowledge lies,the foetal grave
called progress,and negation’sdead undoom.

I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing
thanteach ten thousand stars how not to dance

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