CHOCOLATE WAYS
I
Among the shelves
in the CVS
you inhabit an entire aisle.
II
I was of one mind
and that one mind
wanted one thing.
III
The autumn winds came
and I drank you hot.
IV
My lover and I are one.
My lover and you and I are one.
V
I do not know which I prefer—
the beautiful sweet or the beautiful dark.
VI
Winter came and iced the glass
and you turned into cream
and filled a cone.
VII
O thin men of Switzerland
why waste time skiing on the alps
when you should be toiling at the confectionary?
VIII
I know the sound of accents
the syncopated taste of the streets.
I know the blackbirds singing
and you are in them all.
IX
You linger on the buds
of my tongue—before, during,
and after.
X
Bathed in the colors of earth
you are the ancient airs
on the lips of a poet about to sing.
XI
I arrive in Connecticut
with my Louis Vuitton luggage
and you buried deep within the trunk
and the snow about to fall.
XII
The air is moving
through the cedar trees.
XIII
The snow descends.
I unwrap you as a bar.
_____________________________
First off, I would like to confess that I did not do the assignment exactly as given. However, I have done five of Bernadette Mayer’s Writing Experiments with "Chocolate Ways," and as such, I am hoping that the Landlords of the ModPo Universe will grant me special dispensation.
The five experiments are:
* Write a poem that reflects another poem, as in a mirror.
* Rewrite someone else's writing. Experiment with theft and plagiarism.
* Write the poem: Ways of Making Love. List them.
* Using phrases relating to one subject or idea, write about another,
* Write the poem: Ways of Making Love. List them.
* Using phrases relating to one subject or idea, write about another,
pushing metaphor and simile as far as you can.
* Write a work that intersperses love with landlords.
My intentions in writing "Chocolate Ways" are threefold—homage, spin-off, and gentle satire.
In order to talk about my poem, I need to talk about "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens. Here's the poem:
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.
II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.
III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.
VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.
The Stevens poem is about many things, but for a point of reference, I will say it is a zen-like, imagistic meditation on the creative process. This is, as we say in ModPo, a metapoetic intepretation. "Chocolate Ways," on a metapoem level, uses chocolate as an image with variations, and transmogrifies the sweet into an essay on craving, creativity, obsession, and Eros. Stevens has blackbirds. I have chocolate. And while my poem is not literally called “Ways of Making Love,” there is plenty of that in the poem, and I do “list them” as Mayer suggests.
The easiest way to close read "Chocolate Ways" as a tribute to "Thirteen Ways" is to compare them stanza by stanza. Let's talk about what words and ideas I am mirroring.
The title. Both poems use the word “ways” and contain thirteen haiku-like stanzas.
I. The word “among” begins both poems. The object of interest is introduced: Steven’s blackbirds and my pronoun you, standing in for chocolate.
II. Stevens is of three minds. I am of one—“wanted one thing,” being consonant with craving and desire.
III. “Autumn winds” appear in both poems. Stevens presents the blackbirds whirling as part of a pantomime. “I drank you” in my poem verges on the erotic, an element which is largely confined in Stevens' to stanza number four.
I am using his ideas to talk about my ideas, and the ideas are different, and yet the same. "Thirteen Ways" illustrates alternate ways of looking at the same object, while "Chocolate Ways" fixates on want and longing through the metaphor of chocolate. A common denominator of obsession, and focus on the creative process underlines both poems.
IV. Stevens has the hetero “a man and a woman,” in contrast to my “my lover and I,” which could connote a same sex relationship, and in my next line, "my lover and you and I," suggests a ménage à trois, or perhaps a duet accompanied by a bar of chocolate.
V. Stevens uses “beauty” twice. I use “beautiful” twice. My line, "I don't know which I prefer" is practically plagiarism.
VI. Steven uses “icicles.” I use “iced.” The idea of going from fall into winter is in both poems.
VII. “O thin men of Haddam,” Steven says. “O thin men of Switzerland,” I say. This is nearly a theft. Perhaps my lightest stanza and most outright move of satire.
VIII. Both poems use “accents.” In mine, “blackbirds” appear and sing in direct homage to Stevens.
There is no chocolate in this stanza, and the tone is slightly serious, and the humor has diminished.
IX. The correlation is one of ideas. The blackbird marks “the edge of one of many circles.” I use “before, during, and after,” which is clearly evocative, but also like Stevens, expresses this idea of an ongoing continuity.
X. Steven’s "bawds" in his phrase “bawds of euphony” sounds so similar to bards that bawds must surely refer to poets. In "Chocolate Ways," the poet is about to sing.
Even though chocolate in not mentioned, I do employ “the colors of the earth,” referencing the different colors of chocolate. Similarly, Stevens also uses a color in his stanza--green.
XI. Both poems use “Connecticut.” My use is satirical but not just satirical. Snow evokes Christmas, and the idea of Christmas in Connecticut is somewhat iconic.
The speaker of my poem arrives with Louis Vuitton luggage. And how would one describe the color of Vuitton? Chocolate. Like the blackbird, chocolate has to find a way to get in every stanza.
XII. Stevens says, “The river is moving.” I say, “The air is moving.” I borrow the word “cedar” from stanza thirteen of "Thirteen Ways." Another theft. I've stolen a lot.
Chocolate is not in my stanza because by this time chocolate is everywhere in the same way that Frank O'Hara can write about orange without mentioning orange.
XIII. In both poems, it starts to snow. In mine, the poem ends as sex begins, or maybe, just maybe, the speaker is going to eat a bar of chocolate, or perhaps, it is both.
I. The word “among” begins both poems. The object of interest is introduced: Steven’s blackbirds and my pronoun you, standing in for chocolate.
II. Stevens is of three minds. I am of one—“wanted one thing,” being consonant with craving and desire.
III. “Autumn winds” appear in both poems. Stevens presents the blackbirds whirling as part of a pantomime. “I drank you” in my poem verges on the erotic, an element which is largely confined in Stevens' to stanza number four.
I am using his ideas to talk about my ideas, and the ideas are different, and yet the same. "Thirteen Ways" illustrates alternate ways of looking at the same object, while "Chocolate Ways" fixates on want and longing through the metaphor of chocolate. A common denominator of obsession, and focus on the creative process underlines both poems.
IV. Stevens has the hetero “a man and a woman,” in contrast to my “my lover and I,” which could connote a same sex relationship, and in my next line, "my lover and you and I," suggests a ménage à trois, or perhaps a duet accompanied by a bar of chocolate.
V. Stevens uses “beauty” twice. I use “beautiful” twice. My line, "I don't know which I prefer" is practically plagiarism.
VI. Steven uses “icicles.” I use “iced.” The idea of going from fall into winter is in both poems.
VII. “O thin men of Haddam,” Steven says. “O thin men of Switzerland,” I say. This is nearly a theft. Perhaps my lightest stanza and most outright move of satire.
VIII. Both poems use “accents.” In mine, “blackbirds” appear and sing in direct homage to Stevens.
There is no chocolate in this stanza, and the tone is slightly serious, and the humor has diminished.
IX. The correlation is one of ideas. The blackbird marks “the edge of one of many circles.” I use “before, during, and after,” which is clearly evocative, but also like Stevens, expresses this idea of an ongoing continuity.
X. Steven’s "bawds" in his phrase “bawds of euphony” sounds so similar to bards that bawds must surely refer to poets. In "Chocolate Ways," the poet is about to sing.
Even though chocolate in not mentioned, I do employ “the colors of the earth,” referencing the different colors of chocolate. Similarly, Stevens also uses a color in his stanza--green.
XI. Both poems use “Connecticut.” My use is satirical but not just satirical. Snow evokes Christmas, and the idea of Christmas in Connecticut is somewhat iconic.
The speaker of my poem arrives with Louis Vuitton luggage. And how would one describe the color of Vuitton? Chocolate. Like the blackbird, chocolate has to find a way to get in every stanza.
XII. Stevens says, “The river is moving.” I say, “The air is moving.” I borrow the word “cedar” from stanza thirteen of "Thirteen Ways." Another theft. I've stolen a lot.
Chocolate is not in my stanza because by this time chocolate is everywhere in the same way that Frank O'Hara can write about orange without mentioning orange.
XIII. In both poems, it starts to snow. In mine, the poem ends as sex begins, or maybe, just maybe, the speaker is going to eat a bar of chocolate, or perhaps, it is both.
I think by now I’ve proven that I’ve done all five of Bernadette Mayer’s Writing Experiments. Wait, you say, what about using landlords? Darlings, you’re right, I didn’t use landlords in my poem, but I did use it in this essay. After all, to quote another twentieth-century icon, Andy Warhol, “Art is what you can get away with.” Did I?
No comments:
Post a Comment