Wednesday Draft Dump II: Dump and Dumper
All stunts performed by an amateur poet on a closed course, do not attempt
Hi! It’s me! And I have a full week of poems to show you. In this edition, we’ve got a moon poem (in contrast to my usual sun poems), a brief attempt at my own translation exercise (I think I should’ve used a longer source text), one quote from the movie Party Girl (hmm maybe I should watch Party Girl tonight), and my first Petrarchan sonnet in a looooooooong time (one of TWO rhyming poems this week, momma!).
As you may remember, these are first drafts! No edits! No revisions, yet! But hey, if you like certain things about them, or have ideas…I’d love to hear them.
A couple notes about the poems:
Last week my brother was driving us to the movies and the moon was HUGE. I asked him to pull over so I could try and get a picture, and instead he swerved the car back and forth to give me a hard time. I said, Fine, I am just going to write a poem about it instead! And I did. I did also attempt to take a photo once we’d parked, but – well, there’s a poem about it.
Before I get on the plane to go home, my mom usually takes her perfume and sprays a little bit on Seel (my small plush best friend of 24 years). I used that as inspiration for last night’s poem. My brother got me that book about sonnets I’d wanted, so expect seeing more sonnets from me in the future.
The translation poem is based on the penultimate paragraph of Parakeet, by Marie-Helene Bertino. I think I needed to use a longer portion of the text, and I needed to run it through more languages – I want more distance from the source text when I revise it.
Thanks for reading. I’m already starting to feel bummed at the idea of April being over. A couple of these have serious potential, which is a confidence-boosting bonus when your work is acting as a diary-in-verse.
4/5/223
Recently, A Series of Questions
How did I get into Zoot Suit Riot, anyway? Were my parents listening to swing music voluntarily or did they have no choice (1990s)? How much money will be enough for me? Does anyone else keep all the spare buttons that come with their clothes? Did my grandma ever wash her sweet tea jug? Would you consider me a loyal person? Why did I ever think I’d want to live in California? Does my cat miss me? Do any of the celebrities I’ve met remember meeting me? Why do I have such trouble with eggs? Do you think I’d make a good designer? Do you think I’d make a good writer? Do you think I’d make a good actress? What is valor? Do I want it? Am I tall, for a girl? How many teeth do I have right now? Where do I see myself in 10 years? Can I ever afford to have kids? Are people being mean when they say, “I could never pull that off” about my outfits? What is even scary about clowns? Who will be the next Batman? Do I know a disproportionate number of people with blue eyes? Is the internet ever going to be fun again? Will I recognize the happiest day of my life as it happens? Should I get LASIK or will it ruin my eyes? What is my actual bra size? Is Tom Selleck still alive? Am I picturing the right guy when I think “Tom Selleck”? How do you solve a Rubik’s cube and what is an algorithm? What do other people think about as they’re falling asleep? How far away are the coyotes? Am I as capable of love as I would like to be?
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