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Anne Sexton poems for Monday

Anne Sexton is awesome. She and Plath were friends and mutual admirers. I recommend the following poems:

"The Truth the Dead Know"

"Her Kind"

"The Room of My Life"

Sylvia Plath

For Friday, we'll read three poems by the dynamic poetic powerhouse Sylvia Plath, who during her too-brief life created a rich and riveting body of work. Please read each of the following poems with care (twice if possible):

The title poem from Plath's first collection, "The Colossus."

And two poems from her second collection, the posthumously published Ariel: "Daddy" and "Lady Lazarus."

 Sylvia Plath the woman

Sylvia Plath the muse      

("What Sylvia Plath Taught Me" by Summer Pierre)

If you're interested in exploring the question of Sylvia Plath's choice to deploy elaborate, exaggerated Holocaust imagery in the extended metaphors of some of her best known poems from Ariel, quite a bit of critical work has been done on this question, including "'The Boot in the Face': The Problem of the Holocaust in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath," which is fairly critical of Plath's choices and "'Black Phones': Postmodern Poetics in the Holocaust Poetry of Sylvia Plath" by Matthew Boswell, which explores different critical perspectives on Plath's Holocaust imagery, and some poetic and artistic contexts of her choice to use these images, without necessarily taking a side.

Howl, parts i and ii––Optional reading for Thursday

Allen Ginsberg's Howl, parts i and ii

And don't forget your required reading: "America" and "Supermarket in California" in the blue coursepacket.

Ron Padgett poems

The Ron Padgett poems and the Ted Berrigan poem for tomorrow are in the blue course packet. Here's another optional Ron Padgett poem––"How to Be Perfect"––if you're interested. It's longish but reads quickly, and it includes some pretty good advice. It also has some resonances with "How to Live" by Charles Harper Webb.

A poetry reading flyer made by Joe Brainard,

a close friend of both Berrigan and Ron Padgett

Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks

It’s 2016 and you’re part of a group getting ready to create a monument to Gwendolyn Brooks somewhere in Chicago for her centenary in 2017. First, decide what poem (or segment of a poem) of hers you would choose to include on her monument. Also contemplate what elements of her biography you would highlight. Deliberate and decide, creating a rough sketch of the poem (or poem segment) and biography. You have 250 words total to work with, words that will be added to either a plaque with Brooks’s image or grace a statue representing her likeness. Be ready to discuss why your group chose the poem and the biographical details you chose.

Second, the major donor for the Brooks monument has created a fund to replicate a smaller version the monument at her alma mater, University High School in Urbana Illinois. The mini-monument can either be a 3x5 foot plaque or a statue no more than 4 feet tall (which could be placed on a pedestal). Spend ten minutes walking around the campus at Uni (inside and/or outside) and choose a location for the mini-monument and a rationale for its location. 

Why Slam... Is a Good Thing

"Why Slam Causes Pain and Is a Good Thing" by Bob Holman