DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Rule Book" by Lauren Shapiro Originally read: March 2, 2013 More information about the Poet: Lauren Shapiro So this poem can be mistaken from a found poem because most of the lines are rules to some things like amusement parks or being a model (the usual troubles of regular citizens), but there are some lines here that take away from the sense of the "found" and more of the "constructed" through the use of hyperbole and litotes.  The game, in a sense, is to separate the realistic from the constructed.  Also note, that rules are made by authority figures and, in some point in the poem, the authority changes. 1) "At the age of ten you will be allowed / in the deep end."  -- internal rhyme brings a innocuous feel to the line.  Also this shows that the speaker is addressing someone.  Within the next couple of lines, the personal "you" and the speaker will disappear from the poem and the focus will be o...

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Song" by Ghassan Zaqtan Originally read: February 18, 2013 More information about the Poet: Ghassan Zaqtan  So I keep thinking in my head war poems are really hard to do. I once was asked, "do you know any Vietnam War Poems."  No, not really.  Yes there's been poems about World War I and II.  But nothing too recent, and I wonder why.  It's not like poets have stopped writing about wars -- all topics are on the table. Yet this poem doesn't address the casualties of war.  What this poem does is take away that emotional sentimentality line that (the emotional suffering of war) -- yes, I think by now that most people will agree that emotionally speaking -- war is bad, and instead shows the aftermath of war in a non-Hollywood fashion. Note -- I'm referring to the concept of war being written in poetry rather than the individual stories  like "The Death of the Turret Ball Gunner" by Randell Jarell  where th...