DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Amidst The Flowers A Jug of Wine" by Li Po Originally read: March 17, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Li Po Translations are hard to analyze.  Is the translator close to original text or not?  What is missed due to the transfer of language.  Regardless of bias or misinterpretation, I chose this poem because of how the images work -- they have qualities of persona, symbolism, and straight up Imagism, but they are explored and internalized to a certain degree where, I feel, the speaker, the moon, and the shadow have equal screen time, but different purposes. Yes, in most Li Po poems there's something about being drunk.  And in some ways, the introduction of wine -- something that distorts reality when drunk to much, is needed to loosen the readers own perceptions, creating the "suspension of belief" when the speaker personifies the moon and his shadow. And this is where the merge between image/symbolism come in, b...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Garden" by Heather Winterer Originally read: February 24, 2013 More information about the Poet: Heather Winterer (Note: You have to scroll down a bit to find her), I'm a sucker for this type of poem -- an allusion to the "fall of man"  "Paradise Lost," "East of Eden," "The History of the World Part I."  My reason for liking interpretations of the "fall of man" is because there's so much potential to work with and it's interesting to see how each artist deals with the scene. The first paragraph I find somewhat hilarious due to the word choice and the phrase, "Never remembered Adam's name for the first giraffe."  "Mutability" is a funny word in a poem like this because of what's not being stated in a sense.  It would be easy to put down "evolve" here, but there's heavy connotations behind that word.  The usage of mutability brings a s...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Hemingway Dines on Boiled Shrimp and Beer" by Campbell McGrath Originally read: January 10, 2013 More information about the Poet: Campbell McGrath Taking on the persona of someone famous is a tricky thing. I've seen persona done of Hades (far too many times) or (infamously too many times) Odysseus (all men dream of women like Persephone and/or Penelope).  Persona -- taking on the characteristics of a person, place or thing (let's say noun) within the poem. A Persona can be a work of satire or parody.  But satire and parody taken too far is just plain ridiculous and the work itself can't be taken seriously.It's a hard line to cross (what's obscene these days); however, It's not the images that I feel go overboard, rather some literary techniques. So, first, the poem takes on the persona of Hemingway.  The images in the first stanza are a bit over the top but go along with my perception of Hemingway -- a robust test...