“Blow my soul” is exactly what Hayes does. Hayes goes on : “When asked for a definition she called poems jazz sonnets ‘with certain properties-progression, improvisation, mimicry, etc.’ and concluded, ‘I decided to have fun-to blow my soul.” Then I would invite my students to try it, overlaying their specific 1) issues (what the sonnet is about) 2) rhythms (places and devices often have them) 3) tones (shadings of attitude) 4) musical taste/preference (rock, classical, blues, etc.)-how to develop the minimal language to simultaneously encapsulate and signal each. Hayes gives credit to poet Wanda Coleman for the idea of “American Sonnets,” quoting an interview with her in his Acknowledgments page about how she would “give an assignment for writing an American Sonnet”:įirst I would explain my process.
It’s the angry (though sometimes humorous) response, not just for black Americans (though definitely that) but also to anyone angry (and maybe a little scared) about these years of “Trump power”.Īmericans have been playing with the sonnet form since Ron Padgett and especially Ted Berrigan broke it open. American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin is, I’m calling it, the best book of poetry of the year. I knew Terrance Hayes’ new book was going to be powerful when some of the poems appeared in the American Poetry Reviewrecently. This bitter earth is a song Clogging the mouth before it is swallowed or spat out.American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes / Penguin / 2018 / paperback / 9780143133186 After a very long time The bones become dust again & the dust After a long time becomes dirt & the dirt becomes soil And the soil becomes grain again. The number alive equal To the number in graves.
For a long time The numbers were balanced. I remember The horror of her head on a pillow. Our warriors, weirdos, antiheroes, our sirs, Sires, our sighers, sidewinders & whiners, winos, And wonders become dust. Small worlds unwhirl in the corners of our homes After death.
American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin Probably, ghosts are allergic to us.
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