POETRY



The Phenomenon of Ecstasy by Mary Jo Bang photo

In the brothel diorama I took the missionary-position

deciding in advance that there is no under,

only equals, only parallel lines

across which will blue the onset of wonder.

      The cat-puppet dances

      hinge-kneed in a faint

      light that falls through

      an elongated slit.

With your free hand you can dial-a-season: It's October

or it's April. It's flux

of a mouth touching down on another's.

The other touches back. A cold mirror between. Dark

on the far side. Blind on the near

but for a rake of light caused by part-sparkler

part-a winter mint bit in a nighttime room.

A compulsion to count.

The bare body. The heart's downbeat

assaults the spine. A slight movement to the right

and my foot makes a chair

list, blister of unbroken air at an alter of ear.

Alternatives call for too much.

Architecturally speaking, I'm a restorative friction,

the sarcophagus lid above me wearing away

at resistance. A doll on her back. On a bed

being taken apart. Look at me dying.

I am lying. I am not.








©2002
Mary Jo Bang and Nerve.com

Commentarium (7 Comments)

May 06 02 - 8:27am
JA

I really liked thid piece...ur images flow so well throughout the poem, yet they seem freshly aligned...well done...do you have any other poetry on the web...I belong to pathetic.org...if you wanna chat, write, or read poetry....JewelsUK123@hotmail.com (AIM: JewelsUK123)

May 17 02 - 5:42pm
Next

I enjoyed this piece- i think it's beautifull!

May 20 02 - 1:05pm
MW

Mary Jo Bang! (POW!) I love you!

Jul 17 02 - 12:56am
anp

beautiful wording.

Jul 28 02 - 6:22pm
jl

Beautifully written, thanks for writing it!

Aug 09 02 - 8:15am
AEOH

It's intriguing to find this sort of 'collaborative' effort between a classic European Surrealist, such as Dali, and contemporary writers, with striking yet subtle differences in aesthetic method (approach), image choice, and the expressed mental monologues (in Dali's case, his own self-image either hidden or exposed on canvas) of the voice of each of the material involved.
This "Phenomenon" poem is surely a noteworthy, particularly because it is hard to pull off a poem like this, that can be read apart from seeing Dali's montage. This, like W.H. Auden's ICARUS FALLING, is a fine piece, written in the Ekphratic style (a poem written in regards to or inspired by another artist's work, usually in a medium quite different than the vehicle of a poem.
As for poetry in many other forms that may still be considered under the enormous umbrella of SURREALISM, this poem I find is extremely similar and a good example of what Robert Bly coined the term Leaping Poetry. Some experimental work by Frederico Garcia Lorca and many American writers fall into this category. As one theme may seem to thread, barely, between scenes and metaphors and through even more 'surprising' imagery, the emotional impact increases, while some rational thought is forced to lie dormant. In this way, the sweeping through earthen natural verve develops simple, clean and occasionally independently vague ideas into a truly organic and living body, full of surprise, and a rare instance of absurdity changed into exquisitely genuine and new poems. Robert Bly has his own opinions about Leaping Poetry (I have to admit he DID coin the phrase), but I feel that this term (LEAPING) is much more a precise title for the sort of poem that Mary Jo Bang has crafted for us here.

The bi-annual publication of SOLO by SOLO PRESS has been circulating across the states with a whisper. Bly himself is featured, with a very consertatively written poem, alongside Billy Collins, the Poet Laureate of the U.S. right now. I'm speaking of SOLO, issue 5, where one earlier endeavor of mine with the leaping style is displayed amongst quite important contempory poets. My poem is entitled CLOSER and, though the images themselves are not wild and immediately ambiguous or even extremely inventive, the inspired and subtleties are found in the freedom to slip from one scene to another. Eventually, if the poem is kept short and its images are held strongly together by even the swiftest hints of recognizable links between the lines, the poem builds block by block a sort of magical and at times inexpressible complexity that other forms of poetry are not able to achieve. These need not be intellectual word play, nor vehicles of a philosophy, not even a sort of confessional poetry, or narrative poetry.
What one may want to stamp with the title of a surreal poem the one thing the poem must do is exercise the mind enough to dismiss logical processes and/or the rational rendering of a poem, complete without exposing explicit signifiers such as transitional phrases/words/stana breaks. This must take place first with the writer as he writes and then the reader while she becomes an active participant; just as s booklover is to an author as an ear is to a mouth.

Aug 09 02 - 9:03am
lsly

at 1st i thought,''what the hell does this have to do with the photo'' and then i noticed the mentioning insects, spiders, much like how dali sprinkled those things everywhere

i don't agree with everything AEOH said. whos ever heard of leaping poetry?! but i do know about Solo, bc they've sent me rejection letters the last 2 yrs...

but to order past issues and also the issue with robert bly and collins just mail to this place and request info.

5146 Foothill Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013

or for east coast
508 Finley St., North Wilkesboro, NC 28659

Now you say something

Incorrect please try again
Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear: