Baroqueify! Assignment #1: A Sort of a Song (transformation)

Posted on by Nada Gordon

Taking the rhetorical position for the moment that the credo of imagism was repressive, transform WCW’s admittedly beautiful little poem into something baroque. Do not remove any word or letter.

WCW’s original:

 <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

A Sort of a Song
Let the snake wait under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait,
sleepless.
— through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Saxifrage is my flower that splits
the rocks.
William Carlos Williams

and my version: (I broke my rule for the assignment just a little. You know why? Because I can.)

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

A Shunt of a Song
Pleather. The snark ­– red ­– feathery crimson –
waltzes his usual underthings as unruly weirdness
and there, writhing: beasts of words, slippery
owls, sands, quizzical lock of shrapnel’s harp.
Torrid stricken quim, its fettered undertow
and broken plaints. Slatternly it creeps, less
its servile thrum – tough Metamucil ™ as restive
anaphor. To reconnoiter cilia! Eating theatre
as polymorphous ecru, or ontologic pleather!
Sand, theatre, stonehenges. Capricorns! Omphalic
poses! (No ideas ­– balloons and butter in things.)
Invert! Saline axioms, afro rage: kiss my flower
sparking littoral sound that ends, that sluices,
that spits, that rocks.

Update:  Three more versions from Anne Boyer, Shanna Compton, Maurice Burford!

http://anneboyer.tumblr.com/post/33162285086/may-the-perverts-follow-assignment-1

http://blog.shannacompton.com/2012/10/baroqueify-1.html

http://whaleace.tumblr.com/post/33164742419/baroqueify-assignment-1-response

One thought on “Baroqueify! Assignment #1: A Sort of a Song (transformation)”

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s