I finished Kaveh Akbar's collection of poems "Pilgrim Bell," and it is excellent [I look forward to reading his Call a Wolf a Wolf]. I have been inspired by many of the poems, and I will list some of my thoughts here.
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debriswoman and I were talking about the ghazal as a form and how the trick is to get the
qaafiyaa right (the rhyming pattern) and match it with the radif which is the final word that repeats. This one does that really well.
"Vines" is a wonderful poem which I used to inspire a Holmes drabble. It's laid out on the page in diagonals like vines.
"The Miracle" is notable to me for the construction 'You too X to Y' in discordant contrast. Examples:
You too locked to door...
You too pebble to stone. Too saddle to horse. Too crime to pay.
"In the Language of Mammon" is written in backwards, mirrored-font. And "Palace Mosque, Frozen" is a concrete poem in concentric squares. Both of these I want to try.
"The Palace" is a long poem, but I like many of the lines.
There are no good kings.
Only beautiful palaces.
...
There are no doors in America.
Only king-sized holes
...
Hello, this Kaveh speaking:
I wanted to be Keats
(but I've already lived six years too long).
...
There are no good kings,
only burning palaces.
debriswoman and I were talking about the ghazal as a form and how the trick is to get the qaafiyaa right (the rhyming pattern) and match it with the radif which is the final word that repeats. This one does that really well.
"Vines" is a wonderful poem which I used to inspire a Holmes drabble. It's laid out on the page in diagonals like vines.
"The Miracle" is notable to me for the construction 'You too X to Y' in discordant contrast. Examples:
You too locked to door...
You too pebble to stone. Too saddle to horse. Too crime to pay.
"In the Language of Mammon" is written in backwards, mirrored-font. And "Palace Mosque, Frozen" is a concrete poem in concentric squares. Both of these I want to try.
"The Palace" is a long poem, but I like many of the lines.
There are no good kings.
Only beautiful palaces.
...
There are no doors in America.
Only king-sized holes
...
Hello, this Kaveh speaking:
I wanted to be Keats
(but I've already lived six years too long).
...
There are no good kings,
only burning palaces.
