Welcome! And the villanelle.

Hello 3150A,

I thought I'd make a blog where I could post poems that fit our class discussion, but weren't included in our texts, or media that you could enjoy outside of our technology-deprived classroom.  Since we're talking about villanelles on Wednesday, here are two villanelles, the first of which is in our text, and I post simply because there's a recording of Dylan Thomas actually reading his "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," and he has quite a memorable reading voice.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377

This next poem is one of my favorite villanelles, and I'll try to bring a copy to class.  It's by Richard Hugo, and there's also a recording of Hugo reading the poem on the poetry foundation website.

The Freaks at Spurgin Road Field

The dim boy claps because the others clap.
The polite word, handicapped, is muttered in the stands.
Isn’t it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

One whole day I sit, contrite, dirt, L.A.
Union Station, ’46, sweating through last night.
The dim boy claps because the others clap.

Score, 5 to 3. Pitcher fading badly in the heat.
Isn’t it wrong to be or not be spastic?
Isn’t it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

I’m laughing at a neighbor girl beaten to scream
by a savage father and I’m ashamed to look.
The dim boy claps because the others clap.

The score is always close, the rally always short.
I’ve left more wreckage than a quake.
Isn’t it wrong, the way the mind moves back.

The afflicted never cheer in unison.
Isn’t it wrong, the way the mind moves back
to stammering pastures where the picnic should have worked.
The dim boy claps because the others clap.


http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/4110

I'll reiterate this in class, but please make a habit of checking this blog at least once or twice a week.  I may post assignments here, or ask you in class to post your own work here.