In honour of my first challenge, here's a poem from Eunoia by Christian Bök, the Canadian experimental poet. I'll be writing more about this book for sure. I thought this poem was appropriate, given that Eunoia as a whole is all about the vowels.Thanks to Cara for hosting this weekly celebration of poetry at Ooh... Books!
From Eunoia by Christian Bök, published in 2001 by Coach House Press:
Vowels
loveless vessels
we vow
solo love
we see
love solve loss
else we see
love sow woe
selves we woo
we lose
losses we levee
we owe
we sell
loose vows
so we love
less well
so low
so level
wolves evolve
UPDATE: Evan from Coach House posted this in the comments, but I'll do it here, too: there's a Eunoia trailer on YouTube! Check it out, it's wonderful. It will give you a hint of the impressive scale of Bök's undertaking. And also it will likely make you giggle in places.
8 comments:
Ooh . . . that is GOOD. So true and I love the WCW-like stanzas the repetition and, of course, all those vowels.
Thanks (from us at Coach House) for taking a look at Eunoia. Thought you might enjoy this homemade trailer (of Chapter I) for the book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEdpv-4BR4g
Cara - Glad you like! It's anagramming of the highest order, but more than that it actually carries weight, which is impressive.
Evan - You are more than welcome, thanks for the comment! I'm really looking forward to reading the whole thing. I've updated my post with the link to the trailer, too.
That was kind of fun ... and weird ... and different. Thanks for exposing me to it!
You're welcome! It's neat, isn't it? It's a very cool example of what can come out of writing while setting very strict rules for oneself.
Anagramming of the highest order...what a good phrase!
The images in the video give an oddly particular and sometimes political slant to the words.
Wonderful poem you share here!
sleeping dreams
Jeanne - Yes, I noticed that about the trailer. I'm curious to see if I find it as political when I read the words on their own.
gautami tripathy - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed.
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