[stylist] Poem - "Ode to Coffee" - Final Draft (Maybe)

[William L Houts]

HI Jackie,

Your "Ode to Bill" is charming and very, very flattering.  What you're 
doing, I'd say, is very gamelike, and games are very important to me.  
As I think I wrote this morning, writing poetry for me often consists of 
playing games with words, ideas, the very act of writing.  I'm not 
sayhing that I always win --whatever that would mean-- but it has 
something to do with the way I go from the initial line or phrase to the 
endgame, when I've, hopefully, written ten or twelve lines which speak 
meaningfully to the reader about some object or idea.  I think I relate 
to our beloved English language the same way you might relate to slides 
at a water park.  There's enormous fun to be had with all of the 
surfaces and contours of the language, and I try to play on / in / with 
them all. I'm not saying that this always leads to successful work, 
whatever that would mean--  but it seems to get me places. And that's 
exactly what you've done, using my ppoem as a kind of literary water 
slide. Welcome to your otterhood, Jackie Lee, LOL.


--Bill



On 7/10/2015 11:49 AM, Jackie Williams via stylist wrote:
> Bill,
> Will you please write out your last name for me. I cannot find it in your
> e-mail.
> Your evented words totally inspire me. My poetry teacher often assigns a
> random word poem to us, and we have to pass a dictionary around, each one
> pointing to a word and we have to use it in a poem. We can take a few
> liberties after it is done, but we must address the word in some way in the
> poem.
> Your poem inspired me to do the same using some of your unusual words and
> phrases, to write whatever came to mind.
> Please keep in mind that when I do a cut and paste, the italic feature
> usually does not work, and often the format is changed. I do not know how to
> change this. So I will attempt to attach it also.
> I hope you take this effort as a compliment as that is what it is meant to
> be. I could never come up with as original words as you always effortlessly
> seem to do.
> Needless to say, My morning mug of coffee breaks all of my rules for
> Barrett's Esophagus, but I have it anyway. And perhaps one or two more
> during the day.
>
> A Random Word Poem
> after Bill
>
> Instead of randomly picked from the dictionary, these words and phrases are
> from a poem about coffee, by Bill
>
> font, wizard  sun, mystic kiss, starlike, lightning now,
> shockwitch, ever devil, bejazzed, lying skag,
> hags of drain, prayed your rosy beans, begetting thusly printed suns,
> novels raining sane, on desert dire fire, weaving weird unlikely,  sage,
> somber dreams
>
> A Circle of Survival
> 	after Bill M________
> 	"An Ode to Coffee
> My fruitful font is for the blind,
> depending on that mystic sun,
> imagined Wizard's kiss.
> It chases shockwitch, ever devil
> that otherwise pursues my every day.
>
> I praise your rosy beans of thought,
> begetting thusly printed poems.
> But night will come with bejazzed dreams,
> lying skag, and hags of drain.
> Lightning now yet  starlike comes.
> Poems raining sane, on desert dire fire,
> are weaving weird unlikely  sage.
>
> But not before that steaming cup
> of acid biting brew, as black as an Eritrean
> escaping his own war-torn night.
> My oft-drained cup releases soggy dreams,
> vibrates the visions for this coming day.
>
>
> Jackie Lee
>
> Time is the school in which we learn.
> Time is the fire in which we burn.
> Delmore Schwartz	
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L
> Houts via stylist
> Sent: Friday, July 10, 2015 9:28 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Cc: William L Houts
> Subject: [stylist] Poem - "Ode to Coffee" - Final Draft (Maybe)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Good Morning, Gang,
>
> Here's a poem I wrote maybe two years ago.  It makes sense, I think, in
> an abstract sort of way.  It's clearly what the title says, but there's
> a lot of word play and general hijinks here, and some readers may come
> away ready to light torches, leash some dogs and lead a party to burn
> down my castle.  That's all right, I'm used to it, ha.
>
> --Bill
>
>
> ---
>
> *Ode to Coffee *
>
> Steaming font of wizard  sun;
>
> Black, you bring this mystic kiss
>
> of starlike lakes, you lightning now,
>
> shockwitch full of morning bless!
>
> You shake us clean of soggy dreams,
>
> those fleas, those frogs from ever devil
>
> jungle night. This  song I write
>
> bejazzed with juices dark and wild
>
> though milder than your cokes, your cakes
>
> of lying skag, those hags of drain.
>
> Balzac, frantic, prayed your rosy beans,
>
> begetting thusly printed suns,
>
> his doctor novels raining sane
>
> on desert dire fire minds:
>
> we follow suit, weaving weird unlikely,  sage.
>
> while time pursues, that perfect hound:
>
> behold a poem, a prayer, a page!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 


"Oh, Sophie!  Whyfore have you eated all de cheeldren?"