It’s a cold Sunday February morning
and I’m one of eight men waiting
for the doors of Toys R Us to open
in a mall on the eastern tip of Long Island.
We’ve come for the Japanese electronic game
that’s so hard to find.
BE ASHAMED, Philip Schultz. Like the world would catch fire if you said "Wii" in a poem. I hope a telegram comes to life and murders you while endlessly reading aloud its own contents: The Future. Stop. Is Here and the Future. Stop. Is Good.
5 comments:
Hee! I love this!
Poor Philip. The world is laughing at him.
I like your telegram. But I like his poem too. Except for maybe the "look i read old poetry instead of playing computer games" bit, but really the poem is ABOUT being a codger and i didn't think it took too much pride in that, merely observed it.
I think the thing with putting THE FUTURE IS HERE terms in your poems is the worry about timelessness - will the word "wii" MEAN much in a few years? "Japanese electronic game" may be a way to make the poem slightly more universal.
The problem with throwing new terms into your poems is that sometimes it can seem like doing it for the sake of it (hey i said facebook in my poem look how cutting edge i am), or that parts of your audience mightn't know what you're on about. Sure, there are ways of using "wii" in a poem that aren't closed to people who aren't part of gaming culture, but the approach he's used works just as well.
I worried about timelessness a lot when I was a teenager, to the point where I couldn't even use a word like "spatula" in a poem. Then I threw up my hands and said EFF IT. Now I write entirely in binary, with the occasional foray into karst terminology.
Adam, I need to add you to my links, don't I? Forgive the oversight!
yeah, i reckon "EFF IT" is as good a response to the dilemma of timelessness as any. I dunno if it's my response though, or if all of my poems are timeless either. i reckon both approaches work.
re: links - i would be honoured. monkey punch dinosaur is in its twilight phase - it's ending at 100 punches. about fifteen to go, now. we're in the final stages of our "last chance" contribution drive.
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