Ars Poeticas

Lyric meditations on writing poetry in a time of ecological crisis and right wing populism_x000D_ _x000D_ During the time of an increasingly powerful alt-right which was also the time when species extinction was ever increasing, Juliana Spahr sat down to read Brecht. She was looking for an answer to Brecht's question about the dark times, about whether there will also be singing during the dark times. The answer that Brecht provides is that yes, that poets will sing of the dark times. In the six ars poeticas that Spahr writes, she sings of the dark times but also of coral, the pop song's possible liberation, and the love of comrades. She writes not only of the rich history of what politics and poetry have done with each other, but what they might yet do together._x000D_ _x000D_ [Sample Poem]_x000D_ _x000D_ from ARS POETICA 1: CORAL _x000D_ _x000D_ To write poetry after Castle Bravo._x000D_ Then to write poetry after 1500 feet._x000D_ After high-quality steel frame buildings_x000D_ not completely collapsed, except_x000D_ all panels and roofs blown in._x000D_ After 2,000 feet._x000D_ After reinforced concrete buildings collapsed_x000D_ or standing but badly damaged._x000D_ After 3,500 feet._x000D_ After church buildings completely destroyed._x000D_ After brick walls severely cracked._x000D_ After 4,400 feet._x000D_ After 5,300 feet._x000D_ After roof tiles bubbled and melted._x000D_ After 6,500 feet._x000D_ After mass distortion of large steel buildings._x000D_ To write the Cold War and doves._x000D_ The Cold War and tapeworms._x000D_ The Cold War and sails of ships._x000D_ The Cold War and the steel of bridges._x000D_ To write poetry after that._x000D_ To write in a world with few nutrients,_x000D_ one that rocks back and forth._x000D_ The same beginning in both the sea and the land._x000D_ To write poetry that knows a hard, cup-shaped skeleton._x000D_ And then poetry that knows_x000D_ the long, stinging tentacles capturing._x000D_ Knows the water._x000D_ The Atlantic and the Pacific._x000D_ The connections between._x000D_ The one moving into the other._x000D_ To develop poetry in the stomach_x000D_ that then exits through the mouth_x000D_ which is the anus._x000D_ To write poetry in the blue_x000D_ that is the absence of green._x000D_ Light penetration._x000D_ Whorls of tentacles._x000D_ The slime earth too._x000D_ Hunters and farmers._x000D_ Shallow water._x000D_ Few nutrients._x000D_ High fecundity._x000D_ Rapid growth._x000D_ Multiarmed morphology and tube feet._x000D_ To write tube feet._x000D_ To write the exact place._x000D_ Seaward slope place._x000D_ Sea terrace place._x000D_ Algal ridge place._x000D_ Coral algal zone place._x000D_ Seaward reef flat place._x000D_ Islet or interisland reef crest place._x000D_ Lagoon reef flat place._x000D_ Lagoon terrace place._x000D_ Lagoon floor or basin place._x000D_ Coral knolls, pinnacle and patch reefs place._x000D_ To write poetry after.