Saturday, December 20, 2008

Laureate of umbrage

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4 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Pepean poetry:

Science, science, science!
Everything is beautiful
blown up beneath my glass.
Colors dazzle insect wings.
A drop of water swirls
like marble. Ordinary
crumbs become stalactites
set in perfect angles
of geometry I’d thought
impossible. Few will
ever see what I see
through this microscope..
Cranial measurements
crowd my notebook pages,
and I am moving close,
close to how these numbers
signify aspects of
national character.
Her genitalia
will float inside a labeled
pickling jar in the Musee
de l’Homme on a shelf
above Broca’s brain:
“The Venus Hottentot.”

12/20/2008 6:50 PM
Mr roT said...

AI, thank you. I had regretted posting this entitle as I had, not knowing anything about this fine artist except ther bio I read in sfgate.

I threw her into the identity politics group too hastily and posted without investigation.

The Venus Hottentot and is implicit (Science = whitey = kill blacks) is marvelously distilled in the shit you post here, vindicating my prejudices.

It's a little depressing to be right sometimes. Somehow I would have preferred the counterexample.

12/21/2008 1:02 AM
Tecumseh said...

I did not research this deeply -- just went to her website, skimmed through some bland pap, and hit upon the only stuff that had some zing to it. You sum it all up succinctly and accurately.

But hey, look at her busy schedule. Seethe, JJ, seethe. How come she gets so many invites to recite her poetry, and you don't get invited to explain von Neumann or whatever?

There's also this little gem on Obamapoetics, on how the Derek Walcott-toting, June Jordan-quoting president will affect poets and poetry. Oh, joy. Go, Pepe, go. It's tailor-made for you.

12/21/2008 7:56 AM
Mr roT said...

AI, thanks for bringing me back to Earth, reminding me that I am not being invited to speak at Black History Month at Yale or whatever.

I hope you are enjoying balmy beantown these days while I suffer through legs of lamb, Chianti, and sauteéd artichokes in dull old Rome and environs. We're planning a junket to the Castelli for a bout with some porchetta if you'd like to join us.

Did you enjoy the picture of Mont Blanc?

12/21/2008 11:13 AM

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