Author Spotlight
Sandra Doller, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!
If you want to see a poem that excels based on its sound meaning, here’s one below the fold, from the just released IE Reader:
We Hunter the Excuser.
Sandra DollerWe hunter the excuser
we hunter the treesome laundry was not being done
& its implicationsits it’s
’tis ack
pracktacklewe winter here
verbiger
& freeaspirante
tied up in the trees& your car was wooden
you did not know better
in the dreama full jar of heroines
am I to be blamed for
aspen spring
Syntactically, I thought I was catching the drift up until “its it’s,” then the prosody swoops in and takes over. It’s like there was a brief entanglement between the cognitive meaning and the sound meaning for a second, but the sounds won big with “pracktackle” and cognition backed away, tail-tucked. It stuck around, though, right at the property line of sound, and inserts itself occasionally in the rest of the poem. When it comes to meaning, I’m glad sound won, but I’m also glad narrative stuck around.
So what I want to know is — was this a process-driven poem? Sandra Doller, EXPLAIN YOURSELF! (fingers snapping)
[Want more Dollers? How about this, from the still so holy wow Rabbit Light Movies Or, just pick up the IE Reader. You need more poetry, and this book is the who’s who of whoever you never heard of. It’s got like 50 people in it that all came through the inexplicably great IE Reading Series here in Baltimore, so it’s gotta be good — and it is. In fact, I’ll probably post a bunch more poems from it throughout the week as a sorta unofficial IE READER WEEK.]
Tags: ie reader, sandra doller
Wow. I really, really like this poem. Now I’m gonna go hunt down other stuff by Sandra Doller. Thanks, Adam.
Wow. I really, really like this poem. Now I’m gonna go hunt down other stuff by Sandra Doller. Thanks, Adam.
[heyhey Adam, thx! i like what yr saying, especially the bits about the right hand of sound vs. the left hand of sense (cue Rob’t Mitchum fists here). that’s the fight i fight. as for this being a process-driven piece, well, fine fine q. i suppose so, esp if by “process” you mean rhythm (snap snap). there are sure parts of the poem which offspring from other parts. then there are parts that are from other nether parts, like the “its it’s” (from a conversation w/a friend about some “its” and “it’s”es in his work, but not a reference really, just a residue). (oh that shld read “aspirante / tied up in trees” above, just bc of rhythm. no “the”). i think if you see the rest of the piece, there’s even a sense of place, a street maybe, some nature, some defiance, some he/we/you–sound/rhythm versus the world of things: there’s a fight to say something, to tell it off, to hear about it, to make some new bits of world by stringing things/non-things together–hunting & excuse. anyway that’s how it seems to me now; the poem is years old so i don’t really remember the real process–there was a train involved–i could be making this up. as for Explaining Myself, well i couldn’t possibly dahling. but thx fr asking. (& thx CH too fr hunting!) -sd. ps. here’s the whole piece below; haven’t yet seen the IE Reader but am tickled to be included.]
We Hunter the Excuser.
We hunter the excuser
we hunter the tree
some laundry was not being done
& its implications
its it’s
‘tis ack
pracktackle
we winter here
verbiger
& free
aspirante
tied up in trees
& your car was wooden
you did not know better
in the dream
a full jar of heroines
am i to be blamed for
aspen spring
please dispute plenty
you stop off for
you hold on for
place the bags on the floor
he lifted up
his lief
a buoy
an extra
a tarnish
plenty
stops no man
organize the orange
landing
take care of the bees
see to the tumble
make your face shaped square
tell me about it.
[heyhey Adam, thx! i like what yr saying, especially the bits about the right hand of sound vs. the left hand of sense (cue Rob’t Mitchum fists here). that’s the fight i fight. as for this being a process-driven piece, well, fine fine q. i suppose so, esp if by “process” you mean rhythm (snap snap). there are sure parts of the poem which offspring from other parts. then there are parts that are from other nether parts, like the “its it’s” (from a conversation w/a friend about some “its” and “it’s”es in his work, but not a reference really, just a residue). (oh that shld read “aspirante / tied up in trees” above, just bc of rhythm. no “the”). i think if you see the rest of the piece, there’s even a sense of place, a street maybe, some nature, some defiance, some he/we/you–sound/rhythm versus the world of things: there’s a fight to say something, to tell it off, to hear about it, to make some new bits of world by stringing things/non-things together–hunting & excuse. anyway that’s how it seems to me now; the poem is years old so i don’t really remember the real process–there was a train involved–i could be making this up. as for Explaining Myself, well i couldn’t possibly dahling. but thx fr asking. (& thx CH too fr hunting!) -sd. ps. here’s the whole piece below; haven’t yet seen the IE Reader but am tickled to be included.]
We Hunter the Excuser.
We hunter the excuser
we hunter the tree
some laundry was not being done
& its implications
its it’s
‘tis ack
pracktackle
we winter here
verbiger
& free
aspirante
tied up in trees
& your car was wooden
you did not know better
in the dream
a full jar of heroines
am i to be blamed for
aspen spring
please dispute plenty
you stop off for
you hold on for
place the bags on the floor
he lifted up
his lief
a buoy
an extra
a tarnish
plenty
stops no man
organize the orange
landing
take care of the bees
see to the tumble
make your face shaped square
tell me about it.
WINNER
WINNER
This is awesome. Thanks Sandra. It is nice to have someone respond, and in top form like this, too. A++.
This is awesome. Thanks Sandra. It is nice to have someone respond, and in top form like this, too. A++.
Even more Sandra Doller soon.
Even more Sandra Doller soon.
I miss this feature.
I miss this feature.