The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven
Mairéad Byrne made a survey. I took it. Is it scientific research? Is it a poem? Is it a joke? Is it about couches? Or comfort or people? She wrote a poem in 2006 called “The Good News” that says, like, “The cross between a poem & a carrot is a poem./The cross between a poem & a forklift truck is a poem” — so I guess the survey is a poem. I like to think of it that way as much as I like to think of it as research or a joke.
Mairéad Byrne was the first poet who really blew me away. Her blog, Heaven, remains one of the most fetching and questionable poetry documents I’m familiar with. She’s been putting provocative, ephemeral, animate poems there since 2003. Now Publishing Genius is releasing her book, The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven, which collects many of them into 224 pages. It’s available now for $10, but won’t ship for 2-3 weeks. But in three weeks it will cost $14.95 through your local bookseller.
Here are a couple other interesting things. I mean, really:
SOS Poetry at ubu/web — a free eBook
“Some Differences Between Poetry and Stand Up”
Review of Talk Poetry at ReadWritePoem
And for our Portuguese readers, a review in Portuguese
Here’s a poem:
AMERICA
America is just the greatest man. We got all this space & democracy & everything & just the greatest music. Like Chuck Berry & Buddy Holly & Elvis & Bob Dylan & Bob Marley & Van Morrison & The Beatles & Vivaldi & everything. I mean how cool is that. And poets — look at what’s her face Anne Bradstreet & Emily Dickins & Charles Dickinson & Walt Whitman — WE LOVE YOU WALTER — & Yeats & Keats A all those dudes & Langston Hughes and RUMI! This is the GREATEST country! I LOVE IT! DON’T YOU JUST LOVE IT? YOU GOTTA LOVE IT! We got ICE-SKATERS! We bust the ATOM! We got CONIFERS! We were FIRST in space! We got the GOBI DESERT! We got MONGOLIA! And NIAGARA! And the GRAND CANYON! And THE PYRAMIDS! You’re not going to catch me saying civilization with the Mayflower! None of that shit — I mean how did those guys BUILD those things. THE PYRAMIDS. I mean people still don’t understand the physics of it. They had to had rollers or something. No, King Tut is as American as anyone in my book. As American as Abe Lincoln. Did you know they had SLAVES back then: Isn’t that the weirdest?? Hey pass me that snow globe will you. YEAH!
I guess in relation to that poem (which was published in her 2007 book, Talk Poetry, from Miami University Press), it’s interesting to consider that Mairéad is Irish and moved here as an adult in 1994. So is she dissing us? Is she dissing dumb Americans? The snow globe line reminds me of stoners. Is she dissing stoners? I don’t think so, but you can. I’ve read that poem a million times and each time I get hung up on the startling clarity of her expression.
Here’s a poem from The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven:
DONALD HALL WOULD HATE ME
if he knew me
I don’t want to be great
it takes me 10 minutes
to write a poem
sometimes
& then
I want to whisper or
shout it about
town
My poems are usually brief
they resemble each other
they are anecdotal
they do not extend themselves
they make no great claims
they connect small things to other small things
I LIKE SHORT!
I just want to kick the leaves
& have done
She is my favorite. Take the survey. That is all.
Tags: mairead byrne, Publishing Genius
i want this book. also, i took the survey. my answers were yes. yes. me, my girlfriend, sometimes a friend. daniel.
i want this book. also, i took the survey. my answers were yes. yes. me, my girlfriend, sometimes a friend. daniel.
I agree about the Forklift/poem cross while not about the carrot. I have three couches – I sleep on one, watch a movie about once a month on another and the third is in my writing room where I sexually harass my secretary and agent. I’ve always liked my middle initial – Z. Because it sets me apart from the rest of the J. Bakers but not the rest of the J.Z. Bakers.
I agree about the Forklift/poem cross while not about the carrot. I have three couches – I sleep on one, watch a movie about once a month on another and the third is in my writing room where I sexually harass my secretary and agent. I’ve always liked my middle initial – Z. Because it sets me apart from the rest of the J. Bakers but not the rest of the J.Z. Bakers.
I agree about the Forklift/poem cross while not about the carrot. I have three couches – I sleep on one, watch a movie about once a month on another and the third is in my writing room where I sexually harass my secretary and agent. I’ve always liked my middle initial – Z. Because it sets me apart from the rest of the J. Bakers but not the rest of the J.Z. Bakers.
I took the survey.
I have too many couches.
My dog sleeps on one of them
I took the survey.
I have too many couches.
My dog sleeps on one of them
I took the survey.
I have too many couches.
My dog sleeps on one of them
I guess, with that poem America, her getting history entirely wrong (America was not the first in space, but they were the first on the moon) is forgiven considering the line: “No, King Tut is as American as anyone in my book.”
This could mean Leonov, who was first in space, could be considered American in her book. Maybe she is, like you said, making fun of our limited knowledge (or perhaps, less limited and more skewed) of history, especially ours. We’re always the winners in our history books. Or if we lose, we lose big and gracefully. With blood.
I like the poems. I think.
I guess, with that poem America, her getting history entirely wrong (America was not the first in space, but they were the first on the moon) is forgiven considering the line: “No, King Tut is as American as anyone in my book.”
This could mean Leonov, who was first in space, could be considered American in her book. Maybe she is, like you said, making fun of our limited knowledge (or perhaps, less limited and more skewed) of history, especially ours. We’re always the winners in our history books. Or if we lose, we lose big and gracefully. With blood.
I like the poems. I think.
I guess, with that poem America, her getting history entirely wrong (America was not the first in space, but they were the first on the moon) is forgiven considering the line: “No, King Tut is as American as anyone in my book.”
This could mean Leonov, who was first in space, could be considered American in her book. Maybe she is, like you said, making fun of our limited knowledge (or perhaps, less limited and more skewed) of history, especially ours. We’re always the winners in our history books. Or if we lose, we lose big and gracefully. With blood.
I like the poems. I think.
lately i’ve been reading a lot of things that i feel like i would maybe write and then not think that i could get away with so it would get lost on my computer
this makes me wonder if i’m a pussy and then i start thinking about sex and i don’t really care about writing anymore but i do like these poems and i especially like the cover
lately i’ve been reading a lot of things that i feel like i would maybe write and then not think that i could get away with so it would get lost on my computer
this makes me wonder if i’m a pussy and then i start thinking about sex and i don’t really care about writing anymore but i do like these poems and i especially like the cover
lately i’ve been reading a lot of things that i feel like i would maybe write and then not think that i could get away with so it would get lost on my computer
this makes me wonder if i’m a pussy and then i start thinking about sex and i don’t really care about writing anymore but i do like these poems and i especially like the cover