This evening I crammed a few more poems in. We looked at the bop, a form invented by Aafa M. Weaver at the Cave Canem retreat in 1999, as well as another poem by Weaver and two poems by Wang Ping, a Chinese-born poet who often writes on environmental issues. Weaver has taught in Taiwan and is fascinated by Chinese culture, hence the picture of Taipei's Shilin Night Market above. For more information about this market, see this link: https://www.travelking.com.tw/eng/tourguide/nightmarket/shilin-night-market.html
Let's start with the bop. Poets.org has a good overview of the form:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/bop-poetic-form
Aafa M. Weaver's "Rambling" is here:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/rambling
I also shared a bop written by Evelyn N. Alfred for a poetry workshop that we both took:
flashes: a bop for bix b.
he hungered for the notes
playing before he could see the keys
mother bird chewed them for him
while he regurgitated beauty
fingertips savoring the song
without knowing the recipe.
the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun
without knowing the recipe
he learned how to taste the tune
adding brown sugar, nutmeg,
and horn lines
but couldn’t bake an unfamiliar harmony
cooling his heart, sinking the middle
to what effect?
is a fallen cake ruined?
the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun
is a fallen cake ruined?
forced to flash up the treble
singed in chicago winds.
south side speakeasies
intoxicated his ballads
he hungered for the notes.
the hungry and the hanged, the damaged and the done
striving along this spinning rock, tumbling past the sun
--- Evelyn N. Alfred
The song excerpt comes from “God Bless Our Dead Marines” by A Silver Mt. Zion
This is the music that Evelyn was responding to in her poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEIM2VAyXw
Tara Betts' "More Salt," a bop poem about her grandmother, takes a more down to earth tone:
http://coloronline.blogspot.com/2009/07/tara-betts-poetry-friday.html
We watched the Grandma Thanksgiving Rap Song, a remix of Shirley Caesar's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amONEHAhLHY
Aafa M. Weaver has also taught in Taiwan and is fascinated by Chinese culture. This poem, "Being Chinese," shows this aspect of him.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/58516
We also watched this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR86CHOJrnU
For more information about Aafa M. Weaver, see these links:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/afaa-michael-weaver
http://www.afaaweaver.net/index.html
We finished the unit on poetry with Wang Ping, a poet who is concerned with not only identity but also the environment.
The first poem we looked at was "Solstice in Lhasa":
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/solstice-llasa
The other was "A Hakka Man Farms Rare Earth in China": http://fpif.org/a_hakka_man_farms_rare_earth_in_south_china/
We didn't have time to watch this video of Wang Ping, but I'd like you to watch it as it explains her approach to poetry in Chinese and English:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGFsNkAsRQk
She reads her poems and discusses her poetics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvqcTSe3W60
Here are a few questions for you:
-- After looking at tonight's poems, how would you define poetry? What is poetic about it? What is not poetic?
-- Should poets be political? If so, what do they need to keep in mind? If not, why?
-- Discuss the bop as a form. What seem to be its strengths and weaknesses?
-- How does Wang Ping depict China?
-- How does Aafa M. Weaver depict masculinity in "Rambling"?
-- Discuss the role of the refrain in "Rambling."
-- Discuss the speaker in "Rambling." Who is he--or she?
-- Which themes are illustrated in the poems we looked at tonight?
-- Pick one of the poems we looked at tonight. Pair it up with another poem (or literary work) to compare/contrast.
Good night!
