3/14/13
Papers due. Remember I needed a hard copy?
Papers due. Remember I needed a hard copy?
Goal: Vent a little. Learn about the tradition of the invective.
HW: Post your invective by next Tuesday, 3/19.
Here’s an invective by Shakespeare:
“A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud,
shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-
stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson, glass-
gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting
slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and
art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward,
pander, and the son and heir to a mongrel bitch: one whom I
will beat into clamorous whining if thou deni'st the least
syllable of thy addition.”
(from The Tragedy of King Lear, II.2)
Here's another one by Denver Poet Lalo Delgado (1931-2004)
stupid america, see that chicano
with a big knife
on his steady hand
he doesn't want to knife you
he wants to sit on the bench and carve christfigures
but you won't let him.
stupid america, hear that chicano
shouting curses on the street
he is a poet without paper and pencil
and since he cannot write
he will explode.
stupid america, remember that chicanito
flunking math and english
he is the picasso
of your western states
but he will die
with one thousand masterpieces
hanging only from his mind.
Now: Write your own!
Now … who or what has made you angry? Has there been a
memorable anger-inducing person or event in your life? Write
an invective poem in which you give someone or something the
proverbial “hell.” Consider both humor and fury. Stamp your
metaphorical feet, shout in written language, and write your
rage.
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