NaPoMo

It's National Poetry Month in which many exciting poetical things are happening.

 

The ever so lovely Elizabeth Wix has a new book out just in time...it's lovely.

 

My BFF Jen is writing all week for the Best American Poetry blog. It's all about funny women poets and I say it's about time. I think she is carving a big chunk into the entire institution of American Poetry with this funny business. An excerpt:

    "For many women, getting people to laugh means getting people to laugh at them. It’s not all masochism. By positioning yourself lower than your reader—which can be accomplished by strolling onto the page wearing fake bucked teeth and gold lame stretch pants over a latex bubble butt and a pair of afro armpit merkins—the reader feels superior, lets his/her guard down, and is much more likely to get in your car without noticing all the blood stains on the upholstery. “Who does this idiot think she is?” the superior reader asks. “Dar dar dar! I am so dumb and uglies!” the self-deprecating poet sings as she drives off with reader locked from the outside in the back seat. 

   I use that trick all the time. What do I lose? Just my dignity. But I lose that every time I leave the house. What do I gain? It's like when I'm making out with a guy and it's really hot and he pulls back and opens his eyes and sees that I'm really Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back Kotter. The look on that guy's face. That’s what I gain. That shocked, helpless face..."  -Jen Knox

Tell me a poem.