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YOU'VE GOTTA READ THIS POEM! >
"How Killer Blue Irises Spread" & "?" by Kelli Russell Agodon
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I've just discovered this phenomenal poet, Kelli Russell Agodon. She has a website--www.agodon.com--on which you can access many of her poems online. These following two should provide impetus to do so.
How Killer Blue Irises Spread
—Misheard health report on NPR
The quiet ones, the flowers
the neighbors said
kept to themselves,
Iris getagunandkillus, shoots
and rhizomes reaching
beneath the fence.
The shifty ones,
Mickey Blue Iris, the tubers
that pretend to be dormant
then spread late at night into
the garden of evil and no good.
They know hell, their blue flames
fooling van Gogh, the knife
he stuck into soil before he sliced
the bulbs in three, nights
he spent painting in a mad heat.
They swell before the cut
and divide of autumn.
An entire field of tulips,
flattened. Daylilies found
like lean bodies across the path.
The wild blue iris claims
responsibility, weaves through
the gladioli, into the hothouse
where the corpse flower blooms
for a single day, its scent
of death calling to the flies.
-------------------------------------
?
Van Gogh may have left his
here, above the girl in pearl earring.
This tender hook, a sprig
of hair from a Seusslike head,
reminds us
what we do not know.
Death and heaven curl into its arm,
the beginning of a universe
in its small dot, a galaxy
expanding into a curve.
When I see it, I know
someone needs help
and I want to give them
a map, a dictionary, let them talk
to Einstein personally, as I know less
about the world than I did a decade ago
and each year, I realize my life
returns to what love equals—
half a heart
floating over a speck of dust.
These are super-great. What tension in these poems! And so clever: "Iris getagunandkillus" -- yes! Not only is that clever, but it rhymes. Every word contributes to the overall mood of the poem. I could learn a lot from this poet. I am going to do some exploration in the coming week. Thanks Malcolm.
This is my first post here. Kelli's a really fine poet. I've workshopped with her (online), and she's also a very nice person. You can find several of her poems at the Alsop Review (alsopreview.com). Just go to the poet's portion of the Review, and you'll find her work. She used to be active in the workshop (the Gazebo), but I'm not sure whether she uses it much anymore. But I'm pretty sure she does look in from time to time.
"Iris" and "kill us" do not rhyme.
Tara wrote: "These are super-great. What tension in these poems! And so clever: "Iris getagunandkillus" -- yes! Not only is that clever, but it rhymes. Every word contributes to the overall mood of the poem. I ..."
Ami wrote: "Good call Malcolm,
Kelli Agodon is very good indeed. I have enjoyed her work immensely:)
Ami"
Wonderful poems, tho' I admit, i love wild iris and would be content to let it replace kudzo. We called the small ones "blue flags" when i was a child.
Juliet
