A poem a day in April from Rutgers English PhD students and friends.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

WHALE

Whale (n.)
            Figurine in a set of large mammals.
            A large person, in my grandmother's usage.
            Featured in the Bible, Moby-Dick, Pinocchio, Fantasia 2000, Finding Nemo
            mascot, cause, ghost, mother
Whales (pl.)
sleep vertically.  
are rarely seen (whole) (alive).
A country in the United Kingdom, misspelled.
Pines of Rome.
            a shoal of
            One whale said to another whale, “[whale noises.]” The other whale said, “WHAT??”
whale (adj.)
            The ocean. As in, “whale-road.”
            The ocean. As in, “whale-grave.”
            mouth or abdomen.
            the Sublime.
            part of. And whole.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks :) I've been wanting to try to write a way into some of the deeply canonical iconography of American literature / literary fandom. Those almost mythic authors and creatures that can be so hard to regard as yours because so many people have attempted to claim them before you. (The attempt at possession must be the problem. Humor helps loosen the ties / provide a critical distance.) Maybe I'll try again in another poem.

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  2. ..well as an amateur linguist it's certainly fascinating.. in the past I've wanted to do something similar I think with the etymologies of different languages.. capture the underlying "poetic propositions" of language.. but I guess possession is always the problem, isn't it? ..when being critical =)

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