Ars Poeticas

Lyric meditations on writing poetry in a time of ecological crisis and right wing populism_x000D__x000D_During the time of an increasingly powerful alt-right which was also the time when species extinction was ever increasing, Juliana Spahr sat down to read Brecht. She was looking for an answer to Brecht''s question about the dark times, about whether there will also be singing during the dark times. The answer that Brecht provides is that yes, that poets will sing of the dark times. In the six ars poeticas that Spahr writes, she sings of the dark times but also of coral, the pop song''s possible liberation, and the love of comrades. She writes not only of the rich history of what politics and poetry have done with each other, but what they might yet do together._x000D__x000D_[Sample Poem]_x000D__x000D_from ARS POETICA 1: CORAL _x000D__x000D_To write poetry after Castle Bravo._x000D_Then to write poetry after 1500 feet._x000D_After high-quality steel frame buildings_x000D_not completely collapsed, except_x000D_all panels and roofs blown in._x000D_After 2,000 feet._x000D_After reinforced concrete buildings collapsed_x000D_or standing but badly damaged._x000D_After 3,500 feet._x000D_After church buildings completely destroyed._x000D_After brick walls severely cracked._x000D_After 4,400 feet._x000D_After 5,300 feet._x000D_After roof tiles bubbled and melted._x000D_After 6,500 feet._x000D_After mass distortion of large steel buildings._x000D_To write the Cold War and doves._x000D_The Cold War and tapeworms._x000D_The Cold War and sails of ships._x000D_The Cold War and the steel of bridges._x000D_To write poetry after that._x000D_To write in a world with few nutrients,_x000D_one that rocks back and forth._x000D_The same beginning in both the sea and the land._x000D_To write poetry that knows a hard, cup-shaped skeleton._x000D_And then poetry that knows_x000D_the long, stinging tentacles capturing._x000D_Knows the water._x000D_The Atlantic and the Pacific._x000D_The connections between._x000D_The one moving into the other._x000D_To develop poetry in the stomach_x000D_that then exits through the mouth_x000D_which is the anus._x000D_To write poetry in the blue_x000D_that is the absence of green._x000D_Light penetration._x000D_Whorls of tentacles._x000D_The slime earth too._x000D_Hunters and farmers._x000D_Shallow water._x000D_Few nutrients._x000D_High fecundity._x000D_Rapid growth._x000D_Multiarmed morphology and tube feet._x000D_To write tube feet._x000D_To write the exact place._x000D_Seaward slope place._x000D_Sea terrace place._x000D_Algal ridge place._x000D_Coral algal zone place._x000D_Seaward reef flat place._x000D_Islet or interisland reef crest place._x000D_Lagoon reef flat place._x000D_Lagoon terrace place._x000D_Lagoon floor or basin place._x000D_Coral knolls, pinnacle and patch reefs place._x000D_To write poetry after.