1. <Poems about poetry>
Bradstreet//Wong//Harris
ENGL1001//UNBSJ//2.2.17//Dr. M. Jones

2. Today Definitions Anne Bradstreet, “The Author to Her Book”
Rita Wong, “nervous organism”
Sharon Harris, “99. Where Do Poems Come From?”; “70. Why Do Poems Make Me Cry?”

3. Metapoetry
“Poetry about poetry, especially self-conscious poems that pun on objects or items associated with writing or creating poetry. Among the Romantic and Enlightenment poets, we find puns on leaves (referring on one hand to the leaves of plants, and on another to the leaves or pages of a book of poetry), feet (referring on one level to the body part, and on another to the metrical feet of a poem), and so on. Other types of metapoetry involve self-conscious commentary on the poem's own genre or on the process of creating the poem.”
Literary Vocabulary

4. Concrete poetry
“Poetry that draws much of its power from the way the text appears situated on the page. The actual shape of the lines of text may create a swan's neck, an altar, a geometric pattern, or a set of wings, which in some direct way connects to the meaning of the words. Also called ‘shaped poetry’ and ‘visual poetry’.”
Literary Vocabulary

5. Anne Bradstreet
1612–1672
Born in England; moved to Massachusetts with husband
First published poet in America

6. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America
Published in London, 1650

7. The Author to Her Book Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise
than true,
Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

8. I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

9. In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I
find.
In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

10. Rita Wong B. 1968 Grew up in Calgary Lives in Vancouver
Teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design

11. forage Pub. 2007 Canada Reads 2011 Themes: the ecology; food

12. Rita Wong,
“nervous organism,”
The Broadview Introduction to Literature,
Concise Edition,
p. 784

13. –Rita Wong, online response to student question
“[Y]ou can read the slashes in “nervous organism” as pauses (short hand for line breaks), so that you get the sound cues of where to take a breath, but i wanted the blockiness of a prose poem to convey how smushed in and messed up together everything is, physically, at the same time.”
–Rita Wong, online response to student question

14. Sharon Harris Lives in Toronto Concrete poetry; influenced by bpNichol
sharonharris.ca

15. Avatar Toronto: The Mercury Press, 2006

17. 70. Why Do Poems Make Me Cry?
Reading a poem releases noxious gases into your environment. The brain reacts by telling your tear ducts to produce water, to dilute the irritating acid so the eyes are pro- tested. Your other reaction is proba- bly to rub your eyes, but this will make the irritation a lot worse if you have poem juices all over your hands.

18. There are all kinds of remedies for dealing with this irritating phe- nomenon, some more effective than others. As a general rule, move your head as far away from the poem as you can, so the gas will mostly dis- perse before it reaches your eyes. The simplest solution might be to not date poets.

19. </Poems about poetry>