Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology
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Stand Up Poetry: An UpdateFor Desire1What the Dead Fear2Going to Norway3The Housewife5O That Summer6Evidently, She Says7Prayer8At 4:00 A.M. Asleep9Words for My Daughter9Bad Joke12Glass Dress14Blazon16I Eat Lunch with a Schizophrenic17Pygmy Headhunters and Killer Apes, My Lover and Me18Havana19English Flavors22No Sorry23Demographics25Money As Water27Return of the Prodigals28Chapter One30Allegory of the Supermarket32Agape34His Toys36Knock Knock36Sleep Walk37the tragedy of the leaves39trouble with spain40Some Terms in Real Estate Defined42Miss Congeniality44The Dead Letter Office44Toothache45Vanity, Wisconsin45How Lies Grow46white lady47wishes for sons48I Live for My Car49Chuck Man50Embrace51Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House52The History Teacher53Litany54Nightclub55Things My Grandfather Must Have Said57The Garglers59Style60Form Rejection Letter61Coke63Squeak65The Rules67The Hoagie Scam68Blessing the House70Pony Express72Confession73How to Like It74Ego76I'm Dealing with My Pain77Why, on a Bad Day, I Can Relate to the Manatee78Buddhist Barbie79On Hearing the Airlines Will Use a Psychological Profile to Catch Potential Skyjackers80At the Smithville Methodist Church82The Shame Place84The Retirement of the Elephant85The Automobile86Counting Sheep87The Categories87Good Son Jim88Ape89Elephant Tears90The Crumble-Knees91The White Dress92The Politics of Narrative: Why I Am a Poet93Body and Soul96The Bride of Frankenstein99The Dirty Floor101Open Sesame102Graffiti102Marvel Mystery Oil103Why I Want to Be the Next Poet Laureate104Wordsworth's Socks105Chain Mail106Deb at the Ham Slicer107Why I Left the Church109Chickens Everywhere110Vernon111Mi Mama, the Playgirl112Dear Boy George113Slowly I Open My Eyes (gangster soliloquy)114An Unexpected Adventure115Ars Poetica116Talking about Boys118The World in My Mother's Hair119Leash120Life Is Happy121The Sciences Sing a Lullabye122My Rodeo123Listen124I Like My Own Poems127The Case against Mist129Credentials131My Moral Life132Invention134Mr. Pillow136Beriberi138The Intelligence Quotient140Don't Cheapen Yourself141Beneath the Pole of Proud Raven143The Pope at 7:00 P.M.146Toltecs148Advice Like That149just squeeze150Memory151Man of the House152Song against Natural Selection153For the Sleepwalkers154Oh Mercy155My Country156Lawrence157The Collaboration159The Kiss161Sweep162Traitor164Good Humor167Soul Train169The Children's Book of Knowledge171Your Wife, a Widow, Waits for You172Things That Have Escaped Me173Acceptance Speech176I Think I Am Going to Call My Wife Paraguay179Amazed by Chekhov181The Dance of Husbands in Bathrobes182Nosebleed, Gold Digger, KGB, Henry James, Handshake183Coloring185All Suffering Comes from Attachment186What She Wanted187Foolish Earthlings188The Seven Dwarfs, Each on His Deathbed, Remember Snow White189Dear Superman191Lurid Confessions192I Attend a Poetry Reading193Hell194A Trick195The Laundromat197Dust198Fast Gas1992 A.M.200Tracy and Joe202Beer204Tap Dancing Lessons206The Leader of the Pack207Learning to See Crooked208Do you remember the scene in The Godfather where James Caan says, "Now make sure that the gun gets stashed in the rest room - I don't want my kid brother walking out of there with nothing but his dick in his hand"?209Letter to My Assailant210Fish I Remember212Why Life Is Worth Living213The People of the Other Village215Upon Seeing an Ultrasound Photo of an Unborn Child216So You Put the Dog to Sleep217Men with Small Heads218"I Love You Sweatheart"219Uncle Eggplant220The Bad Pilgrim Room220The Quiet World221Play It Again, Salmonella222Hazel Tells LaVerne223In Line at Pancho's Tacos224Why the Heart Never Develops Cancer225Fortune Cookies226Novel228Perfect Recall230Lightweight232Jake Addresses the World from the Garden233The Anti-Foucault Poem234My Philosophy236Saturday Morning Ultimatum236A Paranoid Egotist236Working at the Wholesale Curtain Showroom237Thanksgiving238Pocahontas239In Line at the Supermarket240The Bad Muse242The Sudden Appearance of a Monster at a Window243Justification of the Horned Lizard244The Dead Never Fight against Anything246Geocentric248To Raise the Blind on Purpose249Fiddleheads250Furious Cooking252Monkey House254Four Crows at Dusk256Honeybee upon the Tundra258A Philodendron Named Joan260What I Learned from the Movies262Drugstore Trolls264Revolt265All-Purpose Apology Poem266I Am a Finn268Aunt Sophie's Morning269How the Pope Is Chosen270Remedy for Backache272Natural Woman272Mistakes273Instructions to Her Next Husband273Naola Beauty Academy, New Orleans, 1945274History Lesson275Yvette Mimieux in Hit Lady276Double Trouble277What We Could Do279O Paradise280Curtain Call281Termination282The Stud283Sun Worshiper284At the St. Louis Institute of Music285A Hot Property286In a Pig's Eye287Constipation288The Singer289Marrying290Biblical Also-Rans291Amplified Dog293You Don't Want to Hear a Poem, Do You?295Black Slip296The Business of Love Is Cruelty298Chapped Lips300The Wreckers301The Philosophical Emancipation303Living with Others304The Way He'd Like It305The Same Air306Pastorale for Spring308Acknowledgments309Title Index319
\ The New YorkerThe work assembled by the Southern Californian poet Charles Harper Webb in Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology isn't afraid to have a sense of humor. "Why I Want to Be the Next Poet Laureate," by Elliot Fried, mocks the establishment: "I want a frail consumptive woman, just a bit deranged, / waiting patiently in a dark room as I come home / after a hard day, flinging Guggenheim and Ford Foundation / grants onto the vacuumed shag. I want to write quatrains / for the sensitive." Webb's original anthology, subtitled "The Poetry of Los Angeles and Beyond," was published in 1990 and focused on locals. Here he opens the ranks to irreverent, crowd-pleasing Easterners like Billy Collins and James Tate -- writers he admires for creating "bizarre and outrageous alternative worlds."(Dana Goodyear)\ \ \ \ \ KLIATTWebb writes in his introduction: "Whatever the reasons, mainstream poetry has in the past fifteen years moved much closer to the Stand Up aesthetic." He defines Stand Up poems as ones that work well orally, are frequently characterized by a sense of humor, are sometimes irreverent and are "honest, unpretentious and strong." They're not anti-literary and are written for the printed page, so are not to be confused with performance/ slam poetry. Many of these poems, though, would be good performance pieces. The Beat poets were the precursors of this style. The poetry is also characterized by the use of "natural language," fanciful tone and the creation of bizarre worlds. The poems are infused with strong emotion, often have a narrative bent and reflect aspects of urban and popular culture. They are accessible rather than obscure. There are many poets represented in the collection. Some are well known, such as Billy Collins, Charles Bukowski and Pattiann Rogers; others, less so. But they mostly have strong voices and the poems hit with emotional force. Christopher Buckley's "Sleep Walk" is a nostalgic lament on teenage love in the '50s, with references to the music of the period: "...—and though we barely moved across/ the carpet to the Statues and "Blue Velvet," sparks/ stung our hands and pulled us into a world where/ you could get lost in no time...." Denise Duhamel in "Ego" recreates the feeling of incredible smallness a third grader might experience during an astronomy lesson with an orange, lemon and flashlight, her being "...merely a pinprick in one goosebump on the/ orange." Playful irreverence describes John Gilgun's "Ars Poetica," in which he pokes fun at what makes a good poem.Form varies from tightly constructed four-line stanzas to prose poems. Amy Gerstler's chilling prose poem, "An Unexpected Adventure," uses the cultural icon of Nancy Drew, always competent, who in a surprise twist is raped. This collection is an unexpected adventure. Not all the poems are funny but all present us with somewhat skewed perceptions of the world that are all too real. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Univ. of Iowa Press, 322p. index., Budin\ \
