Concrete poetry

Poems where the shape supports the theme, imagery, or meaning of the

poem.

Works of concrete poetry are as much pieces of visual art made with words as they are poems.

Were one to hear a piece of concrete poetry read aloud, a substantial amount of its effect would be lost.

400-Meter Freestyle Maxine Kumin

THE GUN full swing the swimmer catapults and cracks s i x

feet away onto that perfect glass he catches at a n d throws behind him scoop after scoop cunningly moving

t h e

water back to move him forward. Thrift is his wonderful s e c ret; he has schooled out all extravagance. No muscle

r i p

ples without compensation wrist cock to heel snap to h i s mobile mouth that siphons in the air that nurtures

h i m

at half an inch above sea level so to speak.

T h e astonishing whites of the soles of his feet rise

a n d

salute us on the turns. He flips, coverts, and is gone a l l in one. We watch him for signs. His arms are steady at

t h e

catch, his cadent feet tick in the stretch, they know t h e lesson well. Lungs know, too; he does not list for

a i r

he drives along on little sips carefully expended b u t that plum red heart pumps hard cries hurt how soon

i t s

near one more and makes its final surge. Time: 4:25:9

"How Everything Happens."

The Universe by May Swenson

What is it about,

the universe,the universe about us stretching out?

We, within our brains, within it, thinkwe must unspinthe laws that spin it.

We think why because we think because. Because we think,

we think the universe about us.

But does it think, the universe? Then what about? About us? If not,must there be cause in the universe? Must it have laws? And what if the universe is not about us? Then what? What is it about? And what about us?

PEER PRESSURE

Jumping into theCrowdofpeopleshovingandpushingnowheretobreatheSweptalongwiththegrouplookingwildlythinkingtheworstStopsqueezing just letmegetthrough so IcancatchupSorry didn’tmeanto step on youSqueeze push turn lookMoving faster breathing easierWhere has everybody goneNow that I’m out of the crowd

40-LOVE

middle agedcouple playingten niswhen thegame endsand theygo homethe netwill stillbe between them-- Roger McGough

Easter Wings by George Herbert Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store,

Though foolishly he lost the same,Decaying more and more,

Till he becameMost poore:With Thee

O let me rise,As larks, harmoniously,

And sing this day Thy victories:Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne;And still with sicknesses and shame

Thou didst so punish sinne,That I becameMost thinne.

With TheeLet me combine,

And feel this day Thy victorie;For, if I imp my wing on Thine,

Affliction shall advance the flight in me

SilencioEugen Gomringer (1925– )

silencio silencio silenciosilencio silencio silenciosilencio silenciosilencio silencio silenciosilencio silencio silencio

Siesta of a Hungarian Snakes sz sz SZ sz SZ sz ZS zs ZS zs zs z- Edwin Morgan

E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)

An innovative poet who experimented with the form of the poem on the page.

Cummings’ unusual poetry forces the reader to pay attention to things we usually take for granted, such as capitalization, punctuation, line breaks and the spaces between words.

r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r

by E. E. Cummings

r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r who a)s w(e loo)k upnowgath PPEGORHRASS eringint(o- aThe):l eA !p: S a (r rIvInG .gRrEaPsPhOs) to rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly ,grasshopper;

Assignment: Write a one- or two-word “poem” that uses lettering to represent the feeling of a word.

For example: fear

happinessloveConsternation

Old agedelight

love