February 24, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

In McSweeney’s #32, there was an attempt to revive dead or dusty forms of the written word. Among my favorites was the Pantoum:<\/p>\n

PANTOUM<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

LIFE SPAN: C. 1400 AD-present; earlier in oral form
\nNATURAL HABITAT: Malaysia
\nCHARACTERISTICS: Repetitive, trancelike.<\/p>\n

A western descendant of the Malay pantum,<\/em> a pantoum is a poem composed in quatrains, in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza reappear (with small alterations) as the first and third lines of the next stanza, and the first and third lines of the first stanza return as the last and second lines, respectively, of the final stanza. There is no set length, rhyme scheme, or subject matter for a pantoum, and artful manipulation of the repeated lines is encouraged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ex:<\/p>\n

CRACKPOT ARCTIC OCTOPUS<\/strong><\/p>\n

a new pantoum by <\/em>Nicky Beer<\/a>
\n
\nI want to show you my blueprints.
\nThis is where I\u2019m going to put up the pistons,
\nThe silver horses. I\u2019ve been dreaming of
\nBuilding a giant carousel underwater, you see.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

This is where I\u2019m going. To put up the pistons
\nClose by the sea-vents\u2014risky, I know, but\u2014
\nBuilding a giant carousel underwater! You see
\nWhy it must be done. I try to keep calm,<\/span><\/p>\n

Close by. The sea vents risk. I know but
\nFucking and fighting in a green haze.
\nWhy? It must be done. I try to keep clams
\nQuiet by drilling holes in their heads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fucking and fighting in a green haze
\nWill drive anyone quite crazy after a while.
\nQuite. By drilling holes in their heads,
\nThe Eskimos released their demons into the sky.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will drives anyone quite crazy. After a while
\nDown in the seabed it all became so clear to me.
\nThe Eskimos released their demons. Into the sky?
\nNonsense. They seeped into the ice,<\/span><\/p>\n

Down in the seabed. It all came to me. So be clear\u2014
\nThis is not really what I wanted,
\nThe nonsense they seeped into the ice,
\nThough I\u2019ve made an amusement of it all the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not real: what I wanted,
\nThe silver horses I\u2019ve been dreaming of,
\nThough I\u2019ve made an amusement of it. All the same,
\nI want to show you my blueprints.<\/p>\n

I recently saw an amazing CD cover online for the band Six Gallery. The cover had an octopus holding two balloons, and I immediately thought of the Crackpot Arctic Octopus. I drew a picture:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI\u2019d Catch My Breath If I Could Find It<\/strong><\/p>\n

a new pantoum by me<\/em><\/p>\n

Seems like it\u2019s street corners
\nwhere I white-out my weekends,
\nbefore I go downstairs
\ninto the bars\u2014into the basements.<\/p>\n

While I wait out my weakness
\nI\u2019d catch my breath if I could find it.
\nI search the bars\u2014I search the basements,
\nI search weekdays that chase behind it.<\/p>\n

In catching breath (if I could find it),
\nI picture: a spark on a gust of wind.
\nAnd in weak days that chase reminded
\nme: why don\u2019t we dance? why don\u2019t we sing?<\/p>\n

You picture: a spark on a gust of wind.
\nA fire threaded in the breeze.
\nMe: Oh I don\u2019t dance. You: Oh I don\u2019t sing.
\nOh all things tossed into the seas. . . .<\/p>\n

Afire: threats. In the breeze\u2014
\nand all those shaking ships are sinking.
\nAfter all the things I lost to the seas\u2014
\nall those breaking blues are blinking.<\/p>\n

And all those shaking ships are sinking
\nwhile I white-out my weekends.
\nAnd all those breaking blues are blinking
\ninto the bars\u2014into the basements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 24, 2010 In McSweeney’s #32, there was an attempt to revive dead or dusty forms of the written word. Among my favorites was the Pantoum: PANTOUM LIFE SPAN: C. 1400 AD-present; earlier in oral form NATURAL HABITAT: Malaysia CHARACTERISTICS: Repetitive, trancelike. A western descendant of the Malay pantum, a pantoum is a poem composed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andsoon.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}