Poets and Poems: Ryan Ruby and "Context Collapse"

I’ve never read a poem quite like Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry by Ryan Ruby. I would expect that you haven’t either. Written in unrhymed pentameter, this is a poem about the history of poetry. It is also a poem about literary theory. It’s a poem that reads like what you might find in an academic journal on linguistics or communication technology. In other words, unless you’re familiar with literary theory and can translate academese, you’re going to find this poem a tough go.

I admit it: I found it a tough go. If I pretended anything else, I wouldn’t just be posing as an idiot. Remove the returns after each line, turning it into paragraphs, and you have an academic paper.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Thursday Readings

The Power of Research – Allen Eskens at CrimeReads.

“Now at Liberty,” poem by Dorothy Parker – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

“A Flowering Absence,” poem by John Montague – Andrew Roycroft at The Sounding Board.