Poetry Friday: This hardly counts…
August 10th, 2007 by eisha
…but see, I’ve got this thing.
I’m completely, utterly addicted to McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies, the website offshoot of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. The stuff they publish is just freaking hilarious. And brilliant. You probably already know this. But in case you don’t, you should check this out. This too. Oh, and this one.
I checked in today to see what was new, and lo behold, it’s an excellent essay: “How To Be A Bullfighter” by Sarah Walker. And – it has a POEM in it. Yay! I get to share it with you for Poetry Friday!
I know, I’m stretching here. But isn’t Poetry Friday supposed to be about sharing works that you love? And discovering new voices?
Look, if you aren’t already reading McSweeney’s, I feel bad for you, and I want to help, okay?
Fine. So. Okay then.
Here’s an excerpt from “How To Be A Bullfighter,” including the prayer poem:
Now you have to say a prayer over the pile of sand that was once the bull in order to honor your brave adversary. It should be in acrostic-poem form, of course, and go something like this:
Bull:
Understand that I
Like bulls but I
Love killing them more than I like them,
although I seriously did like you. Amen.The bull’s ghost will understand this and respect your honesty and it will not haunt you. If you fail to say the acrostic prayer, the bull will most certainly terrorize you from the afterlife for the rest of your days.
Now please read the rest of the essay. And thank you for indulging me.
*Update: Kelly’s got the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Big A little a. And she approved this post as an actual Poetry Friday entry. All is good.*
Well, you learn something new every day. Hadn’t ever even heard of that site.
Oops. I didn’t realize I’d let you down so badly, BFF. I should have made sure you knew about it ages ago. My bad.
eisha,
thank you SO much for mentioning McSweeney’s!! had not heard of it (i really gotta get out more) and absolutely love it. i gotta go pick up my sequined suit from the cleaners.
Aye, Torero, she is here. Aye, matador. I see her smile and I see there the reason she came.
Toro, come closer. Come here and I’ll whisper her name.
You may be brave and as bold as you’re black, but I will be numero uno, torero fino, toro come back.
Jane Bowers & Irving Burgess, El Matador
Really great poem with its essay. And it totally counts. And while I like McSweeney’s, I try to stay away, because it is a huge vortex that sucks away my time when I’m not looking. But it is made of awesome.
True dat, Kelly. But it’s a great way to procrastinate unpacking, so I’ve been indulging a lot lately.
Wow, that’s a nice little verse, there, Sam. Thanks for making my post look more like a Poetry Friday thing.
Welcome, Jama! I’m happy to be your McSweeney’s pusher.
I … I … I … THANK YOU for the website! It’s … I LOVE it! Must go back and read the archives …
Oh, yay, McSweeney’s!
I actually had heard of them because they’re kind of a Bay Area thing – some of my classmates and professors at Mills volunteered at 826 Valencia St., which is a writing outreach for teens — and they worked with a lot of great people. The site is always hilarious and strange and fun.
And I’m loving the bull!
I love McSweeney’s and have more than once tossed around the idea of subscribing to the paper version, but then I get to thinking that I often run into the paper versions hither and yon for free — and besides that there is the website. “David Lynch’s Tips for a Great Prom” makes me want to subscribe again, though. Heaven forbid they should ever stop publishing.
Somehow my co-librarian Jason had never heard of McSweeney’s and when we were at BEA in June, I was only able to tear him away from the table by threatening to leave and never come back. (In his defense, they had pretty much everything they ever published there, and it was totally fun to look at, but — hello! — they were not giving out ARCs or free books or anything. You have to have your priorities straight at BEA.)
Excellent! I love McSweeney’s. One of my favorite pieces is Thirty-Nine Questions for Charlie Daniels upon hearing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” by John Moe: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/8/16moe.html
I also ordered the Baby Be of Use board book series by Lisa Brown (my favorite being Baby Mix Me a Drink).
Thanks for bull poetry! This post complements Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon.
Ooh, Akelda, that one sounds hilarious. I gotta read that now. And yeah, their board books are so funny.
Bummer you couldn’t score some free stuff off them at BEA, adrienne, but I think I remember hearing that their distributor or someone went out of business this past spring and McSweeney’s lost a lot of money and they were having a big sale on all their books and stuff to try to stay afloat. So maybe that’s why.
Yeah, I’ve heard of that, TadMack. I like that they’re so active in community things like that.
Alisa, happy to oblige.
Ack! See, now I’m going to have to subscribe. One can’t take risks with this sort of thing. I’m still not over Story going out of print (which I did subscribe to and which was, seriously, like a decade ago.
I want to release and save all of the bulls there.
And the lobsters in grocery stores.
And…
I know, LW. Me too.
I feel more like a Taurus than I have in years. 🙂
eisha, you know you’re a dealer, right?
Hey, I’m just making you aware that it’s there. What you do with that info is entirely up to you.
go, taureans!