{"id":8314,"date":"2017-01-20T09:13:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T13:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=8314"},"modified":"2022-03-22T15:53:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T19:53:18","slug":"seussbackyardsong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/seussbackyardsong\/","title":{"rendered":"“backyard song”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KWriter in Residence Diane Seuss has published a poem, “backyard song,” in the February issue of Poetry Magazine<\/em>. Di’s poem is part of a group of a recently devised poetic form known as the Golden Shovel, an homage to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who would be 100 years old this year. The last words of each line in a Golden Shovel poem are, in order, words from a line or lines taken often, but no invariably, from a Brooks poem.<\/p>\n

Di’s poem is a riff on Brook’s “a song in the front yard.” Here’s a taste of Di’s Golden Shovel poem:<\/p>\n

Uncorked, I had a thought: I
\nwant the want
\nI dreamed of wanting once, a
\nquarter cup of sneak-peek
\nat what prowls in the back, at
\nwhat sings in the
\nwet rag space behind the garage, back<\/p>\n

where the rabbits nest, where
\nI smell something soupish, sour and dank and it’s
\nfilled with weeks like rough
\ncat tongues and
\nthe wind is unfostered, untended,
\nnow that it’s just me here and
\nI am so hungry
\nfor the song that grows tall like a weed
\ngrows, and grows.<\/p>\n

But you should swallow it whole: page 452 in the February issue of Poetry<\/em>. Di is one of several impressive poets in the Golden Shovel group, which includes the late Philip Levine, Sharon Olds, Rita Dove, Alberto Rios and Danez Smith, who read some of his poems on campus this past Monday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. convocation. Di’s most recent collection of poems, Four-Legged Girl<\/em>, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her next book, Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks<\/em> and a Girl, will come out in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writer in Residence Diane Seuss has published a poem, “backyard song,” in the February issue of Poetry Magazine. Di’s poem is part of a group of a recently devised poetic form known as the Golden Shovel, an homage to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who would be 100 years old this year. The last words of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[31,54,39,112],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-8314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","tag-alumni","tag-english","tag-faculty","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\r\n"backyard song" - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writer in Residence Diane Seuss has published a poem, "backyard song," in the February issue of Poetry Magazine. 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aria-label=\"archive of category Faculty & Staff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/faculty-staff\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Faculty & Staff<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/alumni\/\" rel=\"tag\">alumni<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/english\/\" rel=\"tag\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/faculty\/\" rel=\"tag\">faculty<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/poetry\/\" rel=\"tag\">poetry<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/seussbackyardsong\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/seussbackyardsong\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/seussbackyardsong\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-8315 size-full\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2017\/01\/DiSeussArticle.jpg\" alt=\"K Professor Di Seuss Article\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/>Writer in Residence Diane Seuss has published a poem, “backyard song,” in the February issue of <em>Poetry Magazine<\/em>. Di’s poem is part of a group of a recently devised poetic form known as the Golden Shovel, an homage to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who would be 100 years old this year. The last words of each line in a Golden Shovel poem are, in order, words from a line or lines taken often, but no invariably, from a Brooks poem.<\/p>\n<p>Di’s poem is a riff on Brook’s “a song in the front yard.” Here’s a taste of Di’s Golden Shovel poem:<\/p>\n<p>Uncorked, I had a thought: I<br \/>\nwant the want<br \/>\nI dreamed of wanting once, a<br \/>\nquarter cup of sneak-peek<br \/>\nat what prowls in the back, at<br \/>\nwhat sings in the<br \/>\nwet rag space behind the garage, back<\/p>\n<p>where the rabbits nest, where<br \/>\nI smell something soupish, sour and dank and it’s<br \/>\nfilled with weeks like rough<br \/>\ncat tongues and<br \/>\nthe wind is unfostered, untended,<br \/>\nnow that it’s just me here and<br \/>\nI am so hungry<br \/>\nfor the song that grows tall like a weed<br \/>\ngrows, and grows.<\/p>\n<p>But you should swallow it whole: page 452 in the February issue of <em>Poetry<\/em>. Di is one of several impressive poets in the Golden Shovel group, which includes the late Philip Levine, Sharon Olds, Rita Dove, Alberto Rios and Danez Smith, who read some of his poems on campus this past Monday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. convocation. Di’s most recent collection of poems, <em>Four-Legged Girl<\/em>, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her next book, <em>Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks<\/em> and a Girl, will come out in 2018.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8314"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9113,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314\/revisions\/9113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8314"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=8314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}