I’ve Been Known
I’ve Been Known
by denise duhamel
to spread it on thick to shoot off my mouth to get it off my chest
to tell him where
to get off
to stay put to face the music to cut a shine to go under to sell
myself short to play
myself down
to paint the town to fork over to shell out to shoot up to pull a
fast one to go haywire
to take a shine to
to be stuck on to glam it up to vamp it up to get her one better to
eat a little higher
on the hog
to win out to get away with to go to the spot to make a stake to
make a stand to
stand for something to stand up for
to snow under to slip up to go for it to take a stab at it to try out
to go places to play
up to get back at
to size up to stand off to slop over to be solid with to lose my
shirt to get myself off
to get myself off the hook
i read this very slowly, trying to absorb all the substance. i like the way it almost feels difficult to read because it repeats words in that interesting way. it gives the poem a rhythm to it that i really like.
i love the typography. whenever i see this right off hand, i try to make sense of it because it’s so different to me. which is weird, because we all think the same way unless we’re self-disciplined and oh so in control of our thought voices pitches.
i don’t know what i’m talking about anymore. i digress.
beautiful peese.
this is basically a list poem, playing with infinitives and common statements, but the line breaks subvert the syntax in really interesting ways. I’ve been reading a lot of poetry by Denise Duhamel recently, and this one is different – in a good way. Here’s a whole book of her’s, online: http://capa.conncoll.edu/duhamel.smile.html