Cotton Xenomorph\u2019s \u201cCryptids and Climate Change\u201d issue continues, with \u201cWhen the Creature Comes\u201d by Gina Thayer<\/a> and two poems by Steph Sorensen<\/a> crewing our literary <\/em>Nostromo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s National Poetry Month, and since a huge part of My Whole Deal is believing more people would like poetry if the US taught it differently in high schools, I\u2019m gonna try to get you to like a poem on the blog. Today, let\u2019s talk about the poem (from the book of poetry) that I recommend to people who only associate poetry with some ancient stuffy high school English teacher (non-cool division) quoting Alexander Pope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s right, we\u2019re close reading \u201cThe Monster Hour\u201d by Zachary Schomburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Feel I should state up front that you, reading this blog, might already like poetry. My imagined audience for this blog is \u201cother writers, whom I am trying to impress,\u201d \u201cmy wife and friends, whom I am trying to impress and make laugh,\u201d and \u201cmy parents, whom I am trying to impress and convince my career is cool and worthwhile.\u201d Wherever you personally fall on that spectrum, consider this column an invite to either learn what I think is cool about a poem, or to celebrate anew a poem you already liked.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a photo of the poem as it appears in a book held under a kitchen light. Should the photo have less shadow in it? Did you not see the eclipse two days ago? We\u2019re into shadows rn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In lieu of alt text, I\u2019ll type below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Monster Hour\u201d<\/p>\n On the Monster Hour, there was this monster that used to come out and try to kill everybody in the audience. No one expected it, not even the producers who were told by monster he would play a few blues tunes on the piano. The monster apologized after each show and asked for another chance. I\u2019m planning on telling a few jokes this time he would say. But time after time he\u2019d break his word and try to kill everybody. The producers finally replaced him with a gorilla dressed in people clothes that came out and played a Wurlitzer, but they never changed the name of the show. It was always the Monster Hour. I don\u2019t think anybody understood then what a monster really was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Cool, right? As we say on The Line Break<\/em>, What a Poem! In fact, I read this on <\/a>The Line Break<\/a><\/em> in 2020<\/a> and 100000000% do not remember what we said about it! Also I just realized this Tuesday night, I\u2019ve been traveling for the eclipse and definitely do not have the time or desire to listen back to the way my own voice sounded in 2020. So my memory\u2019s not getting jogged. I do remember Zach listening and telling me he liked it, which felt great because it was maybe the first time a poet had said they listened? It\u2019s hard to remember 2020, as anyone who lived through it can attest. Anyway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Music Image Metaphor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t give into the casuals\u2019 temptation that there\u2019s no music in prose poetry. There\u2019s a distinct tone to this poem, one I imagine in a black-and-white room with Old Hollywood dramatic lighting, speaking with a deep-voiced wistfulness. It\u2019s a distinct radio storyteller\u2019s voice, although it\u2019s probably a radio storyteller\u2019s voice as filtered through either Tom Waits or Saddle Creek Records, pick your poison. Depending on the intrusiveness of your writing software, you might notice the omission or use of \u201cthat:\u201d \u201c\u2026there was this monster that used to come out\u2026\u201d as opposed to the more overtly folksy \u201cthat was this monster used to<\/strong><\/em> come out\u2026\u201d or the more conversational \u201c\u2026who were told by the monster he would play a few blues tunes\u2026\u201d instead of the more clinical \u201c\u2026who were told by the monster that<\/strong><\/em> he would play a few blues tunes\u2026\u201d or the most adjectival \u201c\u2026replaced him with a gorilla dressed in people clothes<\/strong> that came out\u2026\u201d instead of the more rocks-in-your-mouth explanatory \u201c\u2026replaced him with a gorilla that dressed in people clothes and who came out<\/strong>\u2026\u201d Tone is never just one thing, it\u2019s a series of subtle choices that add up to a consistent whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The specificity of \u201cplay a few blues tunes\u201d and \u201cgorilla dressed in people clothes\u2026played a Wurlitzer.\u201d The hilarious repetition of \u201ctry to kill everybody\u201d (\u201ctime after time!\u201d People couldn\u2019t get enough of almost being killed! The tickets were selling like heated cakes!) The images absolutely make this poem. You cannot have surrealism without specificity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The metaphor is that the monster is capitalism. The Monster should own the name the Monster Hour<\/em>, come on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prose Poem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I like short stories that read like poems and poems that read like short stories. I do think there\u2019s an \u201cI know it when I see it\u201d difference to the two\u2014poems tend toward a single feeling, stories a single narrative, to be facile\u2014but I like the blurred edges of genre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If that\u2019s not your thing, it\u2019s cool that you\u2019ve gotten this far in the column. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Quick Unscientific Note On Influence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot <\/em>of people in workshop tried to write like this after reading Zach\u2019s book. Me included. A lot <\/em>of people sent in poems to the college lit mag that were pale, toothless impressions of writing like this. Only two people in workshop succeeded in wearing a Zachary Schomburg influence on their sleeve. One didn\u2019t write poetry beyond graduation (that I know of). The other has a book you can buy right here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Notice that I am not either of these people. Personally, I recommend enjoying<\/em> Zach\u2019s work, and not trying to write like him. It\u2019s harder to do well than it might look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Line Break<\/strong><\/em> Trilogy of Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why this poem? <\/em>Proems\u2014the opening poem in a book\u2014are instructive. Not every poem in this book are prose poems, but it\u2019s kind of an invitation to let your hair down. Take it easy, we\u2019re just talking here, we\u2019re not even worried about punctuation. Plus, with the aforementioned radio storyteller tone, it really does feel like the opening band has played a cover we all loved<\/em> 20 years ago but forgot we listened to, and now we\u2019re all united in a good mood. My homie Eddie of Big Dopes<\/a> does this with The New Radicals\u2019 \u201cYou Only Get What You Give\u201d (which you might remember from NOW That\u2019s What I Call Music Volume 2<\/em>) and it RULES.<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the move? What particular line or device resonates with you most? <\/em>As a child of the 2000s emo era, \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody understood then what a monster really was\u201d sounds like something I\u2019d\u2019ve said on stage at some point. Probably in a song whose lyrics were inspired by Remember The Titans<\/em>. Mostly, I find myself wondering \u201cdoes Zach \u2018get away\u2019 with that line?\u201d and deciding the answer is yes, over and over. So my real move for this poem is starting your book<\/em> with \u201cOn the Monster Hour, there was this monster that used to come out and try to kill everybody in the audience.\u201d There is a lot you have to live up to with the promise of that line, and it\u2019s not (necessarily) more gore or more jokes. It\u2019s a hilarious image, but you don\u2019t want the poems to only be funny, especially since a monster trying to kill everybody is the kind of ostentatious over-the-top that will become grating if you let it. It\u2019s the kind of opening line you chuckle at, go \u201calright, I\u2019m with you, keep going\u201d and trust the poet\u2019s got something in store for you.<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s going on beyond the page? What does this poem do for you before and after you read it?<\/em> Before I past-tense read this poem for the first time, I didn\u2019t know you could write poems this playful. Though Zach\u2019s my favorite of heavy-scare-quotes \u201cPoets Who Write Like This,\u201d there\u2019s also James Tate, Mathias Svalina, Heather Christle, Adrian Sobol, Brandon O\u2019Brien, Jared Beloff, and to an extent Elizabeth Willis, Aase Berg, Joshua Beckman, and a thousand others I either don\u2019t know or am forgetting. Before I present-tense read this poem now, I have the same feeling I do when I\u2019ve had the right amount of THC and tacos and am about to watch Point Break<\/em>. I am about to read The Man Suit<\/em>. <\/p><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n Buy this book and all of Zach\u2019s other books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sorry you got an email, <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris<\/p>\n\n\n
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