Wednesday, September 06, 2006

History of Dara, part 3

In case you couldn't tell, I've been having a lot of fun with the "History of Dara" posts. They've given me a chance to revisit some stuff that I haven't looked at in years. So, I'm going to try to do one a week, for the foreseeable future -- or until I run out of publishable material.

This week's blast from the past is from a Humanities class I took my first semester of college. It was taught by a graduate student named Dennis who had long hair -- which was something I really dug back then -- and seemed like this really nice, sensitive, artsy guy. Of course, I was seventeen at the time, so I didn't stand a chance.

It was the only class I never skipped that semester. I got an "A." Then again, that wasn't unusual for me -- I went to a big state school.

Anyway, one of our assignments was to write a "dada" type poem -- something random. I had written a bunch of found (or collage) poetry when I was in high school -- where you cut words out of a magazine -- and was inspired by that idea. But instead, I took three words from each song on the first two Pearl Jam albums -- a noun, a verb, and an other -- put them into piles, and drew one from each for each line of the poem. The result was something sort-of like Justin's Blog Explosion Poetry.

Here it is:

Divided

Lonely insomniacs convince
Manipulate deadly madman
Backwards fleeting nightmares
Haunting dream thread
Never complaining moon
Admit twisted story
Neighbors standing afraid
Dissident ponders wrong
Simple tension gathers
Memories return forever
Diagnosed wicked direction
Tracing bottomless disaster
Greets nemesis nautiously
Lunatics breathe disgrace
Countering defective opinion
Question superior initiatives
Chases servile circus
Cried lifeblood end
Deny safest thoughts
Powermad contemplating revolution
Abused listless god
Abduct weak clone
Personally working mischief
Sold oneway bomb
Jumping mace filth
Shot middle surface
Shattered order slammed
Stab clean glass
Rearview enmity tattooed
Backstreet windowsill drawing
Troubled visions fade
Shove rain astray
Deserve clearer moutnaintops
Running against lifetimes
Trust precious mission
Emancipate loaded retribution
Freezing pieces congregate
Polish a thousand mirrors
Plight eradicated on impact
Candle flashing bright
Faith alone laughing
Unite towards amends



Actually, now that I'm looking at it again, it kind of reminds me of a nonsensical spam e-mail. I guess I was ahead of my time.

2 comments:

mad said...

That was very Charles Olson-esque, but without that whole Maximus posturing. I can see why you got an A.

dara said...

I think you're giving me way too much credit.