LISTS, CATALOGS, INVENTORIES, RANTS...

Third Assignment: List Poem

Read: 13 Ways Chapter 7, “Listing and Repetition – Catalog, Complicating, and Syncopating.”

BACKGROUND
The list poem (also known as a catalog poem) consists of a list or inventory of things. Poets started writing list poems thousands of years ago. They appear in chanted lists of family lineage in the Bible and in rich, musical lists of Trojan War heroes in Homer’s Iliad. About 250 years ago, Christopher Smart wrote a famous poem about what his cat Jeoffrey did each morning. It starts with the cat inspecting his front paws and ends with the cat going in search of breakfast; it is utterly fascinating. Walt Whitman is known for the extensive lists in his poems and the inclusive, joyful relish he clearly felt by naming the many details of the world.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A LIST POEM
- A list poem can be a list or inventory of items, people, places, or ideas.
- It often involves repetition.
- It can include rhyme or not; often involves lots of slant rhyme, alliteration, other sound-related strategies.
- The catalog poem may start as a random list, but is ultimately well thought out.
- The last entry in the list is usually a strong, funny, or important item or event that brings everything else together; think of the “turn” in a sonnet.

WHAT THIS FORM OFFERS
an opportunity to obsess, obsess, obsess!
a structure which, when carefully crafted and revised, can result in a powerful statement
It lends itself to interests or passions you’d like to explore and articulate
really good for a rant, diatribe, manifesto or personal platform

WHAT THIS FORM REQUIRES
List poems make great performance and/or reading materials. Be sure to read your poem out loud as you draft; let your ear help you determine things like repetition, line length, internal rhyme, rhythm, momentum.

Remember to watch Joy Harjo perform “Fear Poem”
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPoQxt5x0QQ
and listen to her read "She Had Some Horses" at http://www.rhapsody.com/joy-harjo/she-had-she-some-horses (if you scroll down, you can also listen to her musical version - Harjo's playing the sax and speaking/singing the words).


READING
13 Ways Chapter 7, “Listing and Repetition – Catalog, Complicating, and Syncopating,” as well as the List Poems in our class anthology, Sacrament of the Mundane.