David
Saffo
to A.C.
I’d rather be
the patron saint of mediocrity
than the patron
saint to the most clever reaction on high and shit
shit, what did
my uncle used to say
contain
multitudes?!
My Explication
Line 1:
Allusion to Amadeus.
Line 2-3:
Allusion to Clerks with a special nod to Kevin Smith’s hands down
hilarious use of epizeuxis. My friend A.C. and I used to say the original line
until our grandmothers became sick. But now we can use the line because it
serves to remind and not profane—
Line 4:
Allusion to “Uncle Walt” Whitman’s “Song of Myself” stanza 51. Whitman’s line
refers to the fact that we often contradict ourselves, which I, the speaker of
the poem, have done from lines 1 to 2. This reminds me of Tom Stoppard’s line,
“I write plays because writing dialogue is the only respectable way of
contradicting yourself”—I half agree knowing we are both terribly biased.
No One (nod to
Celan) knows this but me, but the original title was simply “Patron.” I changed
it to emphasize “The” to give ambiguity. The reader must ask, “What is the
art then?”Perhaps it could be the art of contradiction. Perhaps it could be the
art of satire (I did just finish The Innocents Abroad): the
unapproachity of modern poetry—sometimes. Perhaps it could be the art of the
buried allusion: I wanted to see if, like a cold snowy Maine winter night
(former Black Bear), throwing another blanket (or shawl—another nod to Celan
‘cause I miss him) on would make things heavier and warm things up—or do you consider
this bundling?—(intentionally ambiguous)
Your
Explication could be something like:
Line 1: Sucks
(nod to Primus)
Line 2: If he
thinks he’s so smart why doesn’t he write a real poem? Perhaps “Lucky and Pozzo
are obviously alive and well” or, well, the moron crucified the form he just
created but
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