Free verse
Epilogue: apparently, after that bookmark was printed, Zireaux changed his mind about the best way to exploit the “poetic gold” of the masses / ass is rhyme, because the actual passage in “Canto the Second” reads as follows:
And you, Vulgarity! Let your masses
contemplate the shape of Janet’s breast!
And rate dear Eminem on what his ass is!
(How well my fellow Whit’man’s self’s expressed.
The metaphors which others mix, he mashes!)…
Should what’s behind our door enthrall
the Philistine—that’s not my aim.
I’m not a poet courting fame.
(although, should Oprah find my lyrics please her,
let her know: I’m not a Franzen either.)
The footnotes provide some important background information:
- “On January of 2004, during the halftime show of an American Football match (Superbowl XXXIII), the singer Justin Timberlake tore off the bustier of fellow singer Janet Jackson, revealing her left breast to a live audience of some 90 million viewers.”
- “The Rap singer, Eminem, is notorious for exposing his buttocks to audiences.”
- “The ‘Whit’man’ in the following line no doubt refers both to Walt Whitman’s style of expression… and to the fact that the narrator and Eminem are white skinned (see stanza 7, Canto One: ‘notice [Kamal's] skin:/ a Bedouin brown, a melanin/ I’m lacking.’)”
- “The author Jonathan Franzen claimed he felt ‘insulted’ that talk show host Oprah Winfrey had selected his book, The Corrections, to be featured as part of her book club.”
Pages: 1 2
Tags: academic life, comparative literature, d-list, money, New Zealand, reviews
April 20th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Random thoughts: 1) The indigenous Hawaiian soldier makes me happy. 2) That bookmark is hardcore and totally campy. 3) Maybe this book was meant to be sent to Mark Grief. 4) I had a feeling “My Life and Thoughts” was an allusion to something and I’ve never read Herzen. So thanks for the tip.
Yay, you blogged. Cheers …
April 26th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Dear Ms. Batuman, I just want to point out that the J-Lo quote on the bookmark is misattributed (a printing mistake). The quote actually comes from Zireaux’s book, Res Publica, his New Zealand epic poem, which was written before Kamal and is now available on ImmortalMuse.com, and will soon be available on Amazon as well as in bookstores New Zealand-wide.
The complete stanza from Res Publica, awkwardly out of context on its own, goes like this:
I welcome you, you lecherous lot!
Bring me your huddled, beer-drinking masses,
the ones who don’t care what “high class” is;
the ones who think that J-Lo’s not
a diva — but her ass is. Bring me
your footy fans, in hordes or singly;
your sooty men with sports-car tools,
your speedway goers, sports-bar ghouls,
your schools of bikers and monster truckers
for whom the greatest nippers and tuckers
work to perfect the silicon breast
for you to visually molest…
Sincerely,
- B Winson
Editor-in-Chief
ImmortalMuse.com