SHAY-mus D ([info]seamusd) wrote in [info]greatpoets,
@ 2006-11-17 11:25:00
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Entry tags:ron padgett

Ron Padgett

Nothing in That Drawer

Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.

(from Postmodern American Poetry, Paul Hoover, editor, W. W. Norton Company, 1994)




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[info]jayslippy
2006-11-17 05:37 pm UTC (link)
Best sonnet ever. I love that poem.

(Reply to this)


[info]flightviolation
2006-11-17 05:48 pm UTC (link)
um, no.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]miss_education
2006-11-17 08:06 pm UTC (link)
Why?

(Replies frozen)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]flightviolation, 2006-11-17 09:07 pm UTC
Troll - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-17 09:11 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]flightviolation, 2006-11-17 09:17 pm UTC
Oh, not a Troll, just a cunt. - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-17 09:20 pm UTC
Re: Oh, not a Troll, just a cunt. - [info]flightviolation, 2006-11-17 09:25 pm UTC
Re: Oh, not a Troll, just a cunt. - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-17 09:32 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]flightviolation, 2006-11-17 09:35 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]ravengirl, 2006-11-17 09:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-17 09:38 pm UTC
i wrote a poem for you - [info]flightviolation, 2006-11-17 09:47 pm UTC
Re: i wrote a poem for you - [info]timiathan, 2006-11-17 10:12 pm UTC

[info]disseta
2006-11-17 05:51 pm UTC (link)
yeah. I am gonna have to cast my vote for utter nonesense.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]liliths_nymph
2006-11-17 11:57 pm UTC (link)
me too.

i may be missing something, but i fail to see how this is poetry. i just find it stupid.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]ravengirl
2006-11-17 05:56 pm UTC (link)
i'm not being argumentative, just stating an opinion: this is not poetry. it reminds me of a pile of dirt in a modern art museum with a catchy title. ...IMO.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]miss_education
2006-11-17 09:18 pm UTC (link)
I suppose it's the same discussion really -- is the pile of dirt art? Is it not art because skill has not been proven to you? or is it not art because you personally don't see a point in it? [I can see how something is art to one person and not the next. That is how art is - eg, I don't think Thomas Kinkade is an artist]

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]ravengirl, 2006-11-17 09:46 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-18 09:14 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]liliths_nymph, 2006-11-17 11:59 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]sirsucknasty, 2006-11-18 08:08 am UTC

[info]psuedosentence
2006-11-17 06:03 pm UTC (link)
i don't really understand quite how this is poetry, or how it got published. but it does kind of give me a hope for my own work. heh.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]typicalfemale
2006-11-17 06:18 pm UTC (link)
It's called "it is all in who you know."

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]psuedosentence, 2006-11-17 08:26 pm UTC

[info]equality_72521
2006-11-17 06:09 pm UTC (link)
Really now, a five year old can do that. I don't care what "deep" meaning lies behind it. On the surface it's crap.

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[info]takhys
2006-11-17 06:14 pm UTC (link)
Makes me feel like I'm looking for my keys.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]typicalfemale
2006-11-17 06:15 pm UTC (link)
I'm not fond of it, but I find it incredibly ironic that what a lot of people are calling a non-poem has generated more comments in the past few moments than many posts have here in months. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]psuedosentence
2006-11-17 08:26 pm UTC (link)
ha, it is kind of ironic

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-18 09:15 pm UTC

[info]nobody_
2006-11-17 06:16 pm UTC (link)
I like it. A lot of the aim of poetry is to evoke a feeling or a moment without excessive exposition (or any at all). This poem evokes the feeling of going through a bureau or something like one, and opening one drawer after another, to find it empty. It evokes the feelings of frustration and/or longing of searching for something and not being able to find it. Very simple, and effective.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]etelleadit
2006-11-17 06:48 pm UTC (link)
Me too. It took on it's own meaning for me before I thought about why the author wrote it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(no subject) - [info]chreebomb, 2006-11-17 06:56 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]metamorphogenic, 2006-11-17 07:59 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]fflo, 2006-11-17 09:18 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]auroralynx, 2006-11-18 03:28 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]equality_72521, 2006-11-18 06:10 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-18 09:16 pm UTC

[info]sealwhiskers
2006-11-17 06:21 pm UTC (link)
haha

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[info]tom_sizemore
2006-11-17 06:26 pm UTC (link)
At first I didn't like it. Then I noticed that the poem itself is shaped like an open drawer. Now I kind of like it.

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[info]nosundays
2006-11-17 06:30 pm UTC (link)
...no.

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[info]hellotransience
2006-11-17 06:40 pm UTC (link)
ahhh postmodernism. like all of academia, veering towards the vast abyss of stupid. i love it. it's coming full circle. ha!

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[info]fflo
2006-11-17 06:41 pm UTC (link)
Oh, it's a poem, fer sure. But it's a one-off, and sort of a theory piece, which---like the labelled pile of dirt in the museum---is hardly everybody's cup o' tea.

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[info]moireach
2006-11-17 06:47 pm UTC (link)
Things can be clever without being good.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]contessa_maggie
2006-11-17 09:07 pm UTC (link)
Amen.

It doesn't belong in a community called [info]greatpoets, that's for sure.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]slomosexual
2006-11-17 07:03 pm UTC (link)
nothing in that poem

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]mm511
2006-11-17 09:31 pm UTC (link)
Ha! Your wit slays me!

Cheerio!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

doesn't surprise me - [info]slomosexual, 2006-11-17 10:47 pm UTC

[info]mehinda
2006-11-17 07:05 pm UTC (link)
I actually find it rather inspiring.

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[info]2much_estrogen
2006-11-17 07:31 pm UTC (link)
it reminds me of the title menu on the "being john malkovich" dvd that reads, "nothing is here." obviously you click it and it repeats on screen, "nothing is here."

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Proof of Skill != Art
[info]miss_education
2006-11-17 08:09 pm UTC (link)
Does an artist really have to PROVE thier skills to you for it to be art?
If so - you're missing the point entirely.
That said, I love this.

(Reply to this)


[info]bravest_unsaid
2006-11-17 08:21 pm UTC (link)
Help, help, help! Outside my comfort zone! OUTSIDE! ::eyeroll::

(Am I the only one who assumes that if I don't like/don't get something, I should maybe put a little work into trying to grasp it, as I may learn something?)

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]johnnymoondogs
2006-11-17 08:29 pm UTC (link)
nothing in that comment.


but seriously, sometimes things just are utter nonsense. compare this poem, published, to the reams of unpublished poems by sylvia plath or someone of that nature. and then laugh because plath on her worst day beats this poem's ass a million times over.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-17 09:01 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]bravest_unsaid, 2006-11-17 09:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]mm511, 2006-11-17 09:35 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]writemeout, 2006-11-18 01:11 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]irishpecas14, 2006-11-18 01:49 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]mm511, 2006-11-18 03:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]johnnymoondogs, 2006-11-17 09:44 pm UTC
Good criticism. - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-18 09:11 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]inertiam, 2006-11-17 09:57 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]johnnymoondogs, 2006-11-17 10:51 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]inertiam, 2006-11-17 10:58 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]vito_excalibur, 2006-11-18 10:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]miss_education, 2006-11-18 09:06 pm UTC

[info]kevincarter
2006-11-17 08:48 pm UTC (link)
I would have hated it if it would have ended after the 11th line, but lines 12-14 were so breathtakingly poignant that I couldn't bear it.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]fflo
2006-11-17 09:20 pm UTC (link)
okay, that's funny

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]mm511, 2006-11-17 09:36 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]mm511, 2006-11-17 09:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]songofdespair, 2006-11-20 11:46 pm UTC

[info]wondrousbeauty
2006-11-17 09:47 pm UTC (link)
I agree with others who have said that you don't have to like a poem, but it can still be a good poem.

Reading this one out loud is a trick one of my colleagues uses when she teaches it. The initial response she gets from her students is very similar to responses here. Reading it out loud allows a sort of repetition and build up that I think the poem is intended to evoke, and the nothingness confined resonates in a different way by the end. Additionally, clearly the poem achieves its purpose in frustrating the definition of "poetry"--it's done its job, and done it well.

That said...I don't really like the poem myself. :)

(Reply to this)


[info]copy
2006-11-17 10:48 pm UTC (link)
I think the angry responses here make this poem amazing.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]kyrafic
2006-11-18 01:27 am UTC (link)
Heh, people on the internet will get angry about anything.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]2much_estrogen, 2006-11-18 03:57 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]copy, 2006-11-18 10:42 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]warwolves, 2006-11-18 06:17 am UTC

[info]nosyparker
2006-11-18 01:26 am UTC (link)
Huh. Okay. It definitely evokes that crazed/obsessive feeling of looking everywhere for something, but only the first time you read it. The poetry I tend to like is the stuff I can read over and over again. This is more like a one-time use poem. Disposable, like a poetry handi-wipe or something.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]anamacha
2006-11-26 09:46 pm UTC (link)
ok, you win.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]los_fantasmas
2006-11-18 02:34 am UTC (link)
i like this quite a bit.

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[info]diving_up
2006-11-18 03:49 am UTC (link)
had the guts to write it down, probably knowing it would get bad crit.

so, i like it.

(Reply to this)


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