Poetry Friday

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Earlier this week, I enjoyed some good email banter with a few smart friends.
One of my emails consisted wholly of the line, "Pynchon. Yes. Duh."
Which admittedly doesn’t sound very elevated but I promise you there was substance before and after.

Anyway, my friend Amy wrote back and dared me to write a poem starting with that line.
I took that as a sign that I choose my friends well. I mean, receiving dares to write poems? The luck!
And, not one to avoid provocation, I’ll share here this little ditty, hot off the press:

V.

Pynchon. Yes. Duh.
His name on the tip
of my tongue, starts
with a P, wrote that book
you loved in college. We argued
about it, remember?
We saw that movie
you compared it to, we argued
in front of the theater
and then for two more days.
That sort of thing
used to really matter.
Didn’t it?

— Liz Garton Scanlon, 2009

52 Responses to “Poetry Friday”

  1. rumphius

    Don’t you love conversations like that? I have them quite frequently with friends, and often it takes days before the name comes to me.

    I’ve only read one Pynchon book–Mason & Dixon–and even though I was forced to muddle through, enjoyed the story.

    P.S. – I have only been dared to write a poem by one person (ahem). She shall remain nameless.

  3. Anonymous

    truth, dare, double dare, promise, or repeat

    Ahhh, Liz. You rock. Or, dare I say, WE rock?

    lara

  4. jamarattigan

    Hee! Glad for your friend’s dare — since we got to read a cool poem today. 🙂 “That sort of thing used to really matter.” So true!

  5. Anonymous

    from Laura at Author Amok

    Sounds like a “life before kids” moment. I hear that!

  6. saralholmes

    This is what I love about poetry. Dares and arguments and things that used to matter (and still do.) Friends should dare friends more often. (Oh, dear, did I really just say that?)

  8. cloudscome

    wow I love that poem. I’m pretty sure I never read any Pynchon (I know, how could I miss it?) but I still get the poem. Great job meeting the dare.

  9. Anonymous

    Tanita Says 🙂

    Aaargh! Don’t you sometimes feel like college was where a second self lived, one infinitely more deep? Sometimes I look back at my old papers from grad school, and am shocked. Those things really did seem to matter SO MUCH, but the day-to-day ordinariness of my intellect does not sustain those heights for long.

    It did matter, once. It still matters. But… probably not as much as other things. Is that a pity or a positive?

    • liz_scanlon

      Re: Tanita Says 🙂

      Yes. They did matter so much and honestly, they still really do but we don’t have the time to devote the conversation in quite the same way. Isn’t that right? Plus, I think the conversation has moved online. Here it is…

  12. windspirit_girl

    Loved this. I especially like the last lines: “That sort of thing/
    used to really matter./ Didn’t it?” Makes me remember the early days of grad school when I had the time to engage in those types of conversations (I still long for it). Thank you!

  13. laurasalas

    I haven’t read Pynchon (probably shouldn’t admit that). But I do miss those powerful, passionate conversations about literature. I still have them, but not nearly as often. Yay for the dare and for your poem! I love the arguing in front of the theater–the urgency so great you couldn’t even wait for the car or subway or whatever!