Yet he went madly on; and
went in search of his own
dreadful subject.
-John Berryman
Corso in the slam SH’BAM
with Shelley’s classic gift
presented to him inside,
where his weary institutionalized
brain was so full of tea-head angels
with shorn wings: ring-a-ding BOMB
the bells of war were ringing in your
1958 broadside poesy propaganda;
and that old beat teapot tip’d over
just like Shelley’s boat viewed
over-ended in murk of the lunar
edges of Grasmere’s glades
No poetic merit badges prevent,
here, dear drowning down by all
his investigations: just like the
ones we used to listen to from
arcane radio voices: Yours Truly,
Johnny Dollar: the man with the
action-packed expense account!
and oh, yes, Gregorio, you have
lived to see neo-beat boats
going down
for the 3rd time
New York City {1981}
From: Crosswalk Casserole
Summary
“BEAT” by Michael C. Ford is a poem centered on place and geography, music, aging. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
The poem uses direct address, creating an intimate and sometimes confrontational relationship with its subject.
Style and form
The poem is musically inflected, line-driven, compressed. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include place and geography, music, aging, nature. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “BEAT” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
Explore this poem
Source & rights
Source: Crosswalk Casserole (Lawn Gnome Publishing, First Edition, 2013)
Rights: © 2013 Lawn Gnome Publishing. All rights reserved.