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Friday, March 20, 2009

Books Seattle Poetry Chain 17: Eric McHenry

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM

8001/1237569775-mchenrycover.gif Last week on the Seattle Poetry Chain, Ed Skoog shared a wonderful poem about a great deli. Among other positive comments, it evoked this particular one:

Hey, I like this one!
Posted by Andrew Cole on March 13, 2009 at 12:58 PM

We'll see if we can continue the Andrew-Cole-pleasing streak to two weeks with the newest poet on the Seattle Poetry Chain, Eric McHenry. Here's why Mr. Skoog chose Mr. McHenry:

Eric McHenry, who lives quietly in Wedgwood, is well known for his highly-structured and yet colloquial rhyming poems, his nimble wit, his goodness, and his height. His first book The Potscrubber Lullabies, was published last year by the British/American press Waywiser, and won the Kate Tufts Award, which is a Big Deal. He also reviews poetry for the New York Times. He has written the only perfect American poem, "Rebuilding Year."

I would like to point out that Mr. McHenry's poem is due to appear in the next issue of Seattle Review, but they kindly gave us permission to debut it here. Thanks, Seattle Review! And here is Eric McHenry's poem for the Poetry Chain:

dead/1237569708-theworst.jpg

Thanks to Ed Skoog and many thanks to Eric McHenry for joining us today. Tune in next week to see who Eric McHenry has chosen as the next link in the Seattle Poetry Chain.

Comments (8) RSS

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Hey, I actually like one of these!

Posted by Fnarf on March 20, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Ouch. I kinda like that one. It's painful and funny and not self-important or impenetrable.

Posted by Greg on March 20, 2009 at 2:44 PM

Blind people don't read poetry, I guess. Well, not this poem, anyway.

"dead/1237569708-theworst.jpg" doesn't even rhyme.

Posted by RJL20 on March 20, 2009 at 2:45 PM

In fact, half of the poems in this chain have been inaccessible: 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 and 17 have all been images instead of text. 6 and 10 at least have the excuse that weird spacing can be difficult to do in html, but what's with the rest of them?

Posted by RJL20 on March 20, 2009 at 2:58 PM

The poem transcribed from the JPEG for RJL20 @3 and @4:

The Worst

No, the worst was watching Darren trip
on his own hightop, pitch
facelong into a wheelstop, chip
his tooth and split his chin. "It's just a bitch,"

Trent said. For fifteen minutes Darren lay
there in a parking space, spat blood, and slid
his tongue through the black gap we didn't say
made him look stupider although it did.

How grateful for that one astringent truth
Trent summoned, if for nothing else, we were.
Darren, you are going to wear that tooth
to school and that's a bitch and that's for sure.

Posted by rob on March 20, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Thanks, rob. I can see just fine, but I have friends who can't. It just strikes me as weird that of the nine poems which have been posted as images, only two of them have any typographical oddities which could explain why.

I like this poem, but that "we were" in the last stanza is really, really awkward.

Posted by RJL20 on March 20, 2009 at 5:00 PM

Enjoyed this poem and have enjoyed McHenry's work. Paul, keep up the good work with the Chain and Midnight Bus Poetry.

Posted by Brian on March 21, 2009 at 1:18 PM

I like this one, too, though RJL20 is right, that "we were" is awkward as hell.

Posted by Andrew Cole on March 21, 2009 at 2:51 PM