Anne Sexton – A Biography – Diane Wood Middlebrook

red tranquilizers
mixed with poetry writing.
You know the ending.

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Sethe was a slavegirl.
Had some kids, killed one.  Turns out
the dead don’t quiet.

The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James

“Will you marry me?”
There’s no shortage of suitors.
Isabel says, “No!”

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

There are no chapters.
No villians, really.  No goal,
save the sea.  Survive.

On the Road – Jack Kerouac

Dean’s hitchin’ thumb gone.
Amputated accident.
Funny, doncha think?

“Songs of Myself” – Walt Whitman

I am so super.
From sea to shining sea.  Great!
I just love myself.
*

Walden – Henry David Thoreau

1. Economy:
I borrowed this axe. Raised corn.
Drank lots of water.

The American Scholar – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men: be Man thinking.
Women: sure, why not? Think too.
Trees:  be natural.
*

Nature – Ralph Waldo Emerson

All of nature so,
so…what’s the word? Poetic?
Big?  Ah.  Natural.
*

My Life in Heavy Metal – Steve Almond

Author as rock star.
Boinks everyone he can can.
Sometimes he gets caught.