28 April 2001 - Sapphics for Sappho

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 2001 : 28 April 2001

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Thank you, Sappho. Thanks for the gorgeous stanza.
Thanks for dropping down in a whir of wings to
Bless the free-verse age with expensive doodads.
How did you ever

Find a way to write in Aeolic Greek that
Works in English? It’s a completely different
Rhythmic system! You, young woman, are plainly
Some kinda genius.

Say the white implacable textbook authors,
“Iambs, trochees, dactyls and anapests are
All there is.” But where is the wild disorder?
You and me, let’s offer the prosy dogs a
Kick in the booty!

clue:

This poem includes “subtle” references to famous poems written in sapphics by Sappho, Isaac Watts, and Algernon Charles Swinburne. In keeping with the theme, I’ve taken a few non-traditional liberties with the sapphic form.

A bunch of Whales this month were in verse. In the U.S., April is National Poetry Month.

give me a clue so sweet and true

the Daily Whale || copyright 2001, 2024 Jay J.P. Scott <jay@satirist.org>