The Millennial Pedestrian

Here’s another workshop assignment: write a prose poem based on one by Rosmarie Waldrop. Waldrop is a German-born poet now living and teaching in Providence, RI, and is considered one of the leading avant-garde stylists in poetry today. The poem below is based on one of hers called only "27", whose first line is "The labyrinth of language,"  which may be a clue. It’s from her collection Curves to the Apple.

Based on Waldrop #27 (“The labyrinth of language”)

At the airport or termini stazione or bahnhof you may find your way in but no one there will help you find yourself. Thunderheads may clap together. I will be waiting near the newsstand with a peppermill but others will be there also holding peppermills. Brigands in the underground now resent delays in arrival and departure. They wave their stilettos at the king and duke who disregard considerations of personal safety and ask after your health. You stand by the embankment and observe the current as it bears your body ingenuously upstream.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007.
It's part of the New Poems category.
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