Poems can arise out of the writer's meditation on those typical events -- birthday parties, weddings, national holidays, religious events (not just holidays but ceremonies and rituals within a church, such as Catholic communion or a bar or bat mitzvah) -- but also out of historical happenings that in someway help define a culture, an era, a country -- 9/11, the Cold War, Desert Storm, the Exxon Valdez spill, the Million Man march, and more.
Below are a few poems of which we can see how an event can be inspire a poem that goes beyond just the event. and uses facts and details about and from the event to create a piece that is more than just about the event.
Below are a few poems of which emphasize different elements: imagery, metaphor, sound patterns, and point of view/locus in using their events to create art:
1. First, let's study Jehanne Dubrow's "Chernobyl Year" to see how the a famous nuclear plant explosion is the backdrop for a poem whose heart is really in a family conflict. What do you find intriguing about Dubrow's images?
2. Now, let's experience Josh Clover's "Nevada Glassworks," which explores more than just the US nuclear bomb tests happening in Nevada in post World War II. What are some of the surprises, even confusions, that you find in Clover's poem?
3. Jane Hirshfield uses the poetic technique of anaphora to create a wedding poem: "A Blessing for Wedding." What are some of the surprises we see in what Hirshfield observes, and why is the beginning repetition appropriate for the occasion?
4. How does Tony Gloeggler say a lot in what he doesn't say, in his poem "Five Years Later"?
5. Kenneth Goldsmith crafted his poems out of found material from the day of the bombings.
6. Here is a poem from an Iraqi solider, Hugh Martin, called "Four-letter Word."
7. Frank O'Hara's most famous poem is "The Day Lady Died," and is known cherished by lit crits for the vivid recollection of the speaker's day on the day Billie Holiday died.
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