Dada Poem Revisions

Sensitive Tom to the Tickle 

She has heard the attack Sensitive Tom to the tickle? 

 It was done the tickle from its mommy. 

 giggled, agitated, and is fallen on the floor,

the right hand Laughed and rolled outside rollin’

For all of the journey towards the school

and then it was done the tickle to friends

Laughed until it fell from its stool,

Down the staircases and finally stopped

Until was done the tickle from a policeman. 

And all the more than one held the gigglin',

everybody more held the ticklin'.

It screamed and it screamed and it rolled around,

its right hand of manner Laughed outside

Across the country and was done the tickle from a toad. 

After the mountains across the plain,  

Giggling, rolling on the track of railroad. 

The rumbling, the whistle, the rumbling

roars the laugh of Tom' sensitive to the tickle.

Pierre Reverdy

I chose to research poet Pierre Reverdy because I have never heard of him before and am curious as to his style of writing.  After reading various poems one thing that struck me the most that that his poems didn't rhyme at all, and instead they told kind of a story and were easy to read and interpret.  The language that he uses in his poems is simple and easy to read, but at the same time is very visual so as I am reading I can picture the scene on my mind.

Another aspect of the poems I read by Pierre is the perception that the poems are not happy poems, rather they carry a serious, dark tone in which the reader has to be able to relate to in their own way.  The setting and themes of the poems tend to be centered around night time, and take place at a house or building.  I am curious to know why he write this way when the setting could be anywhere, or during the daytime where there is much more activity than at night.  His tone is also a little bit depressed and maybe he is a lonely man because his writings reflect a sort of lonesome feeling where even though he is surrounded by nature and sounds, they don't seem to mean anything to him.  This poem shows this:

NOMADThe door that won't open
The faded hand
Beside a broken glass
The lamp smokes
The sparks start fires
The sky is blacker
From the roof
Some animals
Without their shadows

A look
A somber stain

The house where no one comes  


Or this one as well:



THE SOUND OF THE BELL

All grows quiet
The wind passes singing about it
And the trees shiver
The animals are dead
There is no longer anyone
Look
The stars have stopped shining
The world no longer turns
A head is bowed
Hair sweeps across the night
The last bell that remains standing
Rings midnight

As you can see these poems are very descriptive but also very solemn and depressing.   In a biography of Pierre written on the Poetry Foundation Website, it states this about Pierre's writting: "the surrealists praised Reverdy as the greatest living poet. His poems were short and fragmentary with a sharp visual appearance which was compatible with the cubist feel for plastic values. The loneliness and spiritual apprehension which ran through his poetry attracted the surrealists" (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/pierre-reverdy).  This is how other readers and writers viewed and reacted to Pierre's work, which shows how influential he was during the surrealist movement.  

Dada Poems

This is my personal favorite poem that I created by looking at my bookshelf and simply writing down the titles of the books going from left to right and then wrote them down in this order.  

Dear Everybody,

We’ll meet again on the last good day.

Stones from the river, it had to be you.

Heart of glass me and Emma,

Prep, don’t you forget about me floating in my mother’s palm,

Sealed with a diss,

Beloved

This next selection is actually a children's song that I used to sing growing up.  Its about seeing a moon on a midnight night and also about the moon not only shining on me, but also shining on the one I love too. I put it in a translator and then pulled it back and and rearranged some of the words.    

I believe that Moon

I believe that moon, the moon sees me,

Down via leaves old oak tree,

Please of to leave the light that shines on me,

To shine on the one branch.

Upon the mount, over the sea,

It was there my heart is very much alike,

Please, call me light, shine on me,

Therefore that I love.

This next poem is a selection from the Shel Silverstein poet and I used the N+7 method of changing up the lines.  

Hullabaloo O'War

I will not play at tun o' warehouse.

I'd rather play at humbug o' warehouse,

Where everyone hummingbirds

Instead of turbans,

Where everyone giraffes

And romps on the ruling,

Where everyone kittens,

And everyone grits,

And everyone culls,

And everyone scowls.

This last poem is also from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" book of poems and I took the original poem and translated it and then reformed the sentences.  Its a goofy poem because the original poem is also goofy. 

Sensitive Tom to the Tickle

She has heard the attack Sensitive Tom to the tickle? 

It was done the tickle from its mommy. 

And giggled, it is agitated, and is fallen on the floor,

the right hand Laughed and rolled outside from the door. 

For all of the journey towards the school

and then it was done the tickle from its friends. 

Laughed until it fell from its stool,

the right hand Laughed and rolled outside from of school

Down the staircases and finally stopped

Until was done the tickle from a policeman. 

And all the more than one held the gigglin',

everybody more held the ticklin'.

It screamed and it screamed and it rolled around,

its right hand of manner Laughed outside from town. 

Across the country down the road, was done the tickle from a toad. 

After the mountains across the plain,  

Giggling, rolling on its back that rolled on the track of railroad. 

The rumbling, the rumbling, the whistle,

roars the train of Tom' sensitive to the tickle more.

Cotton In Your Ears

The Text I am making reference to is called Cotton In Your Ears by Guillaume Apollinaire.    

            So many explosives about to be ALIVE

            Write a single word if you dare,

            The points of impact in my soul continually at war,

            Your fierce flock spits out fire,

            OMEGAphone.

This poem is written as a Calligramme, which means it has a distinct shape.  The way I look at the poem, I am seeing what is portrayed as a large microphone in which the lines are being spilled and yelled out of the microphone for others to hear.  In reading this short poem many things came to mind and I looked at this poem as a child, young adult, or someone who doesn’t seem able to find their voice and stick up for themselves and are reacting to the bullying or harassment.  The ‘explosives about to be alive’ can be seen as the words that are said to hurt feelings and make fun of someone.  Even though they are just words, them come ALIVE and seem more than just words to the victim.

            ‘The points of impact in my soul continually at war’ means that with every hurtful word or action done someone is hurt from it not only on the outside, but also on the inside.  The war inside their soul means that there is a constant struggle with acceptance of who they are and what everyone else thinks about them.  The constant struggle is a war between themselves and everyone else.  ‘Your fierce flock spits out fire’, which symbolizes the bully and all his followers who spit out fire, which symbolize the words of hatred.  The last verse ‘omegaphone’ symbolizes that the words said to a person with the intent to hurt echo in their ears and seem to be as loud as ever.  Its almost as if the bully is talking into a megaphone and every word is maximized to the loudest level possible.  These words just keep playing over and over in the victim’s head.

            Now I am thinking about the title and how it relates to my interpretation of the poem.  Some people may have thought back then that putting cotton in your ears will drowned out the sounds or loud music, or people snoring so that it is not so loud to listen to.  Since ear plugs were not invented yet cotton would suffice.  People who do not want to hear things will put cotton in their ears to block out the sound.  This is just my interpretation of the possible explanation or intake of this particular poem.  At the time it was written Apollinaire may not have intended it to come across this way but this is the way that I read it and viewed it.       

Art Impact on the World

After viewing the documentary, Shock Of The New, I do think that art can be subversive and have a direct impact on the world.  My first thought was thinking about the posters and handouts that were created during World War I.  These posters depict that going to fight for your country is the noble and right thing to do, however the posters don't show any depiction of what the war will be like and the hell that these men will experience.  These posters also have another indirect impact on the women because as we all know when the men left to go to war the women took over the jobs working in the factories.  These posters create a sense of stability and happiness back home for the women.  When I think about it more and more the posters pertaining to the war are created not to inform people about the horrors and all the people dying in the war, but to make it seem like the war is a good thing and families will be waiting for their sons, and husbands to return home safe and sound.

With that being said art does have a direct impact on the people that view it, especially if people are constantly seeing it day after day.  If the posters were to have a different picture, say a graphic of all the dead soldiers, or families devastated by the loss of a loved one, then the perspectives and attitudes about the war would change drastically.  The atmosphere would also change because families would be anxious and worried about their loved ones surviving the war.

This is the first time I have ever been introduced to Dada and I am very interested in his works because he is so untraditional compared to other writer's works I have read.  I would say Dada was not a follower, rather he was his own leader and instead of doing works like other artists, he created his own works which reflected his anti war views, as well as his avant-garde and graphic design talent.  Dada is a inspirational artist because of his creative and unique style of writing and art.