A tribute to Loren Goodman

Blair from Facts of Life




vs.



Blair from Gossip Girl








—who would win???

Hannah and her (mind) twisters

Dizzyhead Hannah writes:

A sensationalist news report and the response of the American public! "Civilization and Its Discontents," maybe, or: "City of Quartz."

I was going to do its complement, a different take on the power of motion pictures and the relationship of such images to American society. Alas, the only camera I have is the one on my laptop, which couldn't handle the number of books involved. It would've been the following:

Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Moving Places."
John McPhee's "Coming into the Country."
Nicholson Baker's "Checkpoint."
Jurgen Habermas's "The Inclusion of the Other."
Daniel Paul Schreber's "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness."
William E. Connelly's "Identity/Difference."
Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."
an ellipsis, and then --
Karl Polanyi's "The Great Transformation."
with an implied colon, i.e., "The Great Transformation" as a chapter heading and what follows as how it is realized --
Andrew Sarris's "The American Cinema."
V.F. Perkins's "Film as Film."
Amos Vogel's "Film as a Subversive Art."
Jack London's "War of the Classes."
J. Hoberman's "The Dream Life."

* * *

Instead, she sends this deliriously compact entry (including one of The Dizzies' favorite poets!):

Loren Goodman—Genius Poet of the 21st Century?

Dizzyhead Thomas sends us Goodman's "greatest" poem, in its entirety. It's called "The Party."

Are you ready?

Here it is:



THE PARTY

Invite Don Rickles.

Bunny modern — "Yeast"

I thought this Times Real Estate piece would be interesting, based on this perfect lede:

"Even rabbits should listen to their mothers."

Oh wait—make that rabbis...

* * *

Dizzyhead Thomas recently picked up a book for a buck at the Strand—Loren Goodman's (Yale Younger Poets–winning) collection Famous Americans. LG is clearly one of the best poets ever, as these choice excerpts illustrate:

From "Who Would Win?"

Ernie Shavers vs. Ernie Hemingway—who would win???

Norman Mailer vs. Norman Bates—who would win???

Betty vs. Veronica—who would win???

Jacques Cousteau vs. Jacques Strap—who would win???

[...]

William Shatner vs. Gil Gerard—who would win???

World War I vs. World War II—who would win???

Ironsides vs. Columbo—who would win???

Columbo (the private detective) vs. Colombo (Sri Lanka)—who would win???

Julius Erving vs. Irving Goodman—who would win???

Dialectical Hegemony vs. Axiological Heterogeneity—who would win???

[...]

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Leonard Nimoy—who would win???

Ginger vs. Marianne—who would win???

Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. Zimbabwe—who would win???

Alfredo Evangelista vs. Linda Evangelista—who would win???

Gurkhas vs. Gherkins—who would win???

Those who are concerned with who would win
vs.
Those who are not concerned with who would win—who would win???

* * *

From "A Man of Letters":

I am a man of letters:
A, B, D, G, O, & P.

[...]Please excuse this mess of books—
Or take a look: I'm reading THE POEMS OF DO PO;
BAD POD, a sci-fi novel about
bean travel; and GO BOA GO!, an
inspirational tale about a snake.

* * *

And maybe my favorite:

YEAST

I am Yeast, a great poet
I live in Ireland
Some say I am the greatest
Poet ever

My poetry makes bread grow
All over Ireland and the world
In glens and valleys, bread rising
In huts, clover paths, and fire wood

There will always be critics
Who deny Yeast
But you can see
The effect of my poetry
Through the potato fields
And the swell of the Liffey.
The amber coins and foaming black ale