“Letter to America” by Rob Carney, guest blog post on Terrain.org + writing prompt

Rob Carney presents his readers with a poem entitled “Poetic Justice” to reflect on the recent political environment in his November blog post for his series Old Roads, New Stories: A Blog Series on Terrain.org. This blog post includes an audio recording of Carney performing this politics-meets-history-meets-geography-meets-myth poem. I’ve always been intrigued with the way Carney weaves myths and connects landscapes to unexpected stories in his poetry–this poem is certainly a riveting example of just that. Click the play button below to listen.

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https://www.terrain.org/mp3/2016/nov/Carney_LetterToAmerica2.mp3?_=1

Here’s one of my favorite stanzas in the poem:

He resurrected.
He had no memory of being eaten.

He stood in the crosswalk, feeling accomplished,
like a star.

Then the ghost of Shakespeare appeared.
He was looking for a half-wit to cast as Polonius.

"Step behind this curtain," he said.
"I need to see

if you're stab-able."
Turned out he was.

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Try your hand at a similar story/poem by connecting a current event to the surrounding geography and include a myth of some sort. Then share a link to your own blog post in the comments below.

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Rob Carney's fourth book 88 Maps was just released by Lost Horse Press (distribution by University of Washington Press). Read the detailed review by Julie Marie Wade on The Rumpus here.

Other books and chapbooks include Story Problems and Weather Report, from Somondoco Press. You can also read his poetry in Terrain.org: 4th Annual Contest Winner and Issue 30. And listen to a new radio interview with Rob Carney.

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