The ha-ha : poems / David Kirby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirby, David, 1944-

Series:

Southern messenger poets

Language:

English

Physical Description:

55 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 2003.

Summary:

A feature of English landscape architecture, a ha-ha is a wall at the bottom of a ditch; its purpose is to allow the presence of cows and sheep on one's lawn, but at an agreeable distance and with none of the malodorous unsightliness that proximity would bring. Similarly, The Ha-Ha, the latest offering from poet David Kirby, is both an exploration of the ways in which the mind invites chaos yet keeps it at a distance and an apologia for humor, reflecting Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh's observation that tragedy is merely underdeveloped comedy. Embracing wit, wide-ranging scholarship, and a love of travel as well as the pleasures of home, The Ha-Ha depicts comedy as a radical form of intelligence, a way of thinking that just happens to be noisy and rumbustious.

Contents:

The tao of Bo Diddley

The fugawi

The werewolf

Someone naked and adorable

Americans in Italy

Lame as a robin

Letters to Juliet

A man like you but older

Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart

Looking for Percy Sledge

Public idiot

Calling Robert Bly

On my mother's blindness

France/Francine's begonias

The search for Baby Combover

The elephant of the sea

Borges at the Northside Rotary

I cry my heart, Antonio.

ISBN:

0807128937

0807128945

OCLC:

52182503