[Note from your guides:
Here's another jewel mined from the Buffalo Poetics List.
Use your voice. Read this one ALOUD.]
“do wah”
Alan Sondheim
do wah wah do wah wah do wah wah di di do wah wah do wah wah do
wah wah di di johnny youre too young do wah wah do wah wah do do
wah do wah wah do wap wo do wap do wah wah di di do wah wah dip
do wah wah do wah di di di do wah wap do wah wap do wap do wap
do wah wah di di but i wanna get married wah do wah wah do wap
di wah wah wah do do wah wah do do wahp di wah wah di do wah wah
do wah wah do wah wah di di do wah wah do wah wah di do wap wap
wap wah do di wah wap youre too young wap do wap wap wap do wap
di di wap di wap di di wap di wap do wah wah wah do wah wah do
wah wah do wap di di do wah wah do wah wah do do wah do wah wah
do wap wo wo do wap do wo wo wah wah di di do wah wah do wap wap
di di do wap wap my name will carry do wap di wap wap do wap do
wo do wo wo dap di wap wo dap dap do wah wah do wa di di do wo
wap wah dah wi do wo wap di wap wap do wap do wah wah do wah wah
wah do wah wah do wap wo do wap do wah wah di di do wah wah dip
The author says of this poem:
A lot of my writing is concerned with “extra-linguistic” elements -- as if the body or mind could literally extend into text. In this piece I was interested both in the aurality of early rock (doo-wap etc.) and the enveloping of bodies and desires in sound. “My name will carry” -- the whole philosophy, in fact, of the proper name -- is submerged. Ironically, I'm currently reading The Tale of the Incomparable Prince, an 18th century Tibetan novel by Tshe Ring Dbang Rgyal (translated by Beth Newman) -- in it, when the enemy is destroyed, all that remains is the name. And for all I know there might be a connection between rock and roll rhythm and samsara.
Alan Sondheim is a writer/multimedia theorist (editor of Being On Line) who co-moderates several online lists. Potes & Poets is publishing his Parables of Izanami and Railroad Earth in Atlanta has brought out a CDrom of his online work over the past six years. He was also virtual writer-in-residence for the trAce (sic) online writing community at the beginning of this year; he worked on a number of collaborative projects at The Lost Project at trAce, and his trAce projects are collected in their Writers-in-Residence archives. Two of Sondheim's poems, “Subject: skyscraper-no” & “DON'T GET ME STARTED,” were featured here at About Poetry in 1998.