Poem: Edgar's Evasive Evacuation
I came to Poe’s “The Raven” much later than most folks working on an English degree, but when I did, I was freshly full of poetic device lore thanks to the metrical focus of John Kooistra’s poetry class, and of a scatological inclination thanks to recent coverage of Jonathan Swift in my English Literature course.1 The effect, in that frame of mind, was almost tangibly inspiring — it made me breathe deeper, it flooded my mind with fragments of experimental verse, and by the time I had walked home that afternoon, Edgar’s Evasive Evacuation’s first two couplets had essentially coalesced. Over the following week, I was creatively obsessed and productive as I had never been until that point; the poem below was the product.
Edgar’s Evasive Evacuation (PDF)
2003
This period also involved a poor dietary decision the week before, as has been widely guessed by my adoring fans and concerned friends… ↩︎