Improv/Imitation 1, Week 7

Allen Ginsberg, "America":  http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/america.html

America do you not swear in public?
America do you bite your tongue or
give God rainy eyes and enter yourself as evidence?
America do you say n-word
when you read Huck Finn aloud?
America do you dream about ash and glue
gelled together
after the devotion burns the town library down?
America are you a Christian?
America do you like to make love in public
or fuck in private?
America do you not swear in privacy?
America you are the postcolonial master
God you are the colonial master
America and God I am not your slave.
America I am your skeptical brat.

Sign Inventory 1, Week 7

Allen Ginsberg, "Sunflower Sutra" (Vintage, pp. 229-31):  http://boppin.com/sunflower.html)

1. Stanza 1:  note the string of prepositional phrases, which occur back-to-back
2. S 2:  allusion to proto-Beat Jack Kerouac
3. S 2:  note the repetitive use of the letter "s"
4. S 4-5:  double-dash used to transition from first stanza to the next
5. S 5:  begins with a double-dash instead of actual word
6. S 5:  first instance of the double-dash
7. S 6:  first stanza to begin as the direct ending of a previous stanza
8. S 7:  note the capitalization of the word "sunflower"
9. S 7:  note the, once again, repetitive use of the letter "s"
10. All:  note various words repeated:  "sun" and "flower"

Junkyard Quotes 1-4, Week 7

1.  "Award show banner is not pablum (to Colbert).  Reality television celebrates the human condition (from teleprompter)."  (Jon Stewart)

2.  "...by giving you a golden idol to worship.  Kneel before your God, Babylon!" (Stephen Colbert)

3.  "An audience member asked, 'What made you a Star?'  Johnny (Carson) replied, 'I started out in a gaseous state and then I cooled.'" (David Letterman)

4.  "We got cable TV here, and the first thing we switched on happened to be Eraserhead. I said, 'What’s this?' I didn’t know what it was. It was so great. I said, 'Oh, this cable TV has opened up a whole new world. We’re gonna be sitting in front of this thing for centuries. What next? So starting with Eraserhead we sit here, click, click, click — nothing."  (Charles Bukowski)