An Attempt to Apply the Principles of Louis Zukofsky's Poetry to Parts of My Poem, Unholy Morn, September 11, (Part III)

`This is the third part of three articles I wrote exploring and attempting to apply some of the principles of Louis Zukofsky's poetry to my poems which may be found on Associated Content:
An Attempt to Apply Louis Zukofsky's Objectivist Poetics to My Poem Beggars of Iron (Part I)
An Attempt to apply the Principles of Louis Zukofsky's Poetry to my Poems (Part II)
As I started to write the poem, I had to stop and restart it. I remembered his careful attention to objects and images. I paused to look at pictures of the Towers before and after the tragedy.
I paid careful attention to forming clear images. However, starting with DEATH STRUCK, I
attempted to apply his concept of disruptive line breaks. I could see this part was hard to understand and make sense of the words. I thought it was fitting as the tragedy, too, was
hard to understand and make sense of. The words had a skeletal, disrupted appearance,
as did the towers and its victims after the horrific event. In my opinion, I thought his
disruptive line breaks, etc. fit well in this part of the poem in that the form matched the content.

An excellent article on Louis Zukofsky can be found on Poetry Foundation http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=7665 They identify him as an important American poet. As such, to my way of thinking, serious poets should be familiar with his ideas and some of his works whether they agree with him or not.

UNHOLY MORN (September 11)

by Mary Naylor

The sky looked as if a child had painted it
Dipping his brush into radiant pastel paintpots
And making thick strokes of gold, white and pink
On a blue newsprint sheet which seem to hang from invisible
Clothespins. Stretching to breathtaking heights,
The twin towers stood serenely side by side
Their glass windows reflecting the dawn.
There were the usual odors that morning,
Paper cups filled with hot, fragrant coffee,
Sweet, warm donut and pastry smells emanating from paper bags.
In the background, there was a suserration of sounds: Phones ringing;
The crackle of paper, and the sleepy drone of office machines.
There was the familiar feel of smooth desktops
And plush carpets underfoot. And there were PEOPLE:
People grinning, people stretching, people talking,
People - preparing for the day's work.

DEATH STRUCK

IN THE

FORM OF

HATE

so
E
VI
L
IT
COULD
DES
TRO
Y
ITSELF AS I
T DESTROYED
THOUSANDS OF
U
N
A
R
M
E
D VICTIMS
MU
RD
ERED BY
cowardly
KI
LL
ERS
who must
STRIKE
THEN
HIDE
BEHIND
H
O
W
L
I
NG

DEATH - RATHER
than LIVE
and FaCE

T
H
E

UNH
OLY

MORN...