Mornings Like This: Found Poems

I discovered this beaut' while trolling for e.e.cummings for another project. Proving my guiding gnomon that 9/10 of writing is editing, Dillard did not find these poems in the sense that the term is usually used, but rather, lifted them from their sources phrase by phrase. None of the words are hers (save a few parenthetical conjunctions), but she has cobbled together poetry of mad humor and trenchant depth. Consider these couplets from "Class Notes on Painting and the Arts" which was drawn from a book by Robert Henri entitled THE ART SPIRIT. "The laughter should pass /From the beginning of the hair to the end of it." - "A ripple runs around and picks up the chin./When he laughs new forms begin." - "After laughter one should feel full,/Not empty as one feels after fireworks."... Or this from "Deathbeds," drawn from Le Comte's Dictionary of Last Words, "I am coming, Katie! John, /it will not Be long. /Supremely happy! Excellent!/My dearest, dearest Liz. We are all going;/We are all going; we are all going./This is it chaps. Take me home. I believe, my son, I am going. That's it./Good-bye -- drive on. Cut her loose, Doc." Fueled by Dillard's wicked sense of humor and passionate taste for metaphysics, frisbees and animal life, this one is a slim and wondrous delight.

In the introductory author's note to "Mornings Like These: Found Poems," Annie Dillard states of the book, "Excepting only some titles and subtitles, I did not write a word of it." Basically the book consists of "bits of broken text" taken from other authors' prose books and rearranged on the page as poetry. Dillard's sources include "The American Boys Handy Book" (1892), an 1853 maritime conference report, a 1926 junior high school English text, van Gogh's letters, and more.Dillard admits that half of the poems in this book "are just jokes." Some of them are quite clever and thought-provoking; in some of them she really seems to change the original author's intent. Dillard thus, in a broader sense, makes us question the very nature of the written text and the nature of its relationship to potential readers.There are some really interesting passages in this book. She mines a stunning section on pain from a prehospital emergency care book. I found the funniest piece to be a "Index of First Lines," from two poetry anthologies. Overall, an intriguing book.

What a wonderful little book of poems! Whether you are familiar with Dillard or not, familiar with the original lines she "lifted" or not, or familiar with poetry at all, you will truly enjoy this book. Annie has crafted these found poems in ways that suprise and stimulate, mixing the clever and the humorous with the deep and profound. Each one is a treasure to be explored for again and again. Dillard makes these works her own; you can hear her voice through others' words.

Annie Dillard was recommended to me as a poet whose work would gracefully cross over the line separating genres of literature. I found "Mornings Like This" to be much more than this. It has been said many times that there are no more original thoughts left to be expressed. Ms. Dillard challenges this, by presenting us with "found poetry" - thoughts that she did not formulate originally but that she has adapted to show deeper or alternate meaning. It IS original, despite being thought of by others first. The work is a delicate web of whimsy