WHISPER SHIFTER a Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty
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WHISPER SHIFTER A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts Jason C. Venner May, 2008 WHISPER SHIFTER Jason C. Venner Thesis Approved: Accepted: _____________________________ _____________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Craig Paulenich Dr. Ronald F. Levant ______________________________ _____________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Mary Biddinger Dr. George R. Newkome _____________________________ _____________________________ Faculty Reader Date Dr. Robert Miltner _______________________________ Department Chair Dr. Diana Reep ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to the editor of the following journals in which some of the poems in this manuscript have appeared, sometimes in slightly different versions or under different titles. Edgz Magazine: “At the Hospital,” Issue # 14 The Magazine of Speculative Poetry: “Vision Quest,” Spring Issue 2008 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. REVOLUTION............................................................................................................1 THIS YOU MUST KNOW..................................................................................1 REVOLUTION SPEAKS OF HIS FAMILY........................................................2 REVOLUTION’S PERSONALITY TEST RESULTS .........................................3 THE PERFECT CANDIDATE ............................................................................4 REVOLUTION DIVINES HIS FORTUNE .........................................................5 MOTHER AND SON ..........................................................................................6 REVOLUTION AND THE ANIMALS ...............................................................7 BRAIDING........................................................................................................10 CUT THEM OUT..............................................................................................11 LAKE EFFECT .................................................................................................12 THE RIVER ......................................................................................................13 BOOMERANGS ...............................................................................................14 THE STORY HARVEST...................................................................................15 PROFIT MARGIN.............................................................................................16 AT THE HOSPITAL .........................................................................................17 PARABLES OF OLD MEN ..............................................................................18 BOOK BURNING.............................................................................................20 iv SLEEP APNEA .................................................................................................21 LOVE STORY...................................................................................................22 DYNAMICS......................................................................................................23 THE HISTORY OF FIRECRACKERS..............................................................24 CHAMPION’S BOULEVARD..........................................................................25 WHEN THE CARNIVAL COMES ...................................................................26 II. INDIGO....................................................................................................................28 ANOTHER VERSION ......................................................................................28 SEEING.............................................................................................................29 STANDING NEXT TO US................................................................................30 JEALOUSY.......................................................................................................31 RAVEN WOMAN.............................................................................................32 CUTTING..........................................................................................................33 CROCODILE ....................................................................................................34 MONSTERS......................................................................................................35 BORN................................................................................................................36 VISION QUEST................................................................................................37 THIS ONCE WAS OCEAN...............................................................................38 CONFIRMATION.............................................................................................39 FIREBIRD.........................................................................................................40 KEEPING..........................................................................................................41 OMPHALOS .....................................................................................................42 KOYAANISQATSI ...........................................................................................43 v WHITE HORSE ................................................................................................44 DARKNESS ......................................................................................................45 PUMA ...............................................................................................................46 Divination..........................................................................................................47 Thin Places ........................................................................................................48 In the Distance Between.....................................................................................49 Baby Teeth.........................................................................................................50 Road Rage .........................................................................................................51 Instructions ........................................................................................................52 vi CHAPTER I REVOLUTION This You Must Know Revolution is a complete replacement, one for another; an establishment torn to its foundation and rebuilt again; a phenomenon of unexplained bodily transformation, the conjugation of in-and-animate; a cycle of forms, both heavenly and machine; a swirl of patterns on pavements and interstates. Many mistake revolution for rebellion, the embodied action of the rebel, who seeks to undermine authority through the use of force and intimidation. Rebellion however, is easily misled by impassioned speech, opinion and drink, and should be trusted as much as an apology. Given revolution’s resolve in certain matters, rebellion is hesitant to make promises, and seeks rejection, while revolution seeks completion. There is a marked distinction. 1 Revolution Speaks of His Family In the quiet spaces behind closed eyelids, Mayhem will seduce you with a platinum rope, offer the gift of fear, and give you Panic. Bent on instigation, my brother is hearsay, loud noises, and the isolation of tight, dark places. Whistles fermented in adrenaline and doubt line his pockets like itchy fingered giggles. When the car door opens and your lover steps from it, heavy with the toxin of strangers, and eyes tighten under sunlight when you ask, Revenge is born. He likes costumes, and is quite skillful with his hands. But he is impatient and irrational, says ludicrous things when drunk. He is dangerous when you believe such things he says when he says such things. I am your first free thought, middle brother, between talker. An idea that dances in rain and plugs fingers into sockets just to say it happened. I am heat, light, and rippling updraft; an itch that rises from your navel and comes to rest on the back of your tongue; the reason you believe yourself crazy. 2 Revolution’s Personality Test Results You are the jangle pulse in eardrums, birthed by a lurching stomach when you realize she is suddenly brave enough to leave the lights on; a dog-nervous air, hungry for ion and rain cloud, searching for shafts in windows and doors; an itchy nose with a fingerprint, or raspberry sorbet, mashed on the back of the tongue, heavy with common sense and padded for comfort, a sore-toothed memory that suffocates another dream beneath the hulls of ships and propeller hums, where the bubbles of words scuttle like ants over neck and arms before you wake. 3 The Perfect Candidate Comforted by the pulpy musk of oxidant trees, bookworm, you squint like a mole. Pinching forefinger and thumb to temples, the lines of your forehead are the rigor of washboards. Do you hear voices when you read? Do they have breath, dance somewhere between tongue and crown? Or are they stifled, their legs cut by the scissors of education? I want you to be careful; ideas can burn holes into your stomach. They’ll become whirlpools, pulling words in, never letting go. 4 Revolution Divines His Fortune At the library Revolution peruses the aisles, finds books on geology, and holds his palms to his eyes as if divining proscription from fissures and fault lines. Elephant crinkle pink, each fingerprint