Just for Fun

Back to the July/August issue of Poetry magazine. "Blues for Oedipus" by X.J. Kennedy amuses me. The words chosen by the poet to run through the tragedy of Oedipus in two short stanzas, moving the reader quickly through the major conflicts. The words and phrases are short and bounce from line to line like a hip-hop song. "Oracle figured/You'd come a cropper,/Kingdom-killin/Mammyjammin/Poppa-bopper!//" The first stanza is the most fun, and it made me want to dance. The second stanza is more explicit about the events in the tragedy, but with the flare of a spoken-word poet. It reminds me of April poetry month events held in Bethesda, Md.