Poem-A-Day: A Conceit by Rae Armantrout

October 30, 2013 A Conceit by Rae Armantrout     Local anchors list the ways  viewers might enjoy tomorrow.    One says, "Get some great....", but  that seems like a stretch.    The other snickers, meaning,  "Where were you going with that?"    Like you thought  *    Like you could defend  vanity    in the sense of  idle conceit,    vacuous self-  absorption,    doing whatever  it takes to    whatever  because,    really.      *    As if to say,  "Conceit  is the vacuum energy."        Copyright © 2013 by Rae Armantrout. Used with permission of the author.   About This Poem "This poem brings together my ongoing obsessions with popular media and contemporary physics. It begins with the vacuous but relentless banter of a local news team, then centers on the two meanings of the word conceit: an inflated self-conception and (in literature) an exaggerated comparison. It ends with what might be an exaggerated comparison, 'Conceit/is the vacuum energy.' (The vacuum or 'dark' energy is the repulsive force in empty space thought to be driving the expansion of the universe, and here, metaphorically, the patter of these television personalities.)" --Rae Armantrout Most Recent Book by Armantrout Money Shot (Wesleyan University Press, 2012)               Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.   Rae Armantrout is the author of numerous books of poems, including Money Shot (Wesleyan University Press, 2012). Among her honors are the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Armantrout teaches at the University of California, San Diego, where she is Professor of Poetry and Poetics.   Related Poems Small Talk by Eleanor Lerman Water Music by Robert Creeley Record by Katrina Vandenberg __________________________ Armantrout is the judge for the 2014 Walt Whitman first book award. Submit your manuscript online today.      Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

Forward this email This email was sent to prentice654.allsms@blogger.com by poetnews@poets.org |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Academy of American Poets | 75 Maiden Lane | Suite 901 | New York | NY | 10038