From The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley

“A car” “awash with blood” “Blood at our feet” “& I
& others” “have small springs” “of blood from our”
“feet & knees” “There is an inch or two” “of blood”
“all over” “the car floor” “Replenished” “Periodically”

“by our body springs” “of blood” “And trickling out”
“the door,” “when it opens” “at stations.” “The
tyrant” “sends a hologram” “a life-sized hologram” “of
himself” “into our car” “He stands mid-car” “& says:”

“The blood at our” “feet” “has cost me” “so much”
…

The poem continues from there, and you can hear Alice Notley read it here [poets.org] and here [google-cached because the real site is down at the moment].

When I decided to spend this week comicifying poems that struck me visually, I knew that I was going to include something from The Descent of Alette. I decided to go with this passage because it simultaneously highlights the surreal, dystopian imagery of the story, the effectiveness of Notley’s metaphors, and the haunting rhythm of the language. If I were to recommend one book of poetry for cartoonists to read, it would The Descent of Alette. The entire story is made of four sections, each containing 30-40 poems, each made of stanzas, which are each made of smaller phrases within quotation marks. There aren’t any illustrations, but if that isn’t sequential art, I don’t know what is.

Tags: Imagination, Poetry

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