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Articles by Marvin Bell
Two poems by Marvin Bell
“To Dorothy” and “The Self and the Mulberry” To Dorothy You are not beautiful, exactly. You are beautiful, inexactly. You let a weed grow by the mulberry And a mulberry grow by the house. So close, in the personal quiet Of a windy night, it brushes the wall And sweeps away the day till we sleep. A child said it, and it seemed true: ‘Things that are lost are all equal.’ But it isn’t true. If I lost you, The air wouldn’t move, nor the tree grow. Someone would pull the weed, my flower.
I Went Out to Hear
There will be no stars—the poem has had enough of them. I think we can agree we no longer believe there is anyone in any poem who is just now realizing they are dead, so let’s stop talking about it. The skies of this poem are teeming with winged things, and not a single innominate bird. You’re welcome. Here, no monarchs, no moths, no cicadas doing whatever they do in the trees.
What to Watch This Week
You know it's an interesting week when you get the chance to throw a couple of totally different but deeply related pilots into the Thunderdome and see which one comes out victorious. Our first contestant is She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the Marvel industrial-content complex's newest show. In case the title didn't tip you off, this is a half-hour comedy/action show about a female Hulk who's also a lawyer. How in the world did this come about?
The Writer's Almanac for Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - Garrison Keillor
A Prairie Home Companion An Evening of Story and Song Humor Love & Comedy Tour Old Friends Poetry Prairie Home Christmas Show Solo Songs Stories The Gratitude Tour November 5, 2021 Friday 7:30 p.m. Carrollton Cultural Arts Center, Carrollton, GA Carrollton, GA Garrison Keillor and the Hopefuls (Robin and Linda Williams) Gospel music, Stories and Sing Alongs November 5, 2021, 7:30 PM Carrollton Cultural Arts Center 251 Alabama Street, Carrollton, GA $30 reserved/$10 children GARRISON KEILLOR...
After the Fact - Air/Light
Editor’s Note: What follows are two sets of excerpts from Marvin Bell and Christopher Merrill’s extended collaboration After the Fact, in which the poets shared a conversation on the page in the form of a series of linked, single paragraph prose poems. The first thirteen of these works, or “paras,” are from the as yet unpublished After the Fact: If & When; the final four are from After the Fact: Here & Now, a subsequent volume left unfinished at Bell’s death.
Words of wisdom from the ‘oldies’
A friend of mine with whom I taught and coached for 40 years sent me the following thoughts that seem to make sense today. He is a conservative, but I never did ask him whether he was a Democrat or Republican. I am a registered Independent and am moderate politically, whatever that means. Sometimes I lean a bit to the right, sometimes a bit to the left, but usually I float around in the middle and worry about the far left and far right that have become so divisive and power hungry.
The Art of Distance No. 38
By The Paris Review December 21, 2020 The Art of Distance In March, The Paris Review launched The Art of Distance, a newsletter highlighting unlocked archive pieces that resonate with the staff of the magazine, quarantine-appropriate writing on the Daily, resources from our peer organizations, and more. Read Emily Nemens’s introductory letter here, and find the latest unlocked archive selections below.
Emeritus Talk: Bloody Brainwork
Below is the text of Marvin Bell’s final lecture, “Bloody Brainwork,” presented by the Emeritus Faculty Council at the University of Iowa as part of the Emeritus Faculty Lecture Series on November 5, 2020. Emeritus Talk: Bloody Brainwork Good afternoon. This will be a light talk about brainwork, in particular some ways we reach for language. It won’t be about the science of the brain, nor about brain research, but anecdotal and narrative.
Mars Being Red by Marvin Bell - Poems
Live as if you were already dead. – Zen admonition 1. About the Dead Man and Fungi The dead man has changed his mind about moss and mold. About mildew and yeast. About rust and smut, about soot and ash. Whereas once he turned from the sour and the decomposed, now he breathes deeply in the underbelly of the earth. Of mushrooms, bakers yeast, fungi of wood decay, and the dogs preceding their masters to the burnt acre of morels. And the little seasonals themselves, stuck on their wobbly pin stems.
Poem: About the Dead Man’s Recent Dreams
By Marvin Bell Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye Sept. 24, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET The poet Marvin Bell has been writing “dead man poems” for more than a quarter century, beginning at age 53. His recent generous volume, “Incarnate: The Collected Dead Man Poems,” brings together four previous collections and adds 26 new poems. In one poem, the dead man is described as “perspective itself, the universal fixed to a pinpoint.
The beautiful art of language
Language from any era or source can be beautiful.
Column unintentionally gets it right
Marvin Bell 4:06 p.m. CDT April 15, 2016Buy Photo(Photo: Press-Citizen)Buy PhotoOne must applaud the Press-Citizen’s election coverage, as succinctly summarized by the March 26 column, “Plenty of fertilizers to choose from.”Marvin BellIowa CityRead or Share this story: http://icp-c.com/1Sg6rcV
Time Study
Find and share the perfect poems. The coffee was cold so I said so. I said, my coffee is cold, and then I repeated it but with a variation, something like, my coffee is cold and I said so, and then, I said I am glad my coffee is cold because I get to say so, and I said my coffee is cold like the Sahara at night, and I said the Sahara is a lot like my coffee, which has cream, and it is cold which means I have to say so or someone will say to drink my coffee, which is cold and the camels are asleep.
White Clover
The coffee was cold so I said so. I said, my coffee is cold, and then I repeated it but with a variation, something like, my coffee is cold and I said so, and then, I said I am glad my coffee is cold because I get to say so, and I said my coffee is cold like the Sahara at night, and I said the Sahara is a lot like my coffee, which has cream, and it is cold which means I have to say so or someone will say to drink my coffee, which is cold and the camels are asleep.
Around Us by Marvin Bell - Poems
Live as if you were already dead. – Zen admonition 1. About the Dead Man and Fungi The dead man has changed his mind about moss and mold. About mildew and yeast. About rust and smut, about soot and ash. Whereas once he turned from the sour and the decomposed, now he breathes deeply in the underbelly of the earth. Of mushrooms, bakers yeast, fungi of wood decay, and the dogs preceding their masters to the burnt acre of morels. And the little seasonals themselves, stuck on their wobbly pin stems.
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