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Canon Fodder: Poems Inspired by Classic Literature

By Jay Sizemore

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A unique and articulate collection of literature-based poetry. If poetry isn't your cuppa, give this a chance. It may change your mind.

Synopsis

We often see lists of books online with titles like "THE TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME." How many of them have you read?

During the pandemic, poet Jay Sizemore decided it was far past time that he read (and finished reading) the novel Moby-Dick. He loved it so much, that he decided to keep picking up other classic works that he had for one reason or another never took the time to engage with. Much of this reading was accomplished through audio books and the Audible app, which allowed him to read many books in his spare time, often 3 or 4 a week. This was a horizon expanding and life changing experience.

Reading these books was endlessly inspiring. Sizemore wrote poems based on readings of books such as The Grapes of Wrath, Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and many, many more.

“Sizemore is to poetry what Jack Kerouac is to fiction, a passionate, funny, deeply human voice trying to catch the whole world in words. — George Bilgere, author of Blood Pages

Ahoy, Captain Ahab and others! If you’re looking for a unique collection of sturdy, thought-provoking poetry based on classic literature, prepare to set sail aboard Canon Fodder.

 

Be sure to read the Introduction so you don’t get lost in this fascinating collection. It explains how the author re-discovered classic literature (Hi, Herman Melville) via Audible (I read Atlas Shrugged the same way, so can relate), starting with Moby Dick. While reading this Melville classic, the Canon Fodder author explains how he finds himself “enthralled and inspired” by the style of writing he discovers. So he starts writing on his own, drafting poems via a process called “hybrid erasure.” (You’ll have to read the book to get that.)

 

Reading through The Top 100 Novels of All Time, he decides to write a poem inspired by each book. It's a lofty goal, for sure. But he pulls it off quite capably. (The author may also be the only other person I know who’s actually read Kafka and Dostoyevsky.) The result is an eclectic and articulate collection of poetry and what might be classified as “short story.”

 

The writing itself is top-notch. Engaging entries abound, including The Art of Ugliness, Dualities, and Punishment. Many of the poems are evocative and emotionally intense (Addie Bundren Speaks to America, What Is All This If Not Chemistry Attempting to Explain Loneliness.)


Thankfully, there is no mind-numbingly boring, strained sing-songy rhyming here. Canon Fodder is more mature. Like a full-bodied wine, aged to perfection. Stand-outs include Dead Poets Don’t Bite, after Robert Louis Stevenson, A Little Patch of Sky, after Marcel Proust, and Making Make Believe, after Lewis Carroll. The longest, unsurprisingly, is Like Life Itself, after Leo Tolstoy. (Also in the running: I Am Unkillable, after Saul Bellow.)


With the exception of some potentially offensive verbiage, the collection demonstrates a remarkable command of the language. It’s combined with an impressive vocabulary and an uncanny ability to pack reams of insight and emotion into a few short phrases. Indeed, if “the best work inspires others,” there’s plenty of “canon fodder” here for same.

 

Regarding basic structure, the material is arranged in two parts, with an Intermission in between. The contents conclude with an Epilogue, which essentially summarizes prior material and themes in one page. Note: Some readers may detect a rising tide of cynicism in some entries. This may turn-off some.

 

As a classic literature aficionado, however, I connected with many of the titles in this collection. It packs a punch in just 167 pages. Not bad for a guy with “the modern attention span of a gnat.” Not bad at all.

 

So if poetry isn’t quite your cuppa, give Canon Fodder a chance. It may very well change your mind.

Reviewed by
Kristine L.

Lifelong bibliophile. Library Board Member. Select book reviews featured on my blog and Goodreads, etc. I'm a frank but fair reviewer, averaging 400+ books/year in a wide variety of genres on multiple platforms. Over 1,600 published reviews. Still going strong!

Canon Fodder: Poems Inspired by Classic Literature

Written by Jay Sizemore

Buy it nowBuy nowBuy
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Synopsis

We often see lists of books online with titles like "THE TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME." How many of them have you read?

During the pandemic, poet Jay Sizemore decided it was far past time that he read (and finished reading) the novel Moby-Dick. He loved it so much, that he decided to keep picking up other classic works that he had for one reason or another never took the time to engage with. Much of this reading was accomplished through audio books and the Audible app, which allowed him to read many books in his spare time, often 3 or 4 a week. This was a horizon expanding and life changing experience.

Reading these books was endlessly inspiring. Sizemore wrote poems based on readings of books such as The Grapes of Wrath, Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and many, many more.

“Sizemore is to poetry what Jack Kerouac is to fiction, a passionate, funny, deeply human voice trying to catch the whole world in words. — George Bilgere, author of Blood Pages

A Writer Dreams of America

after Jack Kerouac

A dust cloud hangs

over the American West

like a benzedrine dream,

pornographic pictures and

power lines, a madness

that burns phosphorescent

plume and fume,

yellow as the noon.

The mad gather

like clotting blood,

like spiders made of stars,

glowing neon filament fibers

stringing web between the dark

and the moon, drawing gazes,

dropped drooling jaws.

This is what we want.

The specter of Karl Marx

in the wings

of a flaming magpie.

The dueling desire

of a typewriter and a parachute,

a speeding bit of shrapnel

tearing through the spleen,

the American Dream

gone miniature

as a rocking chair

viewed through a telescope

held backwards to the eye.


This is the writing life,

the romanticized road

stretching from ink to page

and lip to stage,

a kind of ubiquitous rage

that releases itself like rain.

We're all hitchhikers or bums,

traversing the wild country

in the back seats

of jalopies, dinosaurs knitted together

from strange bloody rust,

and the views from these windows

are what memories are made of.

In Anytown, Anywhere

the rivers run raw and fragrant,

a murmuration of wet

rippling against the quiet

subconscious of the mind,

that mildew scent

of wet earth and birds,

where experience bends

to meet expectation

like a wet kiss

upon the forehead.

I find myself here so often,

searching for my identity

amid so many names

scrawled messily on the wall


of some flop house

or abandoned railroad car,

and I feel just as lost

as a journalist's hat

blown beneath the bleachers

of a retired baseball stadium

where yesterday missed its handshake

with the normalcy of today,

and my mouth waters

for the familiarity

of apple pie and ice cream.

I miss that spirit,

the spirit of the West

slouching like a cowboy

on a bar stool

sipping his beer,

this mud dappled stranger

with carnivals for eyes

and a smile whiskey warm,

asking if anyone needs a ride,

because there's always

some ghost worth chasing

out past the pines

and the hills and the night,

where such kindness

feels welcome as a puppy

licking the salt

from the palm of your hand,

these visions are vanishing

like flickering phantoms of light

after all the eyelids

have closed their carnivals down,

there will be another huckster

in another huckster town,

saying step right up,

step right up and test your luck

guessing the weight

of a million empty years.

Canon Fodder: Poems Inspired by Classic Literature

Written by Jay Sizemore

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1 Comment

Jay Sizemore – Thanks for the review. Please note, the book's title is Canon Fodder, with Canon that has one "n," as it is referencing the literary canon.
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about 3 years ago
About the author

Jay Sizemore is a writer and author of 19 collections of poetry. His work has been a finalist for or nominated for multiple contests and awards. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where he lies awake and listens to the rain. view profile

Published on December 11, 2021

Published by

20000 words

Contains mild explicit content ⚠️

Genre:Poetry

Reviewed by

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