As I said I would in my previous post about Steve Dolph’s work, I am posting selections from Ryan Eckes’ series Old News, which is one of the influences that Dolph cites in his brief statement of process regarding his poem “armed commando pursues and kills man on street.” Like Dolph, Eckes’ poems work with news stories as source material. Though In Eckes’ case the journalism is not current, but it is, by virtue of his poems, contemporary. In other words, Old News tests Ezra Pound’s assertion that “poetry is news that stays news.”

I first heard Eckes read selections from Old News last June at the now partially defunct Robin’s Bookstore. Afterwards, he told me that when he moved into his house a few years ago he discovered a stockpile of Philadelphia newspapers from the 1920’s in his basement and began reading them with fascination.

What immediately strikes me about these poems is the commingling of journalistic brevity with everyday vernacular. This combination naturally pulls irony to the surface, which I think is refreshing in an era when popular culture’s version of irony bombards us. Oftentimes, pop culture leads us to believe that irony isn’t natural and must be produced for us in the form of a sitcom. In turn, this manufactured irony makes it harder to discern true irony when we encounter it. Old News is journalism - objective and informative - but it is journalism written by someone who knows, whether it is 1923 or 2009, what’s at the core of everyday life .

Posted below are pages 16-24 of Old News. If you are interested in more, I highly recommend jumping over to Ryan Eckes’ blog where you can read pages 26-34 as well as listen to selections from the series.

_______________

The Evening Bulletin, Monday, May 7, 1923

‘HANDS UP, BANDIT', SAYS HE,
‘EH! UP YOURSELF', CRIES COP

Bluecoat Insulted

a postal clerk mistook a policeman for a thug
in germantown early today.

"i was on my way home," said Knox, "when
i saw a dark figure under the trees."

he drew a revolver and leveled it at
the officer, Leary, who seized  Knox's wrist

and wrenched away the gun. Knox apologized
and explained: "i have been shy of bandits

ever since i was shot in a holdup of a mail
wagon at 43d and Woodland a year ago."

______________

in the back of the head

often i imagine a bullet will rip
through my head as i'm sitting

by the window at night or walking
down the street a fist to the back

of my head, always this small
expectation, a stone lodged there

from a single moment in child-
hood. what's your background. can

you describe him. every day i'm here
for you. i am there for you. every day

out of the corner of my eye the guy
in the median of broad street selling

the daily news, "the people's paper."
i don't buy it, ever, not for a  quarter,

not for my neighbor. my neighbor
clara blesses my tree, she blesses my

mailbox, she blesses my railing
which she leans on now, smiling

towards a neighbor up the block. does
your house have god. what does your

house have. can you see into the eyes
of the house. a girl waves behind one

across the street, then closes the blinds.
her name escapes me.

______________

walt whitman

i dropped a quarter in walt whitman's cup
out front of the serv-rite

hey thanks man, he said biting into his
sandwich, slumped against the wall-

what're you irish - irish is good people,
man, good people - you irish, aint ya

nah man, i'm american, i said, walking
away

well, yr still irish - did you hear me - yr
still irish! he called painfully spitting down

the street again, offended, apparently
not walt whitman, not walt whitman

______________

The Evening Bulletin, Monday, May 7, 1923

BRIDGE HERMIT STRANGELY KILLED

Refined Recluse Who Never Begged Found on Tracks,
Slain or Hit by Train

the "hermit of high bridge" is dead
his body was found
beside the pennsylvania railroad
tracks at wallingford
examination disclosed his skull
had been crushed, one arm was
cut off but otherwise the body
was not marked he never begged
for food and never asked alms
he was always willing to work
and when he spent his money
it was with economy
he was evidently
a person
of refinement as he spoke
english fluently and appeared
educated he fitted up his hut
comfortably under the bridge
with his books, stove, table,
lamp and bed he gave his name
as george johnson but avoided
all inquiries as to his past
despite his eccentric ways
the hermit held the affection
of many people for whom he
did odd jobs and gardening
townspeople say he had been
disappointed in love
if he were possessed of wealth
his garb did not indicate it
he wore clothes ofttimes ragged
and unkempt although he was
always clean shaven he accepted
gratefully the small coins
which were the reward
of his odd jobs

______________

odd jobs

i have many hearts
one's a stick
i snap it over my knee

can't help it
can't help it

smoke
stacks
a big school
        publics you out
ironfist pounds a cloud's
all you got	so what
so what

      jobs    jobs    jobs

______________

every 20 minutes

years ago you'd walk 20 minutes
in any direction
and there'd be another dialect
frankie tells rosanna
every 20 minutes no matter
what direction you walked
frankie's tone never changes
i can't tell
if he laments a more integrated
yet homogenized present
or if he prefers it
he whistles right past me

______________

a conversation 

you said if Bush won the election again we'd move to my country, she said.

i'm not ready to move yet, he said.

if you're not ready now, you'll never be.

i don't know if i can move there. no offense, but your country's pretty racist and classist.

you say the same thing about your country, she said.

it's not the same. this country has essential freedoms that your country doesn't.

such as what?

such as freedom of speech, he said.

we have freedom of speech, she said.

oh yeah, what happens if i protest the government because i disagree with them about something? huh? i disappear, that's what happens. i disappear.

why would you be protesting the government? when do you protest the government here?

the whole way i live my life is a protest.

is it? well, you can live the same way in my country.

you don't understand - look, it's the principle of the matter. i need to know that i have that freedom.

this is why you are spoiled. this is why americans are spoiled.

______________

presence

dredging = jobs
duh
the walt whitman bridge is no cheaper
than the ben franklin
lay on the horn all you want
camden is poor
you know by looking at the dunkin donuts
america runs on dunkin
the present's not a divider
the present's a uniter
you know by looking at the dunkin donuts
walt whitman is buried in camden
ben franklin is buried in philadelphia
and the delaware river is a zombie

_______________

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Monday, May 23, 1923

LOST AND FOUND

LOST - Dog, male, with harness; white with brown spot on
       face & tail; in centre of city; answers to "Spike."

LOST - Bar pin with sapphires and Baroque pearl, going
       from 20th and Locust sts. to 12th and Lycoming ave.
       on Sunday Morning. Reward.

LOST - Brindle Bull. White mark neck & face, short tail
       large eyes. Red collar. Vic. 28 & York. Rew. Spirit-
       matter. 2230 W. Tioga

LOST - Certificate of Naturalization  No. 2, 400, 780.  Rew.
       Agostinho Antonio Barboza. 308 Pemberton st.

LOST - May 22. $50 bill btwn Widener Bldg & Wannamaker
       Store. Rew.

LOST - Black & tan female puppy. 5 mos. old. name "Gipsy."
       Rew. 3024 E st.