Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Poet Costumes / Poet Graves / Vampire Poems

Ah Halloween. You can wear a Benjamin Vogt costume, or go as Dickinson, Poe, Williams, Whitman, or Sapho. Link here.

As a gardener, I like Whitman for the butterfly beard and grass stains....



You Will Need:
A beard
A simple collared shirt
Rustic pants
A floppy brown hat

Extra Credit
Hide butteflies in your beard

(In "Ode to Walt Whitman," Federico GarcĂ­a Lorca wrote: "Not for a moment, Walt Whitman, lovely old man, / have I failed to see your beard full of butterflies")

Roll in the grass to complete the look: when someone asks what that is stuck to your shirt, you can reply as Whitman does in "A child said, What is the grass?"

And why not spend the weekend visiting a poet's grave near you?

The Vampire Bride

by Henry Thomas Liddell

"I am come—I am come! once again from the tomb,
In return for the ring which you gave;
That I am thine, and that thou art mine,
This nuptial pledge receive."

He lay like a corse 'neath the Demon's force,
And she wrapp'd him in a shround;
And she fixed her teeth his heart beneath,
And she drank of the warm life-blood!

And ever and anon murmur'd the lips of stone,
"Soft and warm is this couch of thine,
Thou'lt to-morrow be laid on a colder bed—
Albert! that bed will be mine!"

More?

9 comments:

Chloe m said...

She should have had a V-8.
Nice poem! Timely.
Rosey

our friend Ben said...

Ha! I vote for the Benjamin Vogt costume. And mercy, that poem! Talk about the unquiet grave...

Nell Jean said...

I wanted to be Carlos Williams with a red (orange) wheelbarrow and stethoscope, but when I read his poem, decided to be the old woman with a paper bag of prunes, which I have on hand, too.

Susan Tomlinson said...

Hmmm, I'd go as Whitman, but I'm worried about that beard being itchy.

Especially if it is full of grass.

Chloe m said...

I have awarded you a scrap blog award on my blog,if you want to participate, that would be incredible!

Benjamin Vogt said...

Rosey--V8 indeed! And thanks for the meme and thinking so highly of my lil ole blog!
OFB--I want pics....
NJ--That's cheating, isn't it?
ST--Homer Simpson "Leaves of grass my ass."

Pam said...

I saw this the a few days ago on their website - and just loved it! But the question remains: did you dress up as one of these folks?

Benjamin Vogt said...

Pam--I dressed up as a PhD graduate (might as well get some use out of the regalia).

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