Structure & Surprise

As Prageeta Sharma and I discuss in the essay “Substructure” in Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns, substructure is the often subtle, underlying structure that helps to pattern a poem.  Below are some supplemental poems and discussion.

“[morning broke on my cabin inverted. tempest in my forehead],” by D. A. Powell

The speaker of Powell’s poem tells the story of finding out he is HIV-positive and working to survive his illness’s many challenges.  To tell this story, he employs parts of the narrative of The Poseidon Adventure, a disaster movie about surviving an upside-down, sinking ship.

Perhaps because of the double meaning of “climax” (narrative and sexual), some poets have used the climactic orgasm as a major turn in their poems.  Here are two examples:

“i like my body when it is with your,” by e.e. cummings

“Coming,” by Heather McHugh (in Hinge & Sign)