Shar-Lyn Tay
LIB 200.1501
Professor Gallagher
6 November 2007
What does the Peter Gizzi analysis of Spicer’s poetry and its historical
context tell you about how to read the serial poem “Thing Language”?
Peter Gizzi’s article about Jack Spicer’s style of poetry writing causes readers to
view the serial poem “Thing Language” in a different light. Prior to reading any
background information on the poem, readers may probably feel confused as to the
randomness of the poem. However, the Gizzi article shows readers how Spicer thought of
language as a foreign medium; one designed to act not as a means of self-expression, but
rather to convey the thoughts of others.
The radio, also known as “talking furniture”, was used as a transmitter of thoughts
according to Spicer. All his thoughts in the poem are not actually his, but “messages
received from a ghostly sparring partner” (Gizzi, 189). Even then, the poet will constantly
think of way of somehow getting his own thoughts into the poem. In one part of “Thing
Language”, “Sporting Life”, Spicer writes that “The trouble with comparing a poet with a
radio is that radios don’t develop scar tissue. Spicer is trying to say that even with all of
its transmissions, a radio is merely an inanimate object, while a poet is a living, breathing
human.
Gizzi also introduces the thought that Spicer believed in a poet’s body being used
as a medium for aliens to communicate their thoughts. Spicer’s poems reveal that the
reader may feel connected to the poem, but also manages to mirror the distorted view of
the poet. It is like saying that the poet connects with the reader, but has a distorted view
of his own.
As for the baseball related parts of his poem, Spicer included those because he, as
a master gamesman wanted to incorporate something he was interested in and loved into
poetry. He included styles found in a baseball game into his poem. The unpredictable
balls that a pitcher throw represent the unknown messages that will be transmitted by
aliens. The unpredictability of a baseball game also shows in the random pattern of
“Thing Language”.
Using baseball as one his poem’s main idea also appealed to Spicer because the
thought of a baseball player “capturing” the other team’s base and “borrowing” another
player’s style could be construed as a spirit borrowing a poet’s body. A baseball game is
played with no timer and thus could be seen as something endless and open-ended, just
like poetry should be.
Gizzi gives readers a great understanding of how Jack Spicer thought and makes
understanding “Thing Language” much easier. The clarity of the poem is obvious once
readers figure out the muse and reasoning behind Spicer’s seemingly random poetry.