Writing about everday everyman America is what John Updike does best. I thought about this while vacuuming. Updike could write twenty pages on vacuuming without breaking a sweat. The man has written poems about waterbeds, burning trash, mouse sex, telephone poles, earthworms, fellatio, bicycle chains, hot water, pillows, sunglasses and mites.
A Bicycle Chain
Left lying in the grass,
unconnected to anything,
rusted and disjunct,
in becomes itself,
Dangled, it will stiffly dance,
parodying legs,
or curl upon itself in balky knots
nothing like strings.
...that's one stanza of three. The ability to make the mundane unique is one of Updike's trademarks - the others being the recurring themes of religion and infidelity.
Here's a great Updike web site. His new book Terrorist comes out in June. If you want to read one of his books, I recommend Rabbit, Run or A Month of Sundays.
A Bicycle Chain
Left lying in the grass,
unconnected to anything,
rusted and disjunct,
in becomes itself,
Dangled, it will stiffly dance,
parodying legs,
or curl upon itself in balky knots
nothing like strings.
...that's one stanza of three. The ability to make the mundane unique is one of Updike's trademarks - the others being the recurring themes of religion and infidelity.
Here's a great Updike web site. His new book Terrorist comes out in June. If you want to read one of his books, I recommend Rabbit, Run or A Month of Sundays.
