Poets are Present: Andrew Ratner

Poets are Present is a poetry residency in conjunction with David Ives’s adaptation of The Metromaniacs. As part of this unique theatre/poetry exchange, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proud to host more than 30 D.C.-area poets in the theatre’s lobby. Throughout the run, we will share with you the poems that this residency inspired our guests to write. Visit our Poets are Present page to see a list of upcoming poets.

Andrew Ratner received his bachelor’s degree in English at The George Washington University, where he studied creative writing with Jane Shore, among other poets. He then graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a Master’s of Education and is current teaching senior English at Archbishop Carroll High School. He is the sponsor of the Poetry Club at his school, and has coordinated the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition for four years at Carroll, where one of his students went on to compete in the national competition held at the Lisner Auditorium here in DC. He has been published in two online magazines, and cannot wait to publish more.

Prick of the Spindle:
http://www.prickofthespindle.com/poetry/1.2/ratner/after_stanzas_sexes_seductions.htm

Thieves Jargon:
http://www.thievesjargon.com/workview.php?work=1149

 

Sound Poem (17)

                        after the play

Awash in the mirth of it the bulk
and the bulge of it we are beautiful
laughter and actor full lips open and open:
it’s in the language: it’s in the watching
the empire of verbiage tossed into here
and after cushioned by nouns the naming
of thing of pearl incandescent of poetry
of appearance as feather a character creation
as if a dactylic whatever we are
transported mouths no longer a function
never a utility but silken pleasure:
the creation, the building of mistakes
and unmistakes the easy gesture to
name to misname to unname to round
them all clean: all become bridges
all full unpunctuated language we
awash in the beautiful rapture of possible.

By Andrew Ratner