Sunk Like God Behind the House

Kent Maynard

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780873387323
• eBook ISBN:
  9781612773223
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism Theory
• Index: Literature

Drawing upon his experiences and knowledge as a professional anthropologist, Kent Maynard takes readers on a sensory journey through the cultures and landscapes of a fascinating and foreign world.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Hearing Pain

Nkwen Taxi Park

Bamenda Rains

Newborn

Stolen for Nothing

Somewhere xylophones

Having Taken the Bait

Equatorial Albino

Sunk Like God Behind the House

Cigarette Break

No Phones

A Crane Sings to a New England Tune

A Change in Fashion

Full Tilt

Blind Bad Luck

Lost at War

Whirlwind

Down to the Last Bone

Fast Track

Season’s Thief

Rising Expectations

Gaining Ground

Strong Women

We Manage

Notes

A Pidgin English Glossary

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I gratefully acknowledge the editors of the following publications for their kind permission to reprint poems, at times published originally in somewhat different versions: Anthropology and Humanism: “A Change in Fashion,” “Full Tilt,” “Gaining Ground,” “No Phones” (originally titled “Three Sisters”), and “Somewhere xylophones”; The Neovictorian/Cochlea: “Rising Expectations”; The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review: “Season’s Thief” and “Sunk Like God behind the House”; Spoon River Poetry Review: “Hearing Pain”; The MacGuffin: “Newborn”; Poetry Motel: “Strong Women”; and Poetic Matrix: “A Crane Sings to a New England Tune.”

As an anthropologist writing poetry I have many people to thank. Although I have written poems for a long time, I returned to poetry courses and workshops about thirteen years ago. Let me thank Tony Stoneburner, emeritus professor of English at Denison University, who first renewed my education in poetry with a private tutorial. Since then I have taken courses with David Baker and Ann Townsend at Denison and summer workshops with Stanley Plumly and Philip Levine. I am indebted profoundly to all of these poets for the inspiration of their instruction and hard-nosed critique of my work. Let me also thank Dell Hymes, poetry editor at Anthropology and Humanism for his editorial comments and support. Profound thanks also go to my Thursday writing group at Denison, especially John Miller, Paul Bennett, June Kraus, and the late Dick Kraus (to whom I dedicate “A Crane Sings to a New England Tune”). To Maggie Anderson, editor of the Wick Poetry Series, I am immensely grateful for her close, insightful reading of the manuscript; all the poems have benefitted enormously by her suggestions. Susan Diduk, friend, spouse, anthropologist, and life-long reader of poetry, first introduced me to the Kedjom; while she was completing three years of doctoral research in Cameroon, I tagged along in the summers of 1981 and 1982. Since then I have returned with her three more times: for thirteen months in 1989–1990, six months in 1996, and again in the summer of 1998. Each time I have engaged in anthropological research about the history and transformation of indigenous medicine, and I have continued to write poems. It is to Susan that I owe my greatest debt: she knows all the events that have led to these poems—in some cases telling me about them—and she has read and reread all my work. Finally, I thank both Fon Simon Vugah ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Hearing Pain
• Nkwen Taxi Park
• Bamenda Rains
• Newborn
• Stolen for Nothing
• Somewhere xylophones
• Having Taken the Bait
• Equatorial Albino
• Sunk Like God Behind the House
• Cigarette Break
• No Phones
• A Crane Sings to a New England Tune
• A Change in Fashion
• Full Tilt
• Blind Bad Luck
• Lost at War
• Whirlwind
• Down to the Last Bone
• Fast Track
• Season’s Thief
• Rising Expectations
• Gaining Ground
• Strong Women
• We Manage
• Notes
• A Pidgin English Glossary