Saturday, July 04, 2009
Stolen Poem Titles
Inspired by Eduardo, who posted a list of people he's stolen lines from, and Keith, who posted a tentative table of contents for his next manuscript, I'm posting the list of titles currently in my developing second manuscript, along with the source for each (you've probably noticed if you've been reading my drafts that all my recent titles are stolen).
“Are You Not Entertained?” – Maximus, Gladiator
“Break My Teeth, Sir” – Olena Kalytiak Davis, “Six Apologies, Lord”
“Can I Not Get a Run?” – Adrian Matejka, “Synth Composite Basketball: No More Fundamentals”
“The Coke Dude” – Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (quoting my high school principal)
“Death Is Math” – Larissa Szporluk, “Cuckoo”
“Everything Looks like a Target” – Clutch, “Binge and Purge”
“Face like a Barndoor” – Robert Creeley, “A Wicker Basket”
“Guaranteed to Work Throughout Its Useful Life” – Richard Lederer, Anguished English
“Haunted by Waters” – Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
“House of Brown, Now Sit Down” – Hero’s Quest (aka Quest for Glory)
“How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy” – E. E. Cummings, “Buffalo Bill’s”
“I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” – Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
“If You Don’t See a Sucker” – Amarillo Slim Preston
“I’m Your Huckleberry” – Doc Holliday, Tombstone
“I’ve Had a Perfect Wonderful Evening” – Groucho Marx
“No Hope Except in Arms” – Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (quoting Livy quoting Gaius Pontius)
“Nothing Else in Tennessee” – Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of the Jar”
“Of the Devil’s Party” – William Blake, The Book of Heaven and Hell (from a statement about John Milton)
“On Paper I’m Not as Scared as I Seem” – Clay Matthews, “A Pilgrim’s Progress, or Lack Thereof”
“One Frame Famous” – Aaron Anstett, “Prayer Against Dying on Camera”
“Pieces of Eight! Pieces of Eight!” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
“Powerful as a Zoo” – John Berryman, “Dream Song 22: Of 1826”
“Real American Hero” – GI Joe
“Something Might Be Gaining on You” – Satchel Paige
“Their Sons Grow Suicidally” – James Wright, “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio”
“They Just Gave Me the Number When I Was Young” – Johnny Cash, “Thirteen” (covering Glenn Danzig)
“Trouble There on the Frontier” – Timothy Liu, “Westward”
“Uncertain Stumbling Buzz” – Emily Dickinson, “(465) I Heard a Fly Buzz”
“Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start” – The Konami code in Contra
“We Sing Sin” – Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”
“What Moves in the Attic” – Gina Franco, Utter
“What Was in His Braincase” – Sarah Lindsay, “Olduvai Gorge Thorn Tree”
“You Throw the Ball, You Hit the Ball, You Catch the Ball” – Bull Durham
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
“Are You Not Entertained?” – Maximus, Gladiator
“Break My Teeth, Sir” – Olena Kalytiak Davis, “Six Apologies, Lord”
“Can I Not Get a Run?” – Adrian Matejka, “Synth Composite Basketball: No More Fundamentals”
“The Coke Dude” – Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation (quoting my high school principal)
“Death Is Math” – Larissa Szporluk, “Cuckoo”
“Everything Looks like a Target” – Clutch, “Binge and Purge”
“Face like a Barndoor” – Robert Creeley, “A Wicker Basket”
“Guaranteed to Work Throughout Its Useful Life” – Richard Lederer, Anguished English
“Haunted by Waters” – Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
“House of Brown, Now Sit Down” – Hero’s Quest (aka Quest for Glory)
“How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy” – E. E. Cummings, “Buffalo Bill’s”
“I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” – Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
“If You Don’t See a Sucker” – Amarillo Slim Preston
“I’m Your Huckleberry” – Doc Holliday, Tombstone
“I’ve Had a Perfect Wonderful Evening” – Groucho Marx
“No Hope Except in Arms” – Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (quoting Livy quoting Gaius Pontius)
“Nothing Else in Tennessee” – Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of the Jar”
“Of the Devil’s Party” – William Blake, The Book of Heaven and Hell (from a statement about John Milton)
“On Paper I’m Not as Scared as I Seem” – Clay Matthews, “A Pilgrim’s Progress, or Lack Thereof”
“One Frame Famous” – Aaron Anstett, “Prayer Against Dying on Camera”
“Pieces of Eight! Pieces of Eight!” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
“Powerful as a Zoo” – John Berryman, “Dream Song 22: Of 1826”
“Real American Hero” – GI Joe
“Something Might Be Gaining on You” – Satchel Paige
“Their Sons Grow Suicidally” – James Wright, “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio”
“They Just Gave Me the Number When I Was Young” – Johnny Cash, “Thirteen” (covering Glenn Danzig)
“Trouble There on the Frontier” – Timothy Liu, “Westward”
“Uncertain Stumbling Buzz” – Emily Dickinson, “(465) I Heard a Fly Buzz”
“Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start” – The Konami code in Contra
“We Sing Sin” – Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”
“What Moves in the Attic” – Gina Franco, Utter
“What Was in His Braincase” – Sarah Lindsay, “Olduvai Gorge Thorn Tree”
“You Throw the Ball, You Hit the Ball, You Catch the Ball” – Bull Durham
Happy 4th of July, everyone!


