Scumble

By Rae Armantrout b. 1947 Rae Armantrout

What if I were turned on by seemingly innocent words such as “scumble,” “pinky,”

or “extrapolate?”

What if I maneuvered conversation in the hope that others would pronounce these

words?

Perhaps the excitement would come from the way the other person touched them

lightly and carelessly with his tongue.

What if “of” were such a hot button?

“Scumble of bushes.”

What if there were a hidden pleasure

in calling one thing

by another’s name?

Used by permission of the author.

Source: Versed (Wesleyan University Press, 2009)

ABOUT THIS POEM

Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.

Poet Rae Armantrout b. 1947

POET’S REGION U.S., Western

SCHOOL / PERIOD Language Poetry

Subjects Love

Poetic Terms Free Verse

More about this poem

Rae Armantrout, one of the founding members of the West Coast group of Language poets, stands apart from other Language poets in her lyrical voice and her commitment to the interior and the domestic. Her short-lined poems are often concerned with dismantling conventions of memory, pop culture, science, and mothering, and these unsparing interrogations are often streaked with wit. “You can hold the various elements of my poems in . . .

Continue reading this biography