Mad World, Mad Kings, Mad Composition

Lisa Fishman is the author of 24 Pages and other poems (Wave, 2015), F L O W E R C A R T (Ahsahta Press, 2011), Current (Parlor Press, 2011) and The Happiness Experiment (Ahsahta, 2009). A North American writer (US and Canadian), Fishman is working on dividing her time between Wisconsin, where she currently lives, and somewhere across the border.

• Table of ContentsI.[Truth-telling is possible, thought Laura Riding . . .][not "using words"][the Five Ways to jump][Spring goes down][Michael says the poem will speak][Anyone says a few things . . .][How is every giant lunatic today? . . .][That walk up the hill . . .][Hill comes up][Each thing seen is upside down]Night Skiing[Full moon if I could see it][The March King has horse's ears][The Dawn Redwood's branches curve up]WinterCilentoSwiftwritingSwift 2[You have a noon face . . .][There were broken birds . . .][I notice my heart . . .][Again no mother was][Sweet Go Go Lime]Swift 3WritingSortingStoringPin DropCorrection to Klee"The sun's five hours slow"[Letter One . . .][Claw eth the cold . . .]Worksheet, March 2013[GUITAR DRAW STAR][Gulls lifted over][A house has a cloud . . .][Being asked to write the sounds . . .][What is the outside process?]Memory Exercise[When 10 voices appear][transcription missing][Don't take apples from tortoise man?]ScrapsThe Fingers[I rode the Red Line . . .][D. H. Lawrence wrote a letter.]"While You Were Out" [#1][DonMee was talking . . .][I asterisk june . . .][Who was the? . . .]What the Donkey SaidNovember 16 – December 1, 2016["i've been looking for you . . ."][how far a person recedes]II.[Wherefore she changed her mind][da Vinci wrote, "If the sun is in the East . . ."][J is painting the birch stump . . .]A dress for the carnival.[With one person I've experienced . . .][The rest of the morning.]Transcribed to be read aloud[Compost – decay][they all add up to instructions][Rain at 4 a.m.][The sun appears to have gotten closer . . .][Clouds over Lake Michigan . . .]Found[James just observed . . .][Dandelion says]da Vinci again[day before yesterday][first night at the beekeeper's]Transcribed from the Speech Accent Archive[& drew that eye-shape with you in it][The palm of the hand is as square as a house][The shadow had a use][farm objects are]"While You Were Out" [#2][We're still in][Seventh grade assignment sheet . . .]Notes[The child drew lines in a rounding curve . . .][And: the rhyme is a hand Bell-made . . .][An internal window divides . . .][Storm light: singular][Others could tell the difference . . .]night day night[Instructed to move the bees . . .][A word not sleeping][I could remember a small amount][airplane womb sound][All winter couldn't fit outside a book][Abbott Road]where are the bees[Catalogs are full of pictures][Beginning with a silver pencil . . .][On the Beara Peninsula][Completion an instant][Spotted Winged Drosophilia . . .][I would like some sea salt . . .][James is pounding copper][Have sent a point from out][Who will confess that][Misheard what and why][May ever any thing come in]Mid-May to SeptemberA note from my mother in the 70's[The night is rustling . . .]III.Summer, 2015IV."Preserving a Sand Mandala"Orfordville, 2006[Time does oscillate Aha][landscape][Each letter begins with the alphabet . . .][Extract what you were looking at . . .][The rest of the notebook appears to be . . .][When the wild onion floats on its back . . .][Many lines around the eyes][Observation of pattern . . .]Transcriptions from unknown sources[In Avoca, I said field][remember 2 days][Here a pen draws a line through . . .]Salzburg translations[I mean any position of the mouth is][Parody of 18thc Rationalism . . .][Inside, read what you wrote][The number 1 under the belly of the deer]On the Beara PeninsulaV.Deer 1VI.At the same time as scatteringVII.[clara luna parce-que la jour][Can you carry this object]Loose-leafteaching notesWorksheetwinter and summer"When the fog was all gone, Bear felt sad."SundialThe plums kept darkness as a net[Yesterday was Wednesday?][Red start or Fire tail]News paper Miracles Wonders Curiousitys & c & c[FIRE HORSE SHOWS][How Animals Grieve]November 1st, 2nd or 3rd[A line through a forest][I have a Catherine][the beautiful idealism?][Unpredicted, snow fell][Language goes on General Strike][I observe Kellen walking in the middle . . .][Writing to see what can remember . . .]["Snow taken from high peaks of mountains . . ."][Carnation in French . . .][As I was driving through Dolly's window]Smash this[Certain feet are large like boats . . .][Unicycle song structure]May, 2004 – December, 2017[Morning now, afterrain, owe 50][Everything's under the trainwhistle . . .][No form][Not making the bed not][Also the daily tumble]VIII.[process][We looked for rocks]Alphabet in Oklahoma[James goes to school, assigned to write]Another OK ABC[Oil the breadboards and don't remember]Pedagogical Sketchbook, p. 47[Page from a book on astronomy]Discerned[A nuthatch walked up the box elder][crankshaft pulley][bpN says "they covered each other with longing"][my name is lisa fiction . . .]Spoon FestPostcard from MontréalAcknowledgements