A fleet of ships to create a blockade between the Klingon and Romulan border. A history of the polemics of the contemporary women's liberation movement demonstrates that the priority given to sex, class, or race as a basis for theorizing is a regular source for factions and rifts and often works to bring theory and experience into productive conflict. A list of alphabetized semblances for keeping track of occurrences out of post-trauma. A matter of time.

A monstrous grandeur awaits those who walk into the unnamed, unclaimed, unknown. A sludgy sound of distortion, fuzz and feedback effects. Aesthetic pleasure needs no justification, because a life without such pleasure is one not worth living. After a discussion, everyone agrees and we depart.

After that, I think about the coming war, which is going slower than I would like. All-American Barbie is in demand. All night thing. All that counts is that she escaped unharmed again. An underground movement to achieve reunification. And let me say to everyone listening or watching tonight: When the troops we've sent in finish their work, I am determined to bring them home as soon as possible, says George Bush.

As I report to you, air attacks are underway against military targets in Iraq, says George Bush. Back at headquarters I have a discussion about the previous battle. Backdraft. Battle noises in the Danger Room.

Before we arise. Behind Jim Morrison T-shirts. Being hunted, because who would want to start a world with the surface world? Beyond this horizon. Big masculine threat, / insinuating and slangy.   

Birds splutter and croak. Breed. Brutally aware of how many women are subject to domestic violence. But as individual artists they are almost invisible.          

But even as planes of the multinational forces attack Iraq, I prefer to think of peace, not war, says George Bush. But eventually these conventions grow stale. But I don't want a part in it. But I lost her in the confusion of the blast. But in that land / men prized / virginity.

By listening to feminist narratives inscribe the field of desire — the erotic, broadly conceived — we will explore the question of what women are both free and constrained to want. Can I reinstate my family name? Cape fear. Certain basic human needs of Kansans must be met. Circles an old woman's / fingers trace / om the nubs of / her chair arms. Clues.

Clustered // berries at dusk / as possible / / results. Combine short critical lectures with poetry performances. Come as you are. Couples lounge / in slim, fenced yards / beside the roar / of a freeway.             

Darmok. Dead again. Deep. Despite our many problems, we must reserve our conscience and compassion with those who struggle with individual hardship. Devil's due. Didacticism, after all, could not be completely absent from a literary genre and mode of thought which is basically moral, philosophical, and political.

Notes:

"A fleet of ships"

Sentence 2: From Frances Bartkowski's Feminist Utopias (U of Nebraska Press 1991). Used with permission from author.

Sentence 4: A title of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1991. Fair use.

"A monstrous grandeur"

Sentence 1: From Frances Bartkowski's Feminist Utopias (U of Nebraska Press 1991). Used with permission from author.

Sentence 3: From Dana Gioia's 1991 "Can Poetry Matter?" Used with permission from author.

"After that"

Sentence 3: Song title from Temple of the Dog's self-titled album released on April 16, 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 6: From President George Bush's Desert storm speech, January 16, 1991. Fair use.

"As I report to you"

Sentence 1: From President George Bush's Desert storm speech, January 16, 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 3: A film from 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 4: A title of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1991. Fair use.

"Before we arise"

Sentences 1 and 4: Song titles from Screaming Trees' Uncle Anesthesia released on January 29, 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 5: From Rae Armantrout's poem "The Garden" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

"Birds splutter"

Sentence 1: From Rae Armantrout's poem "Range" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

Sentence 2: Song title from Nirvana's Nevermind released on September 24, 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 4: From Dana Gioia's 1991 "Can Poetry Matter?" Used with permission from author.

"But even as planes"

Sentence 1: From President George Bush's Desert storm speech, January 16, 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 2: From Dana Gioia's 1991 "Can Poetry Matter?" Used with permission from author.

Sentence 5: From Rae Armantrout's poem "Necromance" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

"By listening to feminist narratives"

Sentence 1: From Frances Bartkowski's Feminist Utopias (U of Nebraska Press 1991) . Used with permission from author.

Sentence 3: A film from 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 4: From Governor Joan Finney's (D) first State of the State Address, January 22, 1991. Fair use.

Sentence 5: From Rae Armantrout's poem "Context" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

Sentence 6: A title of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1991. Fair use.       

"Clustered"

Sentence 1: From Rae Armantrout's poem "Context" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

Sentence 2: From Dana Gioia's 1991 "Can Poetry Matter?" Used with permission from author.

Sentence 3: Song title from Nirvana's Nevermind released on September 24, 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 4: From Rae Armantrout's poem "Necromance" from Necromance, Sun & Moon, 1991. Used with permission from author.

"Darmok"

Sentence 1: A title of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 2: A film from 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 3: Song title from Pearl Jam's Ten released on August 27, 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 4: From Governor Joan Finney's (D) first State of the State Address, January 22, 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 5: A title of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from 1991. Fair Use.

Sentence 6: From Frances Bartkowski's Feminist Utopias (U of Nebraska Press 1991). Used with permission from author.

__

In its entirety, My Grunge of 1991 is an alphabetized 365-sentence poetry-memoir collage using texts from the year 1991 in the same way My Secret Wars of 1984 did. Call this the second of a trilogy, where I include sentences of my own to represent the struggles of the time, as well as the relief from pop culture (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Grunge Rock, etc.)

My strategy for the entire poetic sequence was the same last: to collect the different texts, select the sentences that best display conflict or tension (in context or form), get permissions to use the borrowed texts, and place them in an Excel spreadsheet so I could alphabetize them and keep track of what sentence was from what source. Also, I wrote my own sentences as they "came to me" or from popular cultural references.