Shit List; or, Omnium-gatherum of Diversity into Unity

Ammons, A. R.

Primary Category: Literature / Poetry

Genre: Poem

Annotated by:
Coulehan, Jack
  • Date of entry: Sep-13-1995

Summary

This poem is essentially a list of the splendid variety of shit in the world. It begins: "You'll rejoice at how many kinds of shit there are . . ." and continues the catalog for 45 lines, from gosling shit, through cricket and mandrell shit, ending with "the shit of the wasteful gallinule."

Commentary

One way to sing joyfully about the plenitude of nature! This poem is an ecstatic celebration of shit. It is also a celebration of language, particularly the spoken word, for this is a poem meant to be spoken. For a more reflective and meaningful (in the concrete sense of "meaningful") poem on shit, see Maxine Kumin's The Excrement Poem (see this database).

Primary Source

Worldly Hopes

Publisher

W. W. Norton

Place Published

New York

Edition

1982