Hardwood Laxatives
by Jacob Nelson
I think HGTV is trying to redefine what a home is
After realizing that at 3000 Sq ft two bedrooms
And a home office
No one under 35 has a home
Open floorplans and hardwood are timeless
So they switched greatrooms to microhomes and studios.
We’re bringing yards indoors with growboxes
And terrariums and organic-stocked fridges
And I kinda like the idea of temperature-regulated boxes in temperature-regulated boxes in temperature-regulated boxes designed for comfortable living.
You can only own a home when you stop
Spending Saturday Mornings in the living room
Fingering yourself to Fixer Upper.
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Jacob Nelson reading his poem, “Hardwood Laxatives” for the Long River Review’s 2017 Reading Series: Slam at the Benton.
Ben Schultz – Videography (Filming and Editing)
Nicholas DiBenedetto – Interviews
Brandon Marquis – Interviews
Mairead Loschi – Podcast Audio
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Meet the Poet: Jacob Nelson
Prior to the reading, Poetry Editor Nicholas DiBenedetto and Creative Nonfiction Panelist Brandon Marquis sat down with Jacob to talk about his thoughts on poetry, and the role of popular culture in writing.
Brandon Marquis: So, just starting off, introduce yourself.
Jacob Nelson: I’m Jacob Nelson, I’m a senior English and Communications major, I take a lot of poetry classes, but don’t read a lot of poetry.
Nicholas DiBenedetto: Tell us a bit about what you like to write about, and what inspires your writing.
JN: Personally, I feel like in a lot of the writing and poetry that I read, it lacks a lot of modern entertainment, and modern… not necessarily references, but things like television and video games and those things are kind of seen as taboo to talk about in a form like poetry, so I like to include them as much as I can. Anything from sitcoms, to TV dramas, or video games, I like to throw them in there.
ND: Would you consider yourself—as someone who enjoys having modern references in your approach to poetry—an ultra-talk poet or part of the ultra-talk movement?
JN: Not directly in the ultra-talk movement, because I think that that itself is a little outdated, but someone coming off of that—definitely inspired from people in that movement, people coming out of that, like a second generation, even a third generation from that movement, yeah.
ND: What’s appealing to you about having these references, whether it be to TV or film or music? Why have those in a poem, why is that important to you to explore?
JN: Well for me it’s really two things: one of them is that I fall into the idea that poetry often seems elitist to outsiders, and I think that by including more culturally prominent things to people of our age and time, it makes it more accessible; and secondly, poetry for me comes from what I’m inspired by, and that’s what happens in my day-to-day life. You know, I’m not going to Paris or walking through museums, I’m watching television and playing games and hanging out with friends, so I think that should reflect my life and not someone else’s life.
BM: So if you were in an argument with an elitist about whether or not these things, culturally prominent things should be included in poetry—whether or not they are or aren’t art—what would you say?
JN: I would ask them whether they felt comfortable reading only at some poetry club or at some museum or at some poetry event, or whether they would think that anyone could read their poems. Could someone read them in the middle of the street, and still keep up with them, or could someone read them in a Walmart, you know? I think that not all poetry has to be accessible and made for everyone, but poetry can be made accessible.
ND: Given how much I think you stress the importance of accessibility in your own writing, do you find yourself gravitating towards things like slam poetry, Button Poetry, or like Instagram poets and the kind of innovation we see with poetry in terms of video and social media integration?
JN: I’m definitely interested by that. I like watching it, I like listening to it; it’s not something that I enjoy writing. I think that for those poetry mediums there’s a different quality of something that needs to be said out loud, and said quickly and firmly. My poems aren’t that dire. They’re more something that I’d rather people read off a tablet while lying in bed and needing something funny to read, not something to sit in a chair and stand up and rally around, you know?
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Jacob Nelson has been an English major for 7 semesters and still writes all of his poems on his phone while walking to the class they’re due for. He hasn’t felt shame in years.
More of Jacob’s work is forthcoming in the 2017 issue of the Long River Review.