Poetics and Ruminations

Poetry, the Tag-End of the Entertainment Industry

Dana Gioia wrote a book, Can Poetry Matter? (Graywolf, 1992). Perhaps it can, but it doesn’t, not any longer. It used to be, when there was no written literature, or very little, that poetry was at the center of culture. Then, it was poetry that carried the culture, passing lore and mythology on from one generation to the next. The elements of civilization were borne by the mnemonic devices of language — by meter, rhyme, repetition and the other sonic devices that have always been associated with “poetry” — the art of language — until the 20th century when it all went by the board. At best, poetry in the twenty-first century is the tag-end of the entertainment industry.

Deep Ancestry

Almost all my life I have known that my last name, Turco, in Italian means what it says: “Turk.” It dates, I understand, from the period of the Arab rule of Sicily from the ninth to the tenth centuries, and it is not an uncommon name in Sicily where my father was born. Since there was no such place as Turkey at the time, the word simply means “Arab” or “Moor”; moreover, according to Halbert’s (1), a Turco family coat of arms can be found in Rietstap Armorial General, and the shield is described as “Silver with a Turk, facing front, dressed in a blue tunic and red pantaloons; wearing a red turban on his head, holding in his right hand a silver scroll, and in his left hand a silver scimitar trimmed gold. Family mottos are believed to have originated as battle cries in medieval times, but a motto was not recorded with the Turco coat of arms.”

[This essay is from La Famiglia / The Family, Memoirs, New York: Bordighera Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59954-006-1, trade paperback, 196 pp., $12.00. ORDER FROM AMAZON]

However, I am something of a cynic, and I have long believed in an adage that would serve well for any family’s motto: “It is the wise child that knows its father.” Since everyone has trampled over Sicily since time began, including Sicils, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, French, Vikings, Normans, Danes, English, and so on ad infinitum, many of them raping and pillaging as they wandered across the countryside, I assumed that somewhere along the line there must have been a break in the chain and that my name might as easily have been Smith or Jones as Turco. So when it became possible, I decided to have my DNA tested to see where I really came from.

The Lineage of May Laura Putnam Turco

This book contains the early history of the Putnam family in America; for ordering information, see below, or it may be ordered from any book dealer.

HISTORIES OF THE PUTNAM FAMILY IN AMERICA:

Satan’s Scourge: A Narrative of the Age of Witchcraft in England and New England 1580-1694, www.StarCloudPress.com, 2009, ISBN 978-1-932827, jacketed cloth, $54.95; ISBN 978-1-932842-26-5; trade paperback, $39.95, 808 pages. ORDER FROM BARNES & NOBLE / ORDER FROM AMAZON

Putnam, Eben, A History of the Putnam Family in England and America, Salem: Salem Press, 1891.
——, The Putnam Lineage, Salem: Salem Press, 1907.

I. ? Roger de Puteham, Hertfordshire, c. 1086.

II. ? Simon de Puteham, Herts, c. 1199.

III. ? Ralph de Pudeham, Stivecle, Buckinghamshire, c. 1200-1249.

IV. ? William de Puttenham, Bucks, c. 1250.

V. ? John de Puttenham, Bucks, c. 1279-1294.

VI. John de Puttenham m. Agnes; Puttenham, Bucks, c. 1306.

VII. Thomas Puttenham m. Helen Spigornell; Bucks, c. 1272-1307;
*Roger
James.

VIII. Roger Puttenham m. Aline, Herts, c. 1322;
*Roger.

IX. Sir Roger Puttenham m. Margery; Tring, Bucks, c. 1310-79;
*Henry
Roger
Robert.

X. Henry de Puttenham; Bucks, c. 1380;
? William.

XI. William Puttenham m. Margaret de Warbleton; Puttenham & Penne; b. c. 1380;
*Henry, b. c. 1402
? Robert, living 1406-28
? John, rector of Tewin, Herts (resigned 21 June 1453
? Thomas, vicar of Ambrosden, County Oxford, 1458.

XII. Henry Puttenham m. Elizabeth, widow Goodluck; Puttenham & Penne, b. c. 1402
*William, b. c. 1430.

XIII. William Puttenham m. Anne Hampden; Puttenham, Penne, Sherfield, Warbleton &c., c. 1430-92.
Sir George
Edmund, of Puttenham
*Nicholas, of Penn, b. c. 1460
Frideswide
Elizabeth
Alionore
Brigide
Agnes.

XIV. Nicholas Puttenham, Putnam Place, Penn, b. c. 1460
John of Penn
*Henry, b. c. 1480.

XV. Henry Putnam, Penn, b. c. 1480
*Richard, of Eddlesborough & Woughton, b. c. 1500
John, of Slapton & Howbridge
Thomas, of Eddlesborough.

XVI. Richard Putnam m. Joan (2nd wife?), Edlesborough & Woughton, b. c. 1500
*John, of Wingrave
Harry, of Woughton
Joan.

XVII. John Putnam m. Margaret, Rowsham, Wingrave, b. c. 1520
*Nicholas, b. c. 1540
Richard, of Wingrave
Thomas, of Towsham
Margaret, of Wingrave.

XVIII. Nicholas Putnam m. Margaret Goodspeed, Wingrave, b. c. 1540
Anne, bapt. 12 Oct. 1578
*John, bapt. 17 Jan. 1579
Elizabeth, bapt. 11 Feb. 1581
Thomas, bapt. 20 Sep. 1584.

XIX. John Putnam m. Priscilla Gould (?), Aston Abbotts, Bucks, & Salem, Mass., b. c. 1579; d. Salem Village (Danvers), 30 Dec. 1662
Elizabeth, bapt. 20 Dec. 1612
Thomas, bapt. 7 Mar. 1615; d. Salem Village, 5 May 1686
*Nathaniel, bapt. 11 Oct. 1619; d. Salem Village, 23 Jul. 1700.
Sara, bapt. 28 Jul. 1624
John, bapt. 27 May 1627; d. Salem Village, 7 Apr. 1710.

XX. Nathaniel Putnam m. Eliz. Hutchinson, b. Aston Abbots, Bucks, c 1619; d. Salem Village, 23 Jul. 1700
Samuel, 1652
Nathaniel, 1655
*John, b. 26 Mar. 1657
Joseph, b. 1659
Elizabeth, b. 1662
Benjamin, b. 1664
Mary, b. 1668.

XXI. Constable “Carolina John” Putnam m. Hannah Cutler, b. Salem Village, 26 Mar. 1657; d. Sep. 1722:

Carolina John was Constable of Salem Village at the time of the Witch Hunt of 1692. During the hunt he was stricken by smallpox, as was his daughter, Sarah, born on 5 March 1692, who died of the disease. Sarah’s birthdate in the Parish records is apparently given as 1695, but this is impossible; according to Hannah Putnam’s testimony in the trial of John Willard (see [Woodward, W. Elliot, ed.], Records of the Salem Witchcraft, two volumes in one, New York: Lennox Hill, 1972, p. 275), “…this deponent’s child Sarah 6 weeks old died of Willard’s curse." This entry seems to have escaped the notice of Eben Putnam in his genealogy which repeats the error and is otherwise confusing on this issue.

Hannah, 1679
Elizabeth, 1680
Abigail, 1682
Samuel, 1684
*Josiah, 29 Oct. 1680
Joseph, 1687
Mary, 1688
Susanna, 1690
Joshua,
David (or Daniel?)
Rebecca, 1691
John, 1691
Sarah, b. 5 Mar. 1692; d. six weeks later
Amos, 1697 (ancestor of the Putnams of Houlton, Maine, including Putnam Packard, cousin of Jean Cate Houdlette Turco, wife of Lewis Putnam Turco, son of Luigi Turco and May Laura Putnam Turco)
Priscilla 1699.

XXII. Josiah Putnam m. Ruth Hutchinson, b. Salem Village, 29 Oct. 1686; d. Danvers, 5 Jul. 1766
Asa, 1714
Enos, 1716-1780
*Josiah, b. 3 Mar. 1719
Peter, 1724
Elizabeth, 1725
Elisha, 1728
Ruth, 1732.

XXIII. Josiah Putnam, Jr., m. Lydia Wheeler, b. Brookfield, 14 Aug. 1721, d. 17--; b. Salem Village, 3 Mar. 1719, d. Warren, MA, 4 Feb. 1795
*Asa, b. 10 Aug.. 1743; d. 7 Sep. 1795
Lydia
Thankful, 1747
Josiah III, 1750
Ruth, 1752
Mary, 1759.

XXIV. Asa Putnam m. Anna Collins, b. Danvers, Aug. 1743, d. 7 Sep. 1795
Perley, 1767
Lewis, b. 22 Aug 1769 (namesake of the Author)
Serephina, 1722
Ebenezer, 1729
Josiah, 1781
Alfred, 1784
*Sewall, b. 23 Sep. 1786
Sylvia, 1789.

XXV. Sewall Putnam m. Rebecca Shepard, b. 4 Nov. 1791, d. 25 Feb. 1838; b. Brattleboro, VT, 23 Sep. 1786, d. So. Trenton NY, 2 Mar (?)
Albert, 1809
Sarah Louisa, 1811
*Harvey, b. 25 Nov. 1812; d. 1863
Amanda, 1814
Savina, 1816
Anna, 1820
Mary Elizabeth, 1822
Charles Sewall, 1824
Hester, 1827
George Washington, 1831
Alfred, 1833.

XXVI. Harvey Putnam M. Surinda Dewey, b. Deerfield MA, 24 Mar. 1833; d. Eureka KS, 20 Nov 1899; b. 25 Nov. 1812; d. Princeton IL, 14 Jan. 1863
Lillian, 1855
*William Herbert, b. 18 Sep. 1857; d. Superior WI 22 Oct. 1949
Savina, 1863.

XXVII. William Herbert Putnam m. (1) Mary E. Price 18 Nov. 1884, d. bef. 1895; m. (2) Laura Christina Larsen, b. Manistee MI, 5 Dec. 1874; d. Superior WI, 13 Jan. 1952; b. Princeton IL, 18 Sep 1857; d. Superior WI 22 Oct. 1949
Myrtle Cara, 1896
Harvey Herbert, 1897
*May Laura, b. Wayne NB, 1 May 1899; d. Bristol CT 25 Nov. 1985
Arnold Louis, 1900
Floyd Arthur, 1902
Lillian Mabel, 1905
Edwin Irving, 1906
Russell Sewall, 1908
Elmer Theodore, 1910.

XXVIII. May Laura Putnam m. Luigi (n) Turco, b. Riesi, Sicily, 28 May 1890; d. Meriden CT, 18 Sep. 1968; b. Wayne NB, 1 May 1899; d. Bristol CT 25 Nov. 1985
*Lewis Putnam, b. 2 May 1934
Gene Laurent, b. 25 Feb. 1939.

XXIX. Lewis Putnam Turco m. Jean Cate Houdlette, b. Meriden CT 29 May 1934; b. Buffalo NY 2 May 1934
Melora Ann, b. Meriden CT 21 Jul. 1960
Christopher Cameron, b. Oswego NY 23 Jan. 1973.

Lewis Putnam Turco at the 2009 New England Book Festival receiving the “Wild Card” category award for Satan’s Scourge: A Narrative of the Age of Witchcraft in England and New England 1580-1697 at the Omni Parker House, 60 School Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108 on Saturday, January 16, 2010.

Here is a review of the book by Deirdre Fleming in The Maine Sunday Telegram, Sunday, March 15, 2009, http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story_pf.php?id=244952&ac=Audience.

Satan’s Scourge: A Narrative of the Age of Witchcraft in England and New England 1580-1694, www.StarCloudPress.com, 2009, ISBN 978-1-932827, jacketed cloth, $54.95; ISBN 978-1-932842-26-5; trade paperback, $39.95, 808 pages. ORDER FROM BARNES & NOBLE / ORDER FROM AMAZON

Lady Bird Johnson, 22 December 1912-11 July 2007.

"Every bird must hatch her own egg."

The ladybird sat in the linden tree
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The ladybird sat in the linden tree,
Her lindenchick chirping at her knee.
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirree,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The lindenbird sat on her daddy's limb
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The lindenbird sat on her daddy's limb
Ruffling her tail and adoring him,
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirrim,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The ladybird's feathers shone with sheen
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The ladybird's feathers shone with sheen;
The lindenbird's feathers were leafy green,
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirreen,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

Why did the woodpecker frighten her
Sing rare up hey nonny?
Why did the woodpecker frighten her,
That birdchild chirping upon its sire?
Ringading-ding, chirrup chirrur,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The linden married the ladybird
Sing rare up hey nonny.
The linden married the ladybird —
Their lindenbird was a trifle absurd.
Ringading-ding, chirrup chirrurd,
Sing rare up hey nonny!

Originally published in Sometime the Cow Kick Your Head, edited by Robert Wallace, Cleveland: Bits Press, 1988, p. 131. All rights reserved 1988 by Wesli Court; from The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: www.StarCloudPress.com, copyright 2004, Lewis Turco.

Even in his first solo book, The Wandering Islands (1955), the Australian poet A. D. Hope was writing great poems. (He had previously privately printed a two-volume collaborative effort with Garry Lyle and Harry Hooton, Poems, in 1943 and 1944, in the midst of World War II.) Not that all Hope's early poems were great; many of them were and still are obsessive and quirky. His encompassing subjects from first to last are sex and religion. As the son of a Tasmanian preacher Hope without doubt fought the battle ministers' sons always fight between what they think their fathers wish them to think and be, and what they themselves desire to be, think, and do. (I speak not only from observation, but from experience as well.) By the time he was twenty-seven years of age the struggle between the internal "puritan" and the "free thinker," as the dust jacket of his Collected Poems 1930-1965 (1966) has it, had produced a longish poem, "The Damnation of Byron," which has all the elements to be found in his internationally acknowledged masterpiece, "Imperial Adam." Indeed, it is entirely typical, both prosodically and thematically, of the entire range of his best work over the years.

That drunkard, Vice-President Cheney,
Was probably also insane. He
Shot a friend in the face
Instead of a brace
Of tame grouse to prove he was zany.

“Back in early America the colonists used Rhode Island reds to ferret out loyalists among their neighbors.”

“How did they do that?”

“They trained hens to sniff out those people who were still true to Britain. The hens would strut up to a front door, cluck around, and, if they smelled anything foul they’d peck on it.”

“Then what?”

“The patriots would break down the door and haul the people in the house outdoors, tar and feather them, and ride them out of town on a rail.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“You mean you’ve never heard of chicken-catch-a-Tory?”

Sirvente of the Linden Tree

Lady Bird Johnson, 22 December 1912-11 July 2007.

"Every bird must hatch her own egg."

The ladybird sat in the linden tree
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The ladybird sat in the linden tree,
Her lindenchick chirping at her knee.
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirree,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The lindenbird sat on her daddy's limb
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The lindenbird sat on her daddy's limb
Ruffling her tail and adoring him,
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirrim,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The ladybird's feathers shone with sheen
Sing rare up hey nonny,
The ladybird's feathers shone with sheen;
The lindenbird's feathers were leafy green,
Ringading-ding, chirrup, chirreen,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

Why did the woodpecker frighten her
Sing rare up hey nonny?
Why did the woodpecker frighten her,
That birdchild chirping upon its sire?
Ringading-ding, chirrup chirrur,
Sing rare up hey nonny.

The linden married the ladybird
Sing rare up hey nonny.
The linden married the ladybird —
Their lindenbird was a trifle absurd.
Ringading-ding, chirrup chirrurd,
Sing rare up hey nonny!

Originally published in Sometime the Cow Kick Your Head, edited by Robert Wallace, Cleveland: Bits Press, 1988, p. 131. All rights reserved 1988 by Wesli Court; from The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: www.StarCloudPress.com, copyright 2004, Lewis Turco.

An Appreciation of A. D. Hope

Even in his first solo book, The Wandering Islands (1955), the Australian poet A. D. Hope was writing great poems. (He had previously privately printed a two-volume collaborative effort with Garry Lyle and Harry Hooton, Poems, in 1943 and 1944, in the midst of World War II.) Not that all Hope's early poems were great; many of them were and still are obsessive and quirky. His encompassing subjects from first to last are sex and religion. As the son of a Tasmanian preacher Hope without doubt fought the battle ministers' sons always fight between what they think their fathers wish them to think and be, and what they themselves desire to be, think, and do. (I speak not only from observation, but from experience as well.) By the time he was twenty-seven years of age the struggle between the internal "puritan" and the "free thinker," as the dust jacket of his Collected Poems 1930-1965 (1966) has it, had produced a longish poem, "The Damnation of Byron," which has all the elements to be found in his internationally acknowledged masterpiece, "Imperial Adam." Indeed, it is entirely typical, both prosodically and thematically, of the entire range of his best work over the years.

Cheney

That drunkard, Vice-President Cheney,
Was probably also insane. He
Shot a friend in the face
Instead of a brace
Of tame grouse to prove he was zany.

A Fourth of July Conversation

“Back in early America the colonists used Rhode Island reds to ferret out loyalists among their neighbors.”

“How did they do that?”

“They trained hens to sniff out those people who were still true to Britain. The hens would strut up to a front door, cluck around, and, if they smelled anything foul they’d peck on it.”

“Then what?”

“The patriots would break down the door and haul the people in the house outdoors, tar and feather them, and ride them out of town on a rail.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“You mean you’ve never heard of chicken-catch-a-Tory?”