Micah Ballard Imitations

SAINT LOUIS by Samantha Johnson 2

WITH NOTICE by Samantha Johnson 4
SAY YOU’LL NEVER TELL A SOUL by Samantha Power 6
NECROLYSIS by Jessica Lucas 8
DALLIANCE by Hillary Du 10
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Samantha Johnson

SAINT LOUIS
After Micah Ballard

Skateboards from to
foreboding times. The
length of one bridge across
the grave stricken bayou.

Pressed from the suit of spades

& later left to the device
of modern marvels.

No more days of mourning

left to comfort the cursed
borrowed from his grief
left stricken

Never the imagined

Never the truth
dwells beneath you.
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Samantha Johnson

SAINT LOUIS
After Micah Ballard

Skateboards from to Comment [S1]: I chose to reference

aspects of his younger personal life to
foreboding times. The draw inspiration for the poem. By
length of one bridge across referencing his start in poetry I was able
to add a tone of reminiscence to the poem
the grave stricken bayou. and also get into the same mind set
Ballard writes with.
Pressed from the suit of spades Comment [n2]: Ballard focuses on
imagery taken from his Louisiana roots
& later left to the device and one bridge in particular has provided
of modern marvels. the inspiration for many of his poems. I
chose to mimic his imagery and add it to
my poem. By drawing from his somber
No more days of mourning imagery I was able to add a somber tone
to my poem which enforces the idea of
left to comfort the cursed the end of a moment.
borrowed from his grief
Comment [n3]: Here I focused on the
left stricken structure with which Ballard sets up his
poetry. He has a traditional style as far as
punctuation and I chose to continue to do
Never the imagined this in my own poem. I created sentences
Never the truth that expressed complete thoughts, as
Ballard does in many of his poems.
dwells beneath you.
Comment [n4]: Ballard creates
imagery with his poetry through his
placement of words on the page. It is not
as extreme as many other poets, but it
allows him to connect thoughts together
and produce a certain tone. In my poem,
I used this technique to draw together the
image of grief and being left by oneself.
Comment [S5]: The repetition at the
ends of poems is often a piece of
Ballard’s poetry and he often uses it to
reinforce a point made in the poem or
highlight the theme. I chose to repeat the
word “never” because it reinforces the
idea of being left to oneself and the
helpless feeling that accompanies the
journey in the poem.
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Samantha Johnson

WITH NOTICE
After Micah Ballard

Gone behind
the parish gates
left the cobble stones.

Gone before the rise of Rome

the sacred sand had
all but flowed.

The steeple point has yet to spin

as the saints parade
you force the wind.

Love powder is almost gone

the time ticks down upon the stone
gone without a heart to pawn.
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Samantha Johnson

WITH NOTICE
After Micah Ballard

Gone behind
the parish gates
left the cobble stones. Comment [S6]: I chose to draw upon
the Louisiana images by referencing the
parish gates and cobble stones. The
Gone before the rise of Rome imagery allowed me to put the reader in
the setting of Louisiana, very much like
the sacred sand had Ballard. The reference helped me to set a
all but flowed. somber tone, which is present in many of
Ballard’s poems.
Comment [S7]: Repetition of words
The steeple point has yet to spin in order to connect themes is why I
as the saints parade choose to start both stanzas with the word
“gone”. This technique is used by Ballard
you force the wind. often and in my poem I employed it in
order to connect the end of time with the
somber feeling expressed in the first
Love powder is almost gone stanza through imagery.
the time ticks down upon the stone
Comment [S8]: Often Ballard chooses
gone without a heart to pawn. images of time ticking down and I wanted
to highlight this in my poem. The idea of
sand and the past is often seen in his
poems and I wanted to mimic this in my
own to help me create theme.
Comment [S9]: I chose to mimic
Ballard’s rhyme scheme used in many of
his poems. In some poems he adds a
rhyme scheme in order to draw the reader
across the page and I chose to do the
same. It allowed me to reinforce the
images I was creating.
Comment [S10]: Voodoo is a large
part of Ballard’s recent poetry and I chose
to highlight this aspect within my own by
referencing the Love Powder brought up
in one of his other poems. I allowed me
to put my own themes into his world and
also helped me with inspiration.
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Samantha Power

SAY YOU’LL NEVER TELL A SOUL

for The Audition
After Micah Ballard

I’ve got a
heavy heart and a guilty conscience,
& A different point of view than you.
I hated losing you, like car keys or the camera
that I left on the top of the car that night.
I never meant to break the vase that your mom bought you for
Christmas that year,
before she died.
I’m breaking down the walls that
I built up around you (accidently).
And later, when we watched the moon
shine brightly over the city,
& Listening to it breathe with the
intensity of a marathon runner
I watched your heart break from that girl
who never really cared,
glad that I was there to save you.
I’m sorry that I broke you down,
Made you leave.
This isn’t what we wanted.
What I wanted.
I will always love

You.
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Samantha Power

SAY YOU’LL NEVER TELL A SOUL

for The Audition
After Micah Ballard

I’ve got a
Comment [P11]: The line break here
heavy heart and a guilty conscience, and throughout the poem is to show the
structure of Ballard’s “Darrell.”
& A different point of view than you. Comment [P12]: Ballard uses the
informal ampersand when writing,
I hated losing you, like car keys or the camera therefore I used one at the beginning of
the line, as he often does.
that I left on the top of the car that night.
Comment [P13]: I used a weird line
break, because Ballard often uses
I never meant to break the vase that your mom bought you for enjambments in random seeming places.

Christmas that year,

Comment [P14]: Most of this poem is
before she died. based on his style from the poem
“Darrell”, and here I used these lines to
I’m breaking down the walls that show his story-telling ability in his lines.
Comment [P15]: Ballard seems
I built up around you (accidently). sarcastic when he uses parenthetical to
show that Darrell had broken into his
And later, when we watched the moon house on Speed “on accident”, so I did
that, too.
shine brightly over the city,
& Listening to it breathe with the
Comment [P16]: Ballard tends to
intensity of a marathon runner personify objects, mostly morbid things
like death and tombstones. Here, I chose
I watched your heart break from that girl the moon.

who never really cared,

Comment [P17]: Uses phrase in
glad that I was there to save you. “Darrell” that says “I’m glad that you
got/to speak with your aunt/finally, come
I’m sorry that I broke you down, to terms/with distance of family.” I
mentioned that I was “glad” to be there
Made you leave. for the audience.

This isn’t what we wanted.

Comment [P18]: Repetition to
What I wanted. compare one person to the both of them
together, as in “Darrell” at the end where
I will always love Ballard writes “as often you did/as often
we will”.

Comment [P19]: Capitalizes pronoun

You. “you” for emphasis of the importance of
the antecedent.
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Jessica Lucas

NECROLYSIS
for S. P.

Snow falling;
cinematic
melting quickly on the fading body
writhing
& twisting
& then forever
still

open eyes that can’t see the light.

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Jessica Lucas Comment [n20]: Dedicated to a close

friend and fellow poet =]
Comment [n21]: I didn’t capitalize
the first letter of every line, as is
NECROLYSIS customary for standard poems, because
for S. P. ballard himself scarcely does.
Comment [n22]: There is no rhyme
scheme because Ballard scarcely has one,
Snow falling; since his poems are meant to be read in a
cinematic choppy manner, and that cannot be done
if it is made sing-songy by a rhyme.
melting quickly on the fading body
writhing Comment [n23]: There is an absence
of pronouns because in a fair amount of
& twisting Ballard’s poems this is the same.
& then forever Especially when he talks about bodies or
the dead, which is such a personal
still subject, he keeps pronouns out or scarce,
which makes them seem like exalted
objects.
open eyes that can’t see the light.
Comment [n24]: Ballard uses a lot of
ampersands which lends to an informal
sort of style, even when the topic is very
formal, and allows him to continue with
his run on sentences.
Comment [n25]: I chose a similar
spacing pattern to a large amount of
Ballard’s poems. To emphasize how the
words are read, I gave them their own
lines. For example, when one reads
“still,” it is on it’s own line, and will be
read with more of a pause, adding more
meaning to the word itself.
Comment [n26]: There is no
punctuation until the end, and the poem
itself is one run on sentence (similar to
For Tookie, which is 12 lines long but
only 2 sentences, or Diabolique, which is
16 lines and has absolutely no
punctuation, even at the end).
Comment [n27]: There is no “I”
because I’m talking about something else.
When Ballard is explaining other things
like grave robbers in Putrefaction and
other poems like En Route that are not
about personal experiences, he leaves
himself out of the poem, and this allows
him to explain his topics without getting
in the way with overwhelming opinions
or bias, and to simply explain what is
happening.
Comment [n28]: Death is a very
important theme to Ballard and is covered
in much of his poetry. Another
overlapping theme between this poem
and Ballard’s usual style is in the last
line, because the light is there but remains
unseen. Mystery like this can be seen in
his poems like En Route, where he ... [1]
Comment [n29]: I’m hoping (hoping
being the key word) that I managed to
imitate his ability in negative capability at
least a little by explaining the concept of
death without really saying it or defining
it in a final manner.
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Hillary Du

DALLIANCE
After Micah Ballard

Piles of handouts, packets & books

Waiting there. They await a presence
Neglected, still waiting
For someone to care. Yellow body,
Running & naked
Distracts the mind, immobile.
We keep ignoring the inevitable
Wasting time & energy.
There are few hours left. This is not going well.
We fight for control. A sleepy haze
Sweeping over our eyes
Mind seeks forty winks. There is
No escape from the work, no more excuses.
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Comment [S30]: Ballard never uses

Hillary Du the word ‘and’ but he always uses the
ampersand sign instead. It simply looks
more sophisticated and perhaps gives a
more nostalgic feel because ampersands
are not used that often.
DALLIANCE
Comment [S31]: This poem has a
After Micah Ballard similar style to Ballard’s “En Route”
poem on page 33 of Parish Krewes. I
thought that starting out my poem with a
Piles of handouts, packets & books similar structure like his would perfectly
Waiting there. They await a presence show his style.
Neglected, still waiting Comment [S32]: Ballard never really
outright identifies the characters in his
For someone to care. Yellow body, poems. There is an air of mystery that he
Running & naked keeps consistent throughout his work.
Distracts the mind, immobile. Comment [S33]: This used to be
We keep ignoring the inevitable ‘bare’ but I changed it to a synonym
because bare would rhyme with ‘care’ in
Wasting time & energy. the line before it. Ballard’s poems do not
There are few hours left. This is not going well. rhyme and show no evident rhyme
scheme at all. There is a beat to it though
We fight for control. A sleepy haze and that seemed important.
Sweeping over our eyes Comment [S34]: I used a line break
Mind seeks forty winks. There is here too because it acts like a semicolon
or a dash. I really like breaking up the
No escape from the work, no more excuses. lines because the beat of the poem is
different with each choice I make. I think
Micah Ballard feels the same way so he
experiments a lot with line breakages.
Comment [S35]: This takes into
account the past present and future.
Ballard really focuses on time because it
helps in analyzing life in general. I like
this idea and decided to incorporate it into
my own.
Comment [S36]: Ballard does not
include himself into his poems that often.
It is always more of a general grouping
when he writes. His audience is not very
specific. He casually fits in with his
readers.
Comment [S37]: There are times
where instead of using punctuation
Ballard chooses to use a line break
instead. It has the same effect of slowing
the poem down. He likes to experiment
with line breaks and structure so his use
of punctuation is sparse.
Comment [S38]: Ballard always
mentions the idea of escaping. He
mentions escaping reality and going into
a dream world. I decided to switch that
and escape from the dream world into
reality. It is my own spin, but I
understand his thematic habits.
Comment [S39]: Instead of breaking
this line, I simply used a comma because
I believe commas give a much more
effective pause. It’s suppose to sound
dramatic.
 Page 9: [1] Comment [n28] netadmin8 3/26/2010 7:29:00 AM
Death is a very important theme to Ballard and is covered in much of his poetry. Another overlapping
theme between this poem and Ballard’s usual style is in the last line, because the light is there but remains
unseen. Mystery like this can be seen in his poems like En Route, where he mentions “Neglected light”
which was there all along but remained unseen.