by the same author

      Rhetoric and Writing

      Rhetoric: A Synthesis

      The Contemporary Writer

      Composition/Rhetoric: A Synthesis

      The Rhetoric of the “Other” Literature

      The Culture and Politics of Literacy

      A Teacher’s Introduction to Composition in the Rhetorical Tradition

      The English Department: An Institutional and Personal History

      Searching for Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey

      The Uses of Grammar (with Judith Rodby)

      Senior Citizens Writing

      attitudes

      selected prose and poetry

      W. Ross Winterowd

      Parlor Press

      West Lafayette, Indiana

      www.parlorpress.com

      Parlor Press LLC, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906

      © 2010 by Parlor Press

      All rights reserved.

      Printed in the United States of America

      S A N: 2 5 4 - 8 8 7 9

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Winterowd, W. Ross.

       Attitudes : selected prose and poetry / W. Ross Winterowd.

       p. cm.

       Includes essays, poems, and a novella.

       ISBN 978-1-60235-150-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-151-6 (adobe ebook)

       I. Title.

       PS3573.I5386A9 2010

       818’.54--dc22

       2010007937

      Printed on acid-free paper.

      Cover design by David Blakesley

      Word cloud courtesy of http://www.wordle.net. Used by permission.

      Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publisher of scholarly and trade titles in print and multimedia formats. This book is available in paperback and eBook formats from Parlor Press at www.parlorpress.com or at brick-and-mortar and online bookstores everywhere. For submission information or to find out about Parlor Press publications, write to Parlor Press, 816 Robinson St., West Lafayette, Indiana, 47906, or e-mail [email protected].

      For Marj--to the end of the journey

      Contents

       Part I. Bricolage

       “Chicken” and Poetry:

       The Unspeakable and the Unsayable

       Insomniac Rhapsody on Vitalism

       Writing Theorists Writing: Life Studies

       The Seasons: Four Prose Lyrics

       Tropical Thoughts

       The Orgone Experience; or,

       Renewal Is Possible

       The Ceremony of Innocence

      Part II. Poems

       Parsnip

       Carrot

       Beet

       Radish

       Rutabaga

       Jicama

       Potato

       Sweet Potato

       Pea

       Soya

       Bean I

       Bean II

       Oats

       Wheat

       Rye

       Rice

       Sotweed

       Lettuce

       Cabbage

       Okra

       Deconstructionism

       The Jaded Compositionist Meditates on His Calling During an Attack of Influenza

       Slither, Bustle, Waddle, and Glide, Members of the Departmental Subcommittee on Allocation of Office Supplies and Faculty Amenities

       Meditation at a Scholarly Conference

       Hiking Wheeler

       Eudora (on having read One Writer’s Beginnings, by another Eudora)

       The