I have been a fan of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament since I watched Kentucky win the 1978 title under Joe B. Hall.  Although at the moment I am a bit ashamed of my fellow UK fans and their treatment of Tubby Smith, my love for the most exciting tournament in human sport remains strong.  A few weeks ago, as the 2007 version of the tournament was beginning, I heard a story on NPR about Bracketology.  Basically, the idea of the bracket has moved beyond the realm of sport to give context to other areas of life. 

In the spirit of fun and discovery, I commenced my own field of sixty-four.  Instead of basketball teams, I chose poems.  American poems to be exact.  Four regions that mirrored and honored the NCAA origins were created and then filled with 16 poems each, from poets that were associated with those regions of the country.  I chose them for no conscience reason that I know other than regionalism.  Once I had sixteen poems from a region, I stopped.  I did not evaluate or swap poems after the initial field was set.  Here is the result, with the winners of the first round in bold.  Seeds were for match up purposes only, and reflect the order in which I found the poems to use.

EAST REGION

1) Fire and Ice by Robert Frost vs. 16) The Fear of Burial by Louise Gluck
8) hate blows a bubble of despair by e.e. cummings vs. 9) Mushrooms by Silvia Plath
5) Old Men by Ogden Nash vs. 12) As Soon As Fred Gets Out of Bed by Jack Prelutsky
4) Resume by Dorothy Parker vs. 13) The Term by William Carlos Williams
6) Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes vs. 11) I am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied by Henry David Thoreau
3) I’m Nobody! by Emily Dickinson vs. 14) Casabianca by Elizabeth Bishop
7) Grief Bird by Cornelius Eady vs. 10) Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun In The House by Billy Collins
2) A Noiseless, Patient Spider by Walt Whitman vs. 15) Anecdote of the Jar by Wallace Stevens

SOUTH REGION

1) Lyric: I Am Looking At Music by Pinkie Gordon Lane vs. 16) Cambodian Frog-Gigging by Kyes Stevens
8) Bone by Claudia Emerson vs. 9) Tell me a story by Robert Penn Warren
5) Expect Nothing by Alice Walker vs. 12) To A Ten-Months’ Child by Donald Justice
4) Momma Welfare Roll by Maya Angelou vs. 13) The Maple by Bob Hicok
6) The Execution by Andrei Codrescu vs. 11) Blue Girls by John Crowe Ransom
3) Small Song by A. R. Ammons vs. 14) What We Want by Linda Pastan
7) fate by Su Byron vs. 10) Hidden by Naomi Shihab Nye
2) Flounder by Natasha Tretheway vs. 15) Gunner by Randall Jarrell

MIDWEST REGION

1) We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks vs. 16) Forgetfulness by Harold Hart Crane
8) An Afternoon in the Stacks by Mary Oliver vs. 9) Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar
5) Cathedrals of Bling by Robert Charles Howard vs. 12) Love Rode 1500 Miles by Judy Grahn
4) Let Us Have Madness by Kenneth Patchen vs. 13) The Father by Essex Hemphill
6) The Laughter of Women by Lisel Mueller vs. 11) The Morning Baking by Carolyn Forché
3) Weird-Bird by Shel Silverstein vs. 14) Twilight: After Haying by Jane Kenyon
7) After Death by Sara Teasdale vs. 10) To the Pay Toilet by Marge Piercy
2) Wiring Home by Rita Dove vs. 15) After Years by Ted Kooser

WEST REGION

1) Whitey on the Moon by The Last Poets vs. 16) To The Stone-Cutters by Robinson Jeffers
8) Evolution by Sherman Alexie vs. 9) Walking into the Crossroads by Max Wolf Valerio
5) Oppression by Jimmy Santiago Baca vs. 12) Red Faces by Gertrude Stein
4) 16-bit Intel 8088 chip by Charles Bukowski vs. 13) Unsaid by Dana Gioia
6) Japanese-American Farmhouse, California, 1942 by Sharon Olds vs. 11) Haiku Ambulance by Richard Brautigan
3) An Eastern Ballad by Allen Ginsberg vs. 14) John Wayne’s Teeth by Sherman Alexie
7) Mission Tire Factory, 1969 by Gary Soto vs. 10) The Joy of the Hills by Edwin Markham
2) Bolero 9 by Jay Wright vs. 15) Where my sight goes by Yvor Winters
 

The bracket was posted on one of the walls of my school just outside my room.  With the help of several students and a wonderful woman who teaches reading across the hall, we have declared winners in each game and identified in bold above.  I will post the next round and its winners in a day or two.

If anyone has any strong feelings about the bracket, match ups, winners/losers, or poems, please let me know.  Weaker feelings are also welcome.  Heck, I’d settle for a hunch.  The students would enjoy seeing what people have to say. They have picked down to the round of eight.  I hope to get all the results to the final four poems by Saturday.

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