We Are Not Responsible

“Sleeping with the Dictionary” by Harryette Mullen (2002)

This is the titular poem from Mullen’s book that also contains “We Are Not Responsible.” Both poems are one-paragraph justified prose works. Unlike “We Are Not Responsible,” the Poetry Foundation website keeps the one-paragraph format from the book intact for “Sleeping with the Dictionary.” It illustrates Mullen’s passion for words, and hints at some of the Oulipo constraints that involve replacing words in a poem by applying a mathematical equation (such as n+7, which Mullen uses in other works) to the dictionary.

“Way Opposite” by Harryette Mullen (2002)

This poem is on the opposite page of “We Are Not Responsible.” It is, in contrast to both “We Are Not Responsible” and “Sleeping with the Dictionary,” lineated in the book as well as in the online reprint. Mullen’s lineation is inspired by the poet in her epigraph (the italicized line of dedication), Richard Wilbur. Both “Way Opposite” and “We Are Not Responsible” deal with color. For instance, in “Way Opposite,” “red” appears in the sixth line, and is implied through the homophone of “read” in the fifth line. “We Are Not Responsible” echoes this implied usage of red in “gang color” (Line 16).