Student uncovers long-lost collection of toilet-themed Sufjan Stevens poetry
A TikTok user and Penn State undergrad has shared images of a poetry chapbook, titled Piss Poems, supposedly authored by acclaimed songwriter Sufjan Stevens during his visits to the toilet while at university 25 years ago.
In a series of slides posted to TikTok, a user named greenwitchwh0re writes, "my professor casually dropped that he went to school with sufjan stevens today, and showed us his chapbook of poems."
The chapbook – a short pamphlet typically used for poetry and essay collections – features typewritten poems with titles like "Glaucoma Summer" and "When the doctor's diagnosis said bi-polar" interspersed with photos of toilets and Stevens himself.
According to the student, Stevens – who is undergoing phsyical rehabilitation after a Guillain–Barré syndrome diagnosis in 2023 – would jot down a quick poem each time he went to urinate, as well as snapping a photo of the urination location. "These are the poems I write when I have to take a piss really bad," Stevens writes on the opening page. "If I'm sitting at the computer for more than 40 minutes, typing something vain and esoteric, I inevitably have to go to the bathroom."
After schooling in his native Michigan, Stevens earned an MFA in creative writing at The New School in New York in the late '90s.
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