Poetry News:
- — There’s this idea he was a stern, reclusive, hard man, but, in fact, he was great company, he loved gossip and he’s not the Ted Hughes that people have in their imaginations at all —
- — Kerouac, baseball and Denver —
- — Poet Thomas Sayers Ellis will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, for Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences —
- — Winners of The Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation —
- — Poet Jayne Cortez makes heady music with Ornette Coleman sidemen —
- — Hopkins Marks 30th Anniversary of ‘Callaloo’ —
- — I have this crazy idea that if (Samuel Taylor) Coleridge were a woman born in the middle of the 20th century, born in northern Maine without an opium addiction, he might be Dorianne Laux —
I think if a poet is going to write about something they haven’t experienced, either as a persona poem or not (I’m thinking here of mental illness, psych hospitals & other physical incarceration specifically in this case but it can also apply to sexism, racism etc i guess) then it is not something to be taken lightly & should be approached with vigilance, for it is a difficult thing to make a poem ring true 100% (in any case) & indeed at the worst, these attempts can meander into the cheap and the exploitative.
That being said, I think you should go for it. I’d be the last person to tell someone what s/he should write about. Because that makes me mad!
I have no problem with poets writing persona poems etc — I love them. Ai is one of my favorite poets.
One should examine the motivation(s) for writing such a poem, however, I think. Because the reader can’t. (Though sometimes the poet’s motivation can be illuminated by the poem with more clarity than the poet is aware of! Or tragically misconstrued.) What do you think?
Anyway, have some ee cummings:
Humanity i love you
Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard
Humanity i love you because
when you’re hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you’re flush pride keeps
you from the pawn shops and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house
Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it’s there and sitting down
on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity
i hate you
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ee cummings,
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Poetry News:
- — The early letters of the future poet laureate reveal many of his lifelong obsessions, from furry animals to the occult, mostly in a financially anxious form —
- — More to the point, they seem to fill a gap left increasingly by magazines, which rarely publish this type of material anymore —
- — That Canadians would have no access to works of our own imagination just seemed goofy —
- — In her Foreword to the book, noted poet Alice Ostriker writes that Farrokhzad belongs in the company with Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Plath, and Sexton —
- — Midwest Poet Series turns 25 —
- — He told his father, who expected him to become a scientist, that he was going to be a poet, and headed to the local library —
- — Charles Simic on Good Morning America (TV) —
- — Poem of the Week No. 3: Lewis Carroll —
- — Berry’s new collection, “Window Poems,” is a series he composed while looking out the window of his writing cabin —
- — Language as Sculpture, Words as Clay —
- — Poetry, like wisdom, is above all price; it is either worth everything or nothing; yet, as poetry is not, like poets born, but made, those who make it very naturally desire to sell it, and the great difficulty has been, heretofore, to ascertain its market, or commercial value —
- — New Lit Mag Alert —
- — Making art of ‘Industrial Scars’ —
Yeah, I guess that might work here. Your robber would be so mentally disturbed by you ignoring him while you festoon yourself into a freaking FABRIC VENDING MACHINE.
My plan: palm an Alka-Seltzer at all times when in risky areas.
Bad guy comes up, pop it in your mouth, and act like a rabid and possessed animal as thick white froth pours down your chin.
Make lots of large, cat-like, limb motions. Scream, hiss, and bark. Toss in a few laughs. Look and point to something behind him. (His head will turn) RUN!! at a right angle from where you were, and then quickly switch into the direction where he was looking.
Ha my sister cracks me up. We were discussing this.
Thanks for the birthday good wishes. We had a fun day. That movie was funny. (It’s up at you tube.) Barbara Stanwyck had some great outfits. And there was one of the funniest poker game scenes.
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