A poem

"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. " --Robert Frost

Legacy

I was reading a book written by a poet friend of mine who is around the age of 70.

He quotes Dylan Thomas at the beginning of the book:

"Poetry.
I like to think of of it
as statements made on the way to the grave."

This quote is appropriate, I suppose, since my friend's book is a commemoration of his own life. However, it is sad to me that my friend is already thinking about his eventual death and writing his poetic autobiography so the life he lived will be left behind, remembered in the pages of his book.

Failure

Halifax poet Don Domanski, 57, won the Governor General award for poetry this year for his book All Our Wonder Unavenged (Brick Books). It took him seven years to write the book.

When interviewed by the Globe and Mail, Domanski said "all poetry is failure in the end, because you never reach what you want.”

Oh, how true.

Dreaming: The Great Equalizer

"Anyone can escape into sleep. We are all geniuses when we dream. The butcher's the poet's equal there." - E.M. Cioran, The Temptation to Exist.

On typewriters...

I don't understood the appeal of the typewriter in this day and age where computers rule supreme. Typewriters make edits pure hell. Yet I've met a number of young writers who are using old typewriters they've dug up out of their grandparents basement or bought on eBay.

I didn't understand the appeal of the typewriter until I read David Streit's poem: "untitled, november 23, 2006:"

"everyone loves a typewriter." Streit writes:

"it has the word writer in it.
no one wants to grow up to be a "puter."
eventually typing is a skill set that is being lost. this is the
recovery.
pause thought. scroll. type. type."

On the lot...

Has anyone been watching the new show On The Lot?

Aspiring filmmakers air their short films each week and America votes on the best. A few of the earlier episodes followed the filmmakers as they made their films, but making films is actually more boring than it sounds. It's actors doing the same scene over and over again and long hours spent putting sound and picture together in an editing suite. It's only slightly more exciting than watching someone write a book. And it's a surprise On The Lot has low ratings?

Films, like writing, are about finished product. The process is quite dry and a bit of a slog. It's not like So You Think You Can Dance, where dancers put their bodies to the test and face injury in rehearsal.

Short films are not popular with the masses either. They are like the poetry of the film industry. They have a limited market.

That said, maybe there should be a So You Think You Can Write Poetry show. They have everything else. And are ratings really that important? Really?

Unforgettable poetry

I am reading an old Harper's Magazine from 1999. There's an article in it where five well-established American poets talk about poetry.

According to these poets, (Donald Hall, Cynthia Huntington, Paul Muldoon, Heather McHugh and Charles Simic) a poem is considered great if, once you are finished reading it, you want to go back and read it again.

A good poem should be disappointing, or deflect one's expectations, says Huntington.

"If a poem has no obvious destination, there's a chance that we'll all be setting off on an interesting ride," said Muldoon.

"I think one of poetry's functions is not to give us what we want," said McHugh.

To me then, poetry is like Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are so many unexpected plot twists in that show, and characters you least expect die.

The trick is to be able to think differently than your audience. Become a mind reader and anticipate their thoughts. It's tough.

Puzzling Poems

Poetry is like a crossword puzzle without the clues.

In a poem, every word must fit on a line and pull its own weight. One wrong word and the completed puzzle will be wrong.

Poetry is more challenging than a crossword puzzle, because you're using sound and trying to give words new meaning (sometimes anyway).

In the air...

Spring is here, although you can't tell by all the snow being dumped on the Canadian prairies right now.

Last week, before the snow, every single member of my poetry group, coincidentally, brought a poem about some sort of dead animal. Death isn't often associated with spring. Usually spring is connected with new life, birth and rebirth. But leave it to writers to try to twist and challenge society's standard associations.

Poet gillian harding-russell writes: "Spring is an uncovering of old wounds."

If this is true, it's not that hard to connect spring with death. Although, death goes with any season.

Workshops

The dilemma I often face when going to a writing workshop is: "What work should I submit?"

Should I submit something good that might impress other writers? Or should I submit a horrible piece of writing that has been grating me and is in desperate need of workshopping?

I go with the latter. As a result, I'm sure there are a lot of writers I respect out there going: "Really? That girl's a published poet? Really? But did you just read what she submitted at that workshop? What a piece of crap!"

There can be no ego when it comes to battling your own worst nightmares . . . I mean poems.

Poetry and Prose

A friend of mine was recently told she should stay clear of poetry and write fiction only. It was a prestigious literary editor that made the observation.

My friend's poetry wasn't making sense to anyone.

But I don't think she should give up on poetry. If it doesn't make sense, it probably means she was being abstract, instead of using concrete images. That's all. She can learn to use concrete images.

Poetry is a craft. It can be learned. I hate people who say give up instead of learn.

Mind you, I'm in limbo right now. In the last week, I got two rejections from literary magazines. One with a penciled note saying: "Interesting poems. Try us again later." And the other was a half page typed letter saying: "This is usable material. Now here's my critique..."

While those are better than your standard form rejections, it's still no publication.