Thank Ian for this bit of awesomeness.
princetonprofs.blogspot.com/2008/12/poet-laureate.html
This is what stood out for me:
I am celebrating this news because Obama seems to fully grasp the idea that words and language truly matter. By restoring poetry as a central feature of his inauguration, Obama gives hope to those of us who believe that art is always important and necessary, especially during hard times. Artistic expression is as necessary and as vital as bread and water.
It seems like I wasn't the only one missing poetry :p
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Blogging for a Dying Art
So what the hell makes me any different than the millions who have been groaning over the dying art of poetry for centuries?
Mostly, folk were complaining that the poetry being created was not real poetry. But I don't even see it being created anymore, not really. To be "noticed" you don't need any special ability. You can just blog-up whatever nonsense you've wrote and there, you're published.
Impromptu poll: Do you read poetry? I mean, seriously...do you own books of poems that were not for a class or that someone gave to you as a gift?
What do you get out of poetry when you read it?
Mostly, folk were complaining that the poetry being created was not real poetry. But I don't even see it being created anymore, not really. To be "noticed" you don't need any special ability. You can just blog-up whatever nonsense you've wrote and there, you're published.
Impromptu poll: Do you read poetry? I mean, seriously...do you own books of poems that were not for a class or that someone gave to you as a gift?
What do you get out of poetry when you read it?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
These kids today...
This is from Stephen King's On Writing. Preluding the following is a bit of gibberish poem.
"If you were to ask the poet what this poem meant, you'd likely get a look of contempt. A slightly uncomfortable silence was apt to emanate from the rest. Certainly the fact that the poet would likely have been unable to tell you anything about the mechanics of creation would not have been considered important. If pressed, he or she might have said that there were no mechanics, only that seminal spurt of feeling. [...] And if the resulting poem is sloppy, based on the assumption that such general words as 'loneliness' mean the same thing to all of us - hey man, so what, let go of all that outdated bullshit and just dig the heaviness."
Ian said:
"So much of it echoed the pretentious, abstract, obscure-reference "artiste" poetry that came into vogue in the late nineties or so. I can't relate to poems like that, and think they do more to alienate readers than any other form possible."
Yes indeed sirs, not much poetry I have read lately squares up to older works I have studied. Maybe that makes me pretentious and snobby too. Using the American Poetry Society link as a reference, I keep feeling like I am looking at a Jackson Pollack painting. It seems needlessly incoherent and without structure.
"If you were to ask the poet what this poem meant, you'd likely get a look of contempt. A slightly uncomfortable silence was apt to emanate from the rest. Certainly the fact that the poet would likely have been unable to tell you anything about the mechanics of creation would not have been considered important. If pressed, he or she might have said that there were no mechanics, only that seminal spurt of feeling. [...] And if the resulting poem is sloppy, based on the assumption that such general words as 'loneliness' mean the same thing to all of us - hey man, so what, let go of all that outdated bullshit and just dig the heaviness."
Ian said:
"So much of it echoed the pretentious, abstract, obscure-reference "artiste" poetry that came into vogue in the late nineties or so. I can't relate to poems like that, and think they do more to alienate readers than any other form possible."
Yes indeed sirs, not much poetry I have read lately squares up to older works I have studied. Maybe that makes me pretentious and snobby too. Using the American Poetry Society link as a reference, I keep feeling like I am looking at a Jackson Pollack painting. It seems needlessly incoherent and without structure.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Arguments with myself
I keep having them.
I keep talking myself around in circles. First I think "hey that's a good idea you have there," and then I think "this is stupid."
Travis pointed out to me that the reason I haven't heard of any new poets is because they haven't had a chance to be "canonized" (if you don't know what that means, it isn't as fun sounding as you think :p) yet. Which by this I guess he means that we (we?) haven't decided if we like them or not. Some poets that are in the canon now didn't get there in their own lifetime, or even their grandchildrens lifetime.
But then I think of all the other creative media outlets there are today that were not there 20 years ago.
And one more thing....when I find the article I'll post it (if I remember to look)...it talks about how todays culture is entirely un-original. Everything seems to be a throwback to a past generation. This isn't an entirely new phenomenon - I know in Canada in the 50's the tourism boards were swamped with requests for plaques for historic sites and funding for museums. People were drawn into the idea that there was a "Golden Age."
I think that's what is happening now.
I keep talking myself around in circles. First I think "hey that's a good idea you have there," and then I think "this is stupid."
Travis pointed out to me that the reason I haven't heard of any new poets is because they haven't had a chance to be "canonized" (if you don't know what that means, it isn't as fun sounding as you think :p) yet. Which by this I guess he means that we (we?) haven't decided if we like them or not. Some poets that are in the canon now didn't get there in their own lifetime, or even their grandchildrens lifetime.
But then I think of all the other creative media outlets there are today that were not there 20 years ago.
And one more thing....when I find the article I'll post it (if I remember to look)...it talks about how todays culture is entirely un-original. Everything seems to be a throwback to a past generation. This isn't an entirely new phenomenon - I know in Canada in the 50's the tourism boards were swamped with requests for plaques for historic sites and funding for museums. People were drawn into the idea that there was a "Golden Age."
I think that's what is happening now.
New Poets
A found this link, and it gives me some hope.
http://www.poetrysociety.org/journal/articles/20poets.html
The American Poetry Society held a dealie for 20 new poets. They read their poems to a packed auditorium in New York (I keep picturing dudes with berets). I only glanced through the page because I am at work and this computer is too blurry and those words are too small.
The cool thing is there is a blurb about each poet (and they are young, not old and stogy) and some of their works.
You read a few and I'll read a few, and we can talk about if we think these guys are the future of poetry or not. :)
http://www.poetrysociety.org/journal/articles/20poets.html
The American Poetry Society held a dealie for 20 new poets. They read their poems to a packed auditorium in New York (I keep picturing dudes with berets). I only glanced through the page because I am at work and this computer is too blurry and those words are too small.
The cool thing is there is a blurb about each poet (and they are young, not old and stogy) and some of their works.
You read a few and I'll read a few, and we can talk about if we think these guys are the future of poetry or not. :)
Sunday, November 30, 2008
What happened to the sixties?
Whenever there has been social upheaval, there has been a movement of art that parallels the ugly in the world.
You can open up your anthologies from English class (go on, go ahead; I know you have one somewhere) and trace the lines between history and writing. They match up pretty well, don't they? In front of me I have an anthology of American Writing since 1945 (one of those brightly colored Norton dealies.) You know where the poems stop? The mid-1980's - the time of the Cold War.
The book was published in 2003.
Where have all the poems gone?
No, I mean the good poems. Not poems that sound like they were ripped straight out of a 13 year old girl's angsty diary; those are a cliche dime a dozen.
When I am teaching English Lit. to freshman, what will I be teaching them from now? Still Billy Collins? Still Cathy Song? Will our records of this years election be merely news archives and youtube videos? For centuries we have known the souls of the people of history through their art.
What will we have to show for ourselves?
Write write write.
Show me what you've got.
You can open up your anthologies from English class (go on, go ahead; I know you have one somewhere) and trace the lines between history and writing. They match up pretty well, don't they? In front of me I have an anthology of American Writing since 1945 (one of those brightly colored Norton dealies.) You know where the poems stop? The mid-1980's - the time of the Cold War.
The book was published in 2003.
Where have all the poems gone?
No, I mean the good poems. Not poems that sound like they were ripped straight out of a 13 year old girl's angsty diary; those are a cliche dime a dozen.
When I am teaching English Lit. to freshman, what will I be teaching them from now? Still Billy Collins? Still Cathy Song? Will our records of this years election be merely news archives and youtube videos? For centuries we have known the souls of the people of history through their art.
What will we have to show for ourselves?
Write write write.
Show me what you've got.
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