State of Poetry

Charles Mudede and James Latteier recently penned a bizarre piece in The Stranger that you may well have read. In short it was a diatribe about what is wrong with poetry today. I was amazed at their definition of poetry. Let's see, they said, "Poetry is the continued practice of poetry." You heard me right. It's one of those definitions from like a buck and a quarter notebook- insert dictionary. A self defining word. To this sentence they added, "This circular definition simply says that you can't start afresh." Start what afresh? What the fuck are they saying? New form? Good lord, poetry has been evolving since inception.

If we were going to have a "State of The Art of Poetry" address and discuss the current status of the art, I'm sure we could find plenty to bitch about. On the other hand I believe there is so much innovative writing being done today that is not even recognized.

Evidently Charles and James have an aversion to confessional poetry. That's fine. But they must surly realize that the confessional scene is not all that is out there. And some people still find well written confessional poetry to suit our taste.

What exactly are these two saying? Poetry is the practice of poetry? Good poems beget good poems? We should all mimic their concept of great poetry? There is nothing new under the sun that is good?

Given the negative tirade they have made on poetry in general, I believe they owe us a better description as to what poetry is to them.

Fighting The Sinus Thing

My head feels like a part of my brain is encased in concrete and the core is trying to throb inside the encasement. My throat is raw from sinus drainage. If you can't tell, I'm not feeling well.

For me feeling well is an absolute. Whereas being sick is all relative. That is because like so many males (if I may stereotype for a moment) I tend to resist the inevitable. There are degrees of sick. I may be sick, there is a chance I could be coming down with something but I am not there yet. I may be getting sick. I'm probably sick. I'm a wee bit sick. I'm sick. There are just so many degrees you can be before you are there. In the final analysis, I may damn well be on death's doorstep before I am actually "just plain sick."

So it is that I am going into work this morning but I will likely leave early. There are some important things that need to be done first. Then I'll check for a pulse and if I fine one, I'll go home. Maybe.

All This

You
are my ribbon
that ties the lose ends

The bounce
that makes all
my hurdles

The
sound that
soothes and moves
my soul

You are the gentle mist
the succulent kiss
and the whimper of bliss

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Edinburgh - Line of poetry to let tourists dial up facts on Fergusson

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Edinburgh - Line of poetry to let tourists dial up facts on Fergusson


MOBILE phone technology is being used to beat planning restrictions on a plaque to Scotland's "forgotten poet" Robert Fergusson.

City will have own poet laureate

St. Paul Pioneer Press 01/10/2006 City will have own poet laureate


The Minnesota governor vetoed a measure which would have created a state poet laureate. That didn't stop the people in Duluth, Minnesota. They will have their own poet laureate.

On Poets Being Relevant

My birthday now past, safely tucked away in slumber, not to be awakened for another year. Thanks to all well wishers.

Birthdays are a strange commodity. When young, we can't wait till the next one. Somewhere along the line that of course changes and we (or at least I) would be happy if they seemed not so frequent. The alternative is guess is not particularly appealing and I suppose it would be good to temper whatever negative attachments we (or I) have to them with the obvious reality. Having another birthday requires living. So, here's to living with all the joys and sorrows it brings and hope for more of the first and less of the latter.

Living it seems is a critical part of poetry. We hear so much about dead poets but they had to be alive at one point to be poets. And I do think that many poets have a more than casual focus on mortality. I know I do. But I don't think that is so much because I have a fixation on death, but a lust for life and I understand that the absence of one is the other. Further, reality is that we will all at some point be dead. So it is, that I measure much of life in the context of these two extremes.

I cannot offer any scientific evidence, but I have a gut feeling that on the average, poets are much more highly charged with emotion than the rest of the population. We see colors more vividly; we hear things that others miss. We witness both higher and lower realms of emotion with greater intensity. These of course are generalizations on my part, but they are opinions, which I hold. I try to accept that these are gifts. Yes, at times some of this may seem like a curse but on the whole it gives us a richer experience with which to share our world view, whether we are talking about the beauty of a trickle of water across the rockbed of a brook or the horrors of war.

There's a quote that I'd like to share which I believe deeply reflect my view of the poet and his or her duty. Salman Rushdi once said, "A poet's work: To name the unnamable, to point at frauds, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep." When I think about that quote several things happen. One is that it is good that most poets seem to experience the intensities of life. Another is that because of this gift we have an obligation or duty to share with the world. And to that end, the final thought is that poetry really does matter.

tag: Poetry

NPR : When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things

NPR : When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things

Jody Williams is the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. For her efforts, she shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the Campaign. Williams previously worked to build awareness about U.S. policy toward Central America.

Inspiring story!