Spacing Out P o e t r y

I've been thinking about the dimensional aspects of poetry upon a page. Not only the poem itself within the boarders of the page but the lineage as well.

There are times when the visual impact of poetry is obvious. An example would be Golria Vando's New Shoes and An Old Flame. However, not every poem is dependent upon the kind of tedious spacing of letters /words that are required to achieve what Vando did here.

How important is the visual appeal of a poem on a page to the average reader? What contributes to an appealing layout of words on a page? What kinds of things are turn-offs? Are these questions trite?

Sometimes when I am journaling and not working on poetry drafts (because I often do that in my journal as well) I will catch myself writing in stanzas. Almost without a second thought at times breaking lines much as I would consider line breaks in a poem draft. Go figure.

Five was all I could do

Yesterday, we tried a family outing to Waterworks Park to play Disc Golf. The course there is much bigger than what I have played on. It is challenging enough, but the killer for us was the oppressive heat and the steep hills. We were ready to play hole 6 when we decided we could not go on. We had already decided that 18 holes would be too much, but we were hopeful we could get the front 8 in. We won't talk about my score.

Tomorrow, I have a reception for Dana Gioia to go to. Then Saturday night I have a reading to do so there are some extra curricular art events going one this week. I think I need to focus on some rewrites this week. I didn't have much success with new stuff over the weekend. Time to revisit old ideas.

Let it be...

I was thinking today about non-literary art and the fact that you often see an accompanying artists statement of purpose with it. I thought about the application of the same to poetry. The irony of a written summation of another piece of "word art."

I suppose we do often see such a critter inside the flap of a poetry book where the reader is offered some general statement of purpose relative to the entire manuscript. Otherwise, we don't see this with individual poetry.

With more abstract work it would perhaps not be as odd. Still, there is a tendency by many poets, myself included to want let the reader experience the work themselves. Drawing from their own life experiences whatever it is that speaks to them in the poem. As MacLeish argues in Ars Poetica, [the] poem should not mean But be.

Lazy Saturday Morning...

Not much of my plans for the day have quite unfolded yet and it is just past noon. I sit drinking a diet coke - the rest of the family is out on a shopping adventure.

Was writing earlier and came to a standstill.

We cling to the handles of customs
Crusted through years of oxidation
In the hands of others through
A buildup of broken resistance

... then the wall. But that's ok, I had not planned on writing this early in the day anyway, so I suppose I am ahead of the game.

As I surveyed the news this morning, I see that Russia has suspended its participation in an European arms control treaty that governs deployment of troops on the continent. This in response Bush's plans for a missile defense system in former Soviet bloc countries. I suppose his Iraq war legacy is not sufficient, he feels to need to refuel the cold war.

Nothing is ever simple... Harry Potter's success has the publishers fighting bootleggers. A legal team has been commissioned to prevent copies of the new book being pirated on publication.

Last night we went to see Wild Hogs at the $2 picture show. It was really kind of mindless fun. I didn't have any expectations going in so I was pleased that it was entertaining. Last week my wife and I watched The Devil Wears Prada in bead on a portable DVD player. Besides enjoying the movie, I really liked that atmosphere. I could stand to watch a lot of movies that way.

Was planning to take my daughter and do some video footage today to incorporate into a poetry video. With any luck, when they get home from shopping it won't be too hot and she won't be exausted. We shall see.

From my journal this week....

A few extracted bits from my journal:

• Though I'd like to remain an optimist... believing in that which is so minute / it leaves no shadow trailing.
• A hint of something greater / God sitting on a pin head.
• A dog whose gender was truncated / his head on a pillow keeping / his thoughts to himself.
• The boundary between them / more a smudge than a line.

~0~

At Age 92 - Ruth Stone deservedly is named Vermont's State Poet [here]

~0~

On the war.....

Bush's optimism is impossible to square with the situation in Iraq

Defying Bush, House Passes New Deadline for Withdrawal From Iraq

That rare connection

I was reading the interview of David Yessl by Bernard Chapin mentioned in an earlier post and I was captivated by a statement attributed to Yvor Winters, "The greatest poems are worth waiting for (and wading through a lot of inferior stuff). In many cases, it is not until a poet gives voice to a particular emotion by rendering it in words that one can experience it fully for the first time."

Thinking about this special link, how personal it is. How even really great poems are not going to provide such personal connectivity to every reader. Rare occurrence indeed. I suppose these occasions often go unacknowledged to the poet. Reducing even further any awareness the poet may have to such attribution, quite minuscule. Very sad to consider.

Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name, immediately 'moves on'

The Raw Story Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name, immediately 'moves on'

At a White House press conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged that someone in his administration leaked the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, but he avoided addressing the question of whether he saw it as a moral issue or was at all disappointed in his senior advisers.

Well Duh!