Unconscious Mutterings Week 245

Unconscious Mutterings ~ link

Word & Thought Associations

here's mine:

1. Intimidated :: Bully
2. Brush :: Fuller
3. Masquerade :: Party
4. Procedure :: Surgical
5. Tattoos :: Heart
6. Square :: Root
7. Tuck :: Away
8. Boyfriend :: Lover
9. Badass:: Dog
10. Thousand :: Island

Timing is Everything

Timing can be so important. It mystifies me how a particular moment is simply the right moment for specific poem to come together. I've had a few encounters with this sort of thing. And as thought I almost lack gratitude from the ones that have occurred this way, I'd add too damn few.

Some of the best poems can be viewed in the same way as a snapshot. They capture a moment in time and frame it in words. A yardstick to measure the success of such work could well be if the reader can put him/herself into that frame and automatically be in the moment. I think William Carlos Williams' poem that begins... so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain is a classic example of what I mean. This poem came to him on the spot and indeed captures a moment in time like that of a photographer. Wickpedia notes "The pictorial style in which the poem is written owes much to the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and the precisionist style of Charles Sheeler."

I'm trying to think about the few times I have had such an experience with writing a poem and it seems clear to me that there was little if anything I did consciously to assure the success of the poem written. I cannot think of any. In fact, these instances were more like becoming aware that there was nothing to do but sit down and write the poems. The conditions and the creation of the poem in these instances had more control over me than I over them. Because of this it is not something I can say, "ah, do this, and a great poem is bound to happen." Randall Jarrell ruefully defined a poet as someone who, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, manages to get hit by lightning seven or eight times.[The Atlantic.com] Perhaps these are lightening experiences.

Obligatory Communication

"One of the obligations of the writer is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language." ~ Denise Levertov

So, you thought you'd just write the great American novel or win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Then, maybe travel a bit. Speak hear and there about what it's like now that you are a successful writer. Poet Denise Levertov seems to see it differently. She wants us to dig deep down in our own humanity and and communicate who and what we are within the language of our work. I don't know about you but that seems a pretty heavy responsibility.

Maybe what Levertov is saying is that whatever you write, don't do it half assed. If you are going to write, you owe it to your reader to put your total self into it. Make the language you speak be totally from yourself and make it the best representation of who you are that you can. I suppose anything short of that cheats both the reader and our self. I hate to say it, but it kind of reminds me of the Army advertisement... "Be all that you can be."

K. C. Poetry Reading Event ~ Mark Your Calendars

AMY LEIGH DAVIS & MISSI RASMUSSEN

Sunday July 20th

at 7:00 PM

THE WRITERS PLACE

3707 Pennsylvania in KCMO

Amy Davis and Missi Rasmussen - two local poets will be featured readers with an open mic immediately following. I've had an opportunity to know both of these poets for several years now. They have distinctively unique voices.

Amy was awarded the 2008 Crystal Field Scholarship in Poetry and is attending UMKC. Her poetry has appeared in the in various venues including Park University Scribe and The Rogue Poetry Review. She is a member of the K.C. Metro Verse.

Missi was awarded the Nicholas Manchion English Scholarship Award at Park University. She is presently enrolled in graduate school. Her work has been published in numerous literary journals in print and online. She is the founder & president of KC Metro Verse.

Word Joy

"Three cheers for a poet who handles words with the intent joy of a little kid playing with blocks." ~ X.J. Kennedy

IMMUNITY FIGHT A VICTORY FOR GOVERNMENT LAWLESSNESS

When the Bush Administration tapped private phone lines with the aid of phone companies but without any court order authorizing the wiretaps, it set into motion a series of challenges for violating the privacy rights of millions of Americans. That battle ended today when the Senate voted in favor of the new FISA bill today by a 69-28. Barack Obama joined every Senate Republican by voting in favor of it. Sadly my own Democratic Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill also sold out to Bush and the phone companies voting for the final bill with immunity for phone companies that have already provided private information from American citizens to the Bush administration without court order. Sen. Hillary Clinton had the courage to voted against it.

Earlier amendment to pass the bill without immunity failed - Obama supporting that effort while McCaskill again voted the Bush & phone company line.

Poetry To A Beat

List night I attended an event at the Kansas City Public Library featuring poet John Mark Eberhart, author of two collections of poetry, Night Watch (2005) and Broken Time (2008). The event turned out to be a family affair with brother Ken Eberhart who is a talented percussionist, brother-in-law Nick Drimmel, who preformed on keyboard. Sherri Eberhart, John Mark's wife performed as well.

John Mark's poetry resonates well with a music theme. So much of his work seems to be about place, be it geography or a place in time or life.

Sherri read from a snippet of the couple's upcoming project, Blood of Eden. She has a background in theater and it is really fun to see such a range of creativity pulled together in one event.

A full house was on hand. Kudos to the K.C. Public Library for yet another great display of the arts in Kansas City.