A Look At Ginsberg's Letters

The Letters of Allen Ginsberg, edited by Bill Morgan, is now available from Da Capo Press.

I've not had an opportunity to read this yet, but regular readers will be well aware how interesting I find journals and letters of poets. Given the impact on Allen and other Beat poets on the American literary culture I have to believe historical accounts of his correspondence would be absolutely fascinating.

Pocket Change

Humanity spilled- tossed about,

jingled in the the pockets

like small change.

A bit here and a piece there

the sum of which is whole

but spread about

without custodial care.

The casual acceptance-

disrespected by dispersal

to quail and disintegrate

in the shadows

of rich indifference.

A mind full of likes....

• Disheveled like a truce gone bad.
• Bristling like the cloak of a porcupine.
• Daunting like down by seven runs
  in the top of the ninth-
• Scorched like the bottom of a cooper kettle.
• Bumped like a kid out of line.

Unconscious Mutterings Week 292

Unconscious Mutterings ~ link

Word & Thought Associations

here's mine:

Groceries :: sacker
Deodorant :: anti-perspirant
Psychic :: healer
Cherries :: picker
Spooky :: ghosts
Yogurt :: Dannon
Kitchen :: sink
Nothing personal :: negative dig
Be nice :: children
Delivery :: baby

Ashbery - One of Four

I've said before that my taste in poetry easily finds John Ashbery's work very palatable. I am well aware that this is not a universal opinion among those who delight in reading contemporary poetry. Ashbery has many detractors. Still, it's a fact that at age 81 Ashbery need not fret about his mark on the American literary culture. It is well cemented. If you doubt this, consider that Ashbery is about to become only the fourth American writer to see their works published during their own lifetime by the Library of America. He joins Philip Roth, Eudora Welty, and Saul Bellow in that distinction.

Observation Skills

Technorati Tags: Sylvia Plath,poetry,writing,life as a poet

  Saturday my wife and I took the dogs and went off to the dog park.  It was while traipsing around that rugged landscape that my knee went from bad to worse.  It was also during this outing that I explored the various trees and branches and sticks and water containers for the dogs.  The sky and the sun bursting through the leaves on the many trees that dot the landscape. Observation is such an important part of the poetry process.  Even when not writing I think there is something to be said for taking in what is around us and looking at it with an eye for detail. Not so much for the ability to recount specifics, though this can be a beneficial exercise, but more importantly looking for the extraordinary in the otherwise ordinary.

From reading biographical material on Sylvia Plath as well as her journals I was long ago struck with how she was constantly seeking the poem in everything she came into contact with. Even odd jobs she took while attending Smith College provided fodder for her writing.

I am not quite as tuned into everyday events in the way she apparently was, but I do make an effort to see the poetry around me. One cannot underestimate the benefits that come from sharpening the observation skills.  Mine are far from perfected. 

Mundane Monday

Klaus always looks before backing out of driveway....

Labor day and I'm trying to find a the silver lining in this knee pain. It's not like I'm off on a sick day or anything. No, I'm using a perfectly good three day holiday to be sick. Grrr!