On a sad note...

As news of this has trickled out to the mainstream media slowly, I'm sure some of  have perhaps heard that Nicholas Hughes died on the 16th of this month at his own hands. Nicholas was of course the second of two children born to Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.

He was in 46 and made his home in Fairbanks Alaska when he was a prominent fish biologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Not surprisingly he inherited his fathers fondness for fishing and nature.

His passing might have only made the local papers, but the the word of his suicide made the news around the U.S. and across the Atlantic in Europe as well.  He was after all the son of Sylvia and Ted.  There is so much tragedy associated with the family already and this will only rekindle the debates about his mothers death.

Nicholas was less in the limelight than his sister Frieda who like her mother wrote poetry and and painted as a serious artist herself. In a statement by Frieda released as she departed for Fairbanks she noted that her brother had been battling depression for some time.

Already I've seen stories that have popped up talking about a "suicide gene." There is statistically a high percentage of suicides among individuals who have lost a family member to suicide, but so far not real scientific evidence that links the act directly to genetics. It is true that the conditions, both environmental and by some predisposition to depression may increase the tendency but that linkage is more indirect.

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heartwarming story

I want to make note of a video my daughter Meghan passed along to me and some of you may well have seen it, but for those who haven't it's an uplifting story, the kind that toughs at the  heart.

 

Technorati Tags: Christian the Lion Reunion

collaborative poetry

I've not really had any experience with collaborative poetry in the context of shared writing. I always consider poetry to generally be a collaborative between the poet and the reader, but that's another whole matter.

I suppose it requires a special temperament for two artists, both poets, to work together to produce something that is a joint creation.  C.D. Wright in a symposium I attended earlier this month, spoke of collaborating with photographers on work. That seems to me to be a particularly beneficial arrangement given the tenets under which both art forms develop.

Mutating the Signature (great name by the way) is a relatively new blog of two poets who have been actually collaborating for a while now. The poets Dana Guthrie Martin and Nathan Moore have certainly put an interesting light upon such work.

Nathan for example has explained a part of the benefit of this shared creative process this way,'"Collaborative poetry offers a respite from the struggles of solitary work. My poor, overworked ego is given a break as process and product are shared, voices are melded. It’s a fantastic feeling to be partner to the creation of a voice that’s greater than your own.'" I think any of us who've written for a while are certainly aware just how solitary the work can become.

Dana seems to derive an energy from seeing the twists and turns that can develop when two are working to meld their voices. She is quoted on their site as explaining it like this... '"The surprise of the poems we’ve written. Oh, the unforeseen turns the writing takes. Going in and not knowing where you’ll come out, or when or how. The way we each respond to the words and phrases the other person contributes. How a piece that in one moment seems like it’s headed nowhere fast can, in a word or two, find its way somewhere startling, strange and gorgeous.'"

As I've stated, I've not really worked except in the simplest terms, like at a workshop of people joining to create a poem, and that was more for fun and hardly a serious collaborative venture.  I'm curious about the experiences of others, be they positive or negative. Any takers is this discussion? What's it like and perhaps you can share a bit about any rules or secrets of making it work that you'd like to share? 

Technorati Tags: Collaborative poetry,writing,Dana Guthrie Martin,Nathan Moore,Mutating the Signature

What clicks with me about Springtime

I made a Quick Trip run this morning for a diet coke.  I noticed all over the walk and even on top of the car all these little fragments that fall off the tree when the new growth begins each spring. On the lawn too I could see new blades of grass rising up from the ground and giving a shout out in praise of spring.

For those who live in areas that do not experience the changes in season I believe you miss something monumental. If there were not a demarcation between winter and spring, between fall and winter, even the changes that are perhaps more subtle between spring and summer I feel my year would seem endlessly depressing.

Spring is such a period of rejuvenation to me. A rebirth, a second chance, a new beginning. I apologize to those who do not appreciate the sports metaphor but it's like opening day in baseball. Everything seems fresh and it makes no difference where your team finished last, everything is  stars over.

Technorati Tags: springtime,seasons

Journal Bits & More

March 12 - [noted part of a line from a Boston Legal episode that I have a feeling will find its way into a poem at some later date] "its always orange for breakfast and apple for lunch"

March 12 - comfort is is an approximation/which has not arrived

March 13 - you have weathered the streets/know the names of its inhabitants/and carry a Godlike name

March 13 - The word is/side effects/are rare/and musical/most of the time /hardly irritable

March 16 - It's uncomfortably warm in the house tonight. For the longest time I was here alone tonight and the house felt closed in....

March 18 - From across the hall comes an airborne thought/I shall pocket it in hopes of making it my own

March 19- Two tea bags/bold is not exactly/a distinguishing landmark

On another note, I have a blog to recommend. Brian Brodeur's How a Poem Happens is an engrossing look into the creative process various poets subscribed to in the creation of specific poems. The most recent being Sandra Beasley author of Theories of Falling. Other poets featured Dorianne Laux, Stephen Dunn, Daisy Fried, and Dan Albergotti to name a few.  If you haven't been there, check it out!

I'm on a roll, sent out two batches of poems this past week to venues that I've not submitted to before. Fingers crossed!

Technorati Tags: journal bits,poetry,How a poem Happens,Sandra Beasley,Dan Albergotti,Stephen Dunn,Daisy Fried,Dorianne Laux Brian Brodeur

Aimee Nezhukumatathil in KC

 I'm excitedly awaiting the KC visit of Aimee who will read from her book At the Drive-In Volcano.  She's part of a ethnic poetry series that earlier brought Victoria Chang to KC.  These are two poets that I've followed via the Internet (good Lord, sounds like I'm a stalker) for a while now so getting to see them both read in person is a treat.

Park University and the Missouri Arts Council have made this series possible so they deserve some credit for promoting these poets here locally.

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The liberation of words...

Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition.  ~ Eli Khamaroy

Someone asked me if this was a good thing.... liberating words from rigid definition. What do you think? Any words out there you think need to be liberated?

 

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