“How to break up with your girlfriend”
I love it!
The Fundamental Tension in Art
Within the realm of poetry, and art in general, and life in general, there are two forces at play: perhaps they can be called order and chaos, reason and emotion, id and superego, the primal and the civilized. In the context of aesthetics they are often referred to as the Appolonian and the Dionysian, based on the Greek gods.
Roughly, the Appolonian drive is tied to order, craft, reason. In poetry, this applies to formal verse, verse grounded in concepts and societies and focused on the experience of a people. The Dionysian, in contrast, is focused on the experience of the individual, emotion, ephemera. It is associated with much wilder leaps of metaphor.
It is easy to consider these two forces as opposites. Forces that only exist is tension, and I think that is fairly accurate. Many myth systems are less about good and evil, and have dichotomies based on creation and destruction, or the previously mentioned order and chaos, where there is no good or evil applied to these concepts. They are merely the forces underlying everything.
Poetry, or at least good poetry, relies on tension. Tension gives the poem dynamic energy. Tension between rhymes, between meanings, between line and syntax. Perfectly crafted formal verses may be appreciable based on its technical merits, but it is dull without more wild elements. The strangest of the Surreal can be so fanciful as to be unintelligible, but when it is connected to life, crafted to include considered repetition, is going to be superior.
Poetry cannot follow one impulse or the other. It exists between the two forces, constantly being pulled this way and then that. The struggle, especially as an artist, is to find the particular balance between the two that is ideal for you.
Critical Mass of Crazy
I wonder if there is a certain amount of crazy that a group cannot exceed and continue to function. Perhaps not so much an exact number, but a ratio of total crazy to number of group members. I think about this because I work with some really nutso people, and it doesn’t seem one building should be enough to contain all of this.
Then again, perhaps it works the other way? Maybe a certain amount of crazy is required? As if crazy was fertilizer and Beethoven music. It may be that the best gardens require the most disparate seeds.
Really, imagine how dull life would be if everyone agreed with you all the time. Certainly, if everyone agreed with me all the time, the world would be a smooth and ordered place, but what opportunity for debate, for new ideas, for synthesis….
There’s a happy balance, I suppose, as there is in most things. Some ideas are just bad. Detrimental to the accomplishment of their purposes. Detrimental to the survival of the species or the planet. Those are problems. Excessive oddity? Not so much an issue, but I still wonder how we can function in this messed-up workplace.
"That’s why I had to buy an external hard drive…"
"…Just because it’s midget porn doesn’t mean the file sizes are smaller."
Attributing anonymously by choice
Flexing the Poetry Muscle
I find that the only time I desire to write poetry on a consistent basis is when I am reading it on a consistent basis. Spring semester I took two lit classes in addition to a poetry workshop, and I have no real desire to pay attention or think about anything at the moment.
So I haven’t been reading poetry, and therefor not writing any, save what I wrote for class.
My question for you all is: how do you flex your poetry muscle? Do you just let it lie unused until you’re ready for it? Do you "write every day, no matter what?" Or is time spent not writing, time "refilling the well?"
Intellectually, I think I should write, but I can’t seem to find any poetry when I write. Philosophical musings (such as have been posted here), yes, but not poetry.
I am an expert
That is the idea that a blog should be sending. I’d say that Seth Godin is right: when we have options, we will choose the best, the expert. The Jack-of-all-trades is only useful if it’s all we’ve got.
There has been some discussion about Read Write Poem via email amongst it’s contributorial staff about possibly adding something in. I don’t mean to say much about it as I don’t know that the final determination will be and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. As a site, we have (mostly they have) put together a really fantastic resource on the art of poetry and of being a poet. The arts of poetry and poeming (if that isn’t a word, it is now). It may take nearly a dozen of us, but we’re an expert over there. The challenge is to be an expert in what you can be an expert in, and not spread yourself into too many areas and becoming a generalist.
Most blogs suffer from the generalist problem (even mine). It’s a difficult line to straddle between focus and interest. Most of us blog about whatever we want: what’s going on in our lives, the experiences we have and think the rest of you should know about, ideas and insanities, the minutia of life. The reason we can do this is that we are not a wikipedia article. We are people and while our relationship may be very one-sided, this medium is still two people connecting. People are not singular, expert entities, with only one topic. We are like ogres, we have layers*. People who are that focused, sure we head their way when we have a question, but we don’t hang about with them and converse. They are useful to us and otherwise ignored.
So how do we weigh that against Seth’s comment? Be an expert in the one area you cannot be contradicted in: the art of being you.
*I’ve only seen the first Shrek, and that is the only thing I remember from the movie. But it’s a funny thought-ogres.
It’s impressive
And no, I’m not referring to anything I’ve done.
I’m sure most of my regular readers (those not driven here by a link to one particular quote) are aware that, when I don’t lose track of time and freak out, I contribute to the Read Write Poem website as a prompt author and as a contributor of a monthly column on prosody.
Keep that in mind while I divert this post into a completely new channel.
Today was my one final for this semester, so I’m done with school for now. The last few weeks have been crazy with papers and research projects and portfolios, oh my! Top that off with corporate life and setting up website transfers and I’ve been distracted. As I was driving home from Iowa City I thought to myself “self, what shall I do to reward my survival and maintenance of sanity?” I responded: “Well, you survived at any rate. But you’re talking to yourself, so the sanity is questionable.” “Quite right, quite right. I know; I shall buy nilla wafers and frosting and eat nearly pure sugar (frosting with sprinkles, yay!).” And I ended up watching The Golden Compass, which I had bought some weeks ago (armored bears!) and which has been unopened. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the Nilla wafers and frosting. And then it still wasn’t time for bed-though it is getting close now-so what else to do?
Jumping back to the previous channel: A couple of weeks ago I had written a prompt to use jargon in a poem. I like to bring something kind of crazy to my prompts to get people out of comfort zones; I think we learn a lot about ourselves as writers when the net is taken away. What we write I think is more honest when the artifice of a long-standing style or theme is compromised. At any rate, I had not read the posted poems! So I rectified that. And it is impressive how creatively people have used jargon in poetry. I’d like to thank everyone for giving it a go. I only want to highlight one, because a line from it just stuck with me.
from Chemical Acrostic by watermaid
Entropy is an existential state.
Well watemaid, if my blog traffic ever gets back up, you may get some click-throughs!
Hopefully I can will take more time to devote this site and to my writing now that classes are out. There certainly should be a lot of catching up for us all to do.
EDIT: I have a lot of blog’s in my google reader and my blogroll is still gone, so I’ve added a link at the end of the sidebar to my google reader’s shared items. It’s just a few things right now, but I’ll be adding posts from various sources to it. If you’re interested in seeing what’s interesting me, that’s one way to get a glimpse. Or you can ask.
quote
"If someone gives you ruled paper, write the other way."
-anonymous classmate during a group… art… event…. thing, I guess. I should probably detail that later.
Not for the religious without a sense of humor
Links
What with moving this site to a new server and finishing out the semester, I haven’t been taking much time to think of interesting posts for you all to read. So you’re getting some links that I have starred in Google Reader that I think more people should see. Also, for the few people who comment, I’m using the commentluv plugin which is supposed to include a link to your most recent blog post (if it can find it) I assume based on the website address you enter.
Breaking the Glass - Seth Godin
When you’re ready to make the leap, to commit, to make something happen, you break the glass. The sculpture is ruined.
Every Living Creature Dies Alone - Neggles
This is the post I reference in The Other down below.
Now, don’t think me one of those manic-depressive people. I’m very pleased with life at the moment (though in all honesty, I feel more aloof to life than anything else). I’m engaged to a wonderful man. My classes are going well. I ate steak last night, and it was delicious. But because I am the only person who can experience this as I do, I am a singular existence.
Writing About Myself - Mariacristina
Well-written blog posts are mini essays. Some are lyric, some are personal, others didactic, and still others bombastic. By and large, most bloggers write in the first person, and include details of their personal life on the page.
100 Things - Goldmourn
In which we learn many things about the auther. One hundred of them, in fact.
01. I was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada in 1978.
02. I have a collection of zines purchased mostly through the internet.
03. I wonder if I’ll ever complete / create something that is worthwhile.
What are you About? - jblanton
Does your Blog have an about page? Most likely it does? If someone happens upon your blog they might want to know who is behind the blog post they just read or more importantly what the blog is about. The about page is one of the easiest ways for someone that has no idea who you are or ever been to your blog to get the scoop quickly and easily. Its your job to take the time to put together a nice page describing all this.
Lantana: NaPoWriMo 23 - Mariacristina
I really mean to stop by her site and tell her this, but this piece really reminds me of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, which I liked as well.
Lantana
is a miniature town carved in rock high on the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Most Atlantans remain unaware of its existence, as Lantana perches along the eaves of the cathedral.
Waiting until the last minute - Seth Godin
In a nutshell: don’t.
Bad situations to wait until the last minute:
- Catching a transcontinental flight
- Asking your secret crush to the prom
