At first, I was baffled in too many ways to respond/react properly. I put all of these reactions in a jar, popped the lid. This article is total bullshit, frontloads "facts" to open the door to weak thinking, and generalizes an already over-generalized topic beyond belief. Yet, I can't help but share it, think about it, talk about it. It's so scary, even on Fox, because it was written by a woman, and people are Liking/praising it. A total shame, continued.
Shai Hulud, whose album That Within Blood Ill-Tempered is easily one of my favorite albums of all-time, is having tryouts again for lead vocalist, or as they put it a person to "channel the various emotions of our words and music through voice, intense physical presence, and visceral interaction during and in-between the songs." That's what I love about Shai Hulud; their music is pure emotion catapulted. Stoked for their new album with singer from-way-back-when Chad Gilbert (yes, that Chad Gilbert) (see video below). And despite my adoration for the things they shout and the big boom of their full sound, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the pulse of the demos available for free download for the vocal auditions.
Been reading Madness, Rack, and Honey, Mary Ruefle's Collected Lectures, and have been mondo-stoked by the wisdom banner she waves regarding poetry. For my future reference, I'm dropping some stellar sections here from the essays I've read so far:
"If you have any idea for a poem, an exact grid of intent, you are on the wrong path, a dead-end alley, at the top of a cliff you haven't even climbed." (p. 3; "On Beginnings") (I love how the extremity of this, the near-impossiblity of the danger of having "any idea for a poem.")
"Poetry and sex have this in common: they are the instant consumption of energy, that is, they do not accumulate, they do not have a value dependent upon the consequences of furthering anything outside themselves, though of course they can do that, whereas religious morality is always dependent on consequences." (p. 87; "On Secrets") (And that is why I'm drawn to poetry over religion and most other pursuits. Also, that is the reason I'm so sadden when people's faith in poetry becomes hinged on accomplishing anything specific, especially monetarily or ego-oriented.)
"We speak of secrets from the point of view of the teller or keeper, but what of the listener? What about the one who hears the secret? What happens to him?" (p. 100; "On Secrets") (Everything we do--tell a secret, write a poem, whistle out the window, smash a pumpkin on a lawn--affects someone else. Why do I always forget that!)
"Smoke signals are perhaps the most beautiful form of the letter ever to evolve. For what is a letter, but to speak one's thoughts at a distance? Which is why poems and prayers are letters." (p. 204; "Remarks On Letters")
"The greatest lesson in writing I ever had was given to me in an art class. The drawing instructor took a sheet of paper and held up a pencil. She very lightly put the pencil on the piece of paper and applied a little pressure; by bringing her hand a little ways in one direction, she left a mark upon the paper. "That's all there is to it," she said, "but it's a miracle. Once there was nothing, and now there's a mark." (p. 207; "Remarks On Letters") (GET STOKED THIS IS A MIRACLE ALL OF THIS ALL OF YOU)
"The great lunacy of most lyric poems is that they attempt to use words to convey what cannot be put into words." (p. 15; "Poetry And The Moon")
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