Showing posts with label Pete Davis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pete Davis. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
This is really something!
It's raining and April and I don't like it. If I wanted to be wet, I'd go swimming or take a shower. I'm sitting at a computer and it's National Poetry Month. Peter Davis is one of the more influential people on my early poetry days. He writes poems that make my brain warm and full of good-natured chuckles. Today, I'm reminded of Pete's goodness and this poem about water and reading poems.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
FOUR OF A KIND BY MARK NEELY: A RESPONSE
When starting this project, Todd asked me the direction I wanted to go with the poems for the manuscript, a question we returned to last week. We talked about series and themes, how they can add unity to a manuscript. Until this talk and the further thinking that evolved from it, I hadn’t really contemplated the importance of a definable theme or even style, assuming naively it just comes. Reading Four of a Kind by Mark Neely, I was reminded of the ability of a series to right away solidify a manuscript in some sort of a way. These poems, each titled things like “Four Accidents” or “Four Threads,” are constructed on the page in four equally-sized “windows” of text, two on top and two on bottom. Beyond being formatted and sized the same, the content of the poems, at once, hold their own as individual pieces but more importantly pull themselves together under each umbrella of “Four Somethings.”
Maybe the most, I appreciate Neely’s use of the image to play on and delve into the title. A sense of purpose unfolded as I moved from block to block. The poem “Four Fields” is an excellent example of such, as the first one begins, “The locust trees could hiss like snakes,/then still to painted leaves—the wind playing with its paper toys” leading to the first line of the last section, beginning, “These nights the silence has a human shape.” To me, throughout this poem, the associative quality, in this case nature-oriented, of each section pushes them together, while each still makes an impact of its own.
I think this complexity and unique design is what makes this a solid foundation for the collection. While I do very much enjoy the language and the content of the poems, I’m going to focus on the larger structure here, as it pertains to my process of developing this manuscript with Todd. Basically, I have two series of poems developing. One is the set that I’m using for this class, what Todd calls “The Stoked Poems,” where my voice is excited, often using caps, my slang, and energetic association (hopefully well). The other is “The On Poems,” which because of their stage of development and (GASP) simpler construct, I’ve decided to develop on my own, with some help from pals. These have a similar set-up to the Stoked Poems in general style, but they pay less attention to poetic sensibilities and more attention to the relationship between thinking and feeling as expressed in writing. Sometimes, I even feel guilty calling them poems.
There, I think I found it, my point to this post. When thinking about series, especially in the vein of the On Poems, but certainly in generally, I often wonder when something becomes less about the poetry and more about the exercise or the act of behaving a certain way on the page. Before I delve deeper into Neely’s book with this idea in mind, along with Descriptive Sketches by Nate Pritts and Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! by Peter Davis, I want to consider my series with this idea in mind.
Last summer, I started these pieces as an attempt to “calm down.” Often, I was getting lost in the “coolness” of language, and I’d end up with this emotionally-empty but (hopefully) cool sounding thing. When trying to correct it, I’d end up writing these thoughtful poems that were boring. The solution: state a simple topic of concern or interest, disregard linebreaks/rhyme/other poetic conventions, and simply merge the thinking and the feeling. I’ve written about 60 of these and I’m proud of maybe 40 of them for accomplishing my task. The concern I have is about the artifice of it. Of course, as Todd says, all poetry is artifice, but how does such an artifice become relevant, legitimate, and poetic? I guess I have similar concerns about the stoked poems, especially because a lot of readers won’t know me, and might think that this is just a ploy, not me really saying my guts sincerely.
Where Neely’s collection takes a step above simply being a series or exercise is the way the language, the construct, and the poems themselves come together. Though not always aesthetically pleasing for me, I appreciate his sense of the image, the sense of how things unfold in these little windows, which says a lot about the power of the way they are presented, automatically creating a balance in the purpose, the content, and the delivery. Most importantly for me, when together, these poems create their own image about the author, about the style, about the scenes laid out, piled together, that pushes this collection to be a true achievement in series writing.
Because of the descriptive style of Neely, I was reminded of another chapbook with a unique style and construction called Descriptive Sketches by Nate Pritts. On the acknowledgements page, Pritts explains that “each sketch is a haze of language built out of the first line” with the point “to explore the tensile strength of language itself.” While I certainly appreciate that attempt and style as an exercise, these pieces together as a chapbook of poems clashed with my understanding of what makes a solidified work.
Maybe it is a result of differences in aesthetics, though I certainly love other poems of Pritts, I feel that these poems run their course and lose their uniqueness only a few poems in. This is not to say the writing or the language exploration is bad. Here, I am talking about how a series comes together. Looking at the first and last of the bunch might help this point. The first one begins with an onslaught of autumn-devolving-into-winter imagery:
This continues for four more stanzas. Certainly, the ability to refigure language in this way is notable, but when the last one, and the ones in between, look, feel, and resonate so similarly, it is difficult to grasp onto the collection as a whole, as in the beginning of the last one:
While certainly the content and even diction is different, the result for me, merely thinking about how the poems work together does not illicit any sort of overall response from me as a reader, a fear I constantly have with my poems.
Neely’s book on the other hand sticks with me because of how the stark images and underlying emotion are framed within the artifice of the series in a way that lets them breath their own life, but are even stronger in such a contained series.
This reminds me of Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! by Peter Davis. With all poems titled “Poems Addressing…”, everything from Babies to People Who Read My First Book Of Poems, so Are Checking This Out, Davis comes at the audience in a straight forward way that at first can seem unpoetic and plain.
However, what makes this book so impactful for me is the unrelenting assault on the reader of this back and forth between the deeper emotions Davis expresses and the humor as the guise. For instance, several poems address people, such as universities or reviewers, that Davis is seeking approval and recognition from. While the style and the series makes this humorous, the underlying emotion is astounding. When these are packed and repeated in a full length collection, the quality and the quantity of emotional honesty breaks through the humor, creating a lasting set of poems.
I suppose my point with this post is to not necessarily criticize Pritts, as he did do some cool things in those sketches, or point to Davis’ or Neely’s books as any revolutionary works. Rather, they all three are helping me deal with coming to grips with my project, the focus of it, and how I can improve it to make the lasting impression on the readers that I want.
Maybe the most, I appreciate Neely’s use of the image to play on and delve into the title. A sense of purpose unfolded as I moved from block to block. The poem “Four Fields” is an excellent example of such, as the first one begins, “The locust trees could hiss like snakes,/then still to painted leaves—the wind playing with its paper toys” leading to the first line of the last section, beginning, “These nights the silence has a human shape.” To me, throughout this poem, the associative quality, in this case nature-oriented, of each section pushes them together, while each still makes an impact of its own.
I think this complexity and unique design is what makes this a solid foundation for the collection. While I do very much enjoy the language and the content of the poems, I’m going to focus on the larger structure here, as it pertains to my process of developing this manuscript with Todd. Basically, I have two series of poems developing. One is the set that I’m using for this class, what Todd calls “The Stoked Poems,” where my voice is excited, often using caps, my slang, and energetic association (hopefully well). The other is “The On Poems,” which because of their stage of development and (GASP) simpler construct, I’ve decided to develop on my own, with some help from pals. These have a similar set-up to the Stoked Poems in general style, but they pay less attention to poetic sensibilities and more attention to the relationship between thinking and feeling as expressed in writing. Sometimes, I even feel guilty calling them poems.
There, I think I found it, my point to this post. When thinking about series, especially in the vein of the On Poems, but certainly in generally, I often wonder when something becomes less about the poetry and more about the exercise or the act of behaving a certain way on the page. Before I delve deeper into Neely’s book with this idea in mind, along with Descriptive Sketches by Nate Pritts and Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! by Peter Davis, I want to consider my series with this idea in mind.
Last summer, I started these pieces as an attempt to “calm down.” Often, I was getting lost in the “coolness” of language, and I’d end up with this emotionally-empty but (hopefully) cool sounding thing. When trying to correct it, I’d end up writing these thoughtful poems that were boring. The solution: state a simple topic of concern or interest, disregard linebreaks/rhyme/other poetic conventions, and simply merge the thinking and the feeling. I’ve written about 60 of these and I’m proud of maybe 40 of them for accomplishing my task. The concern I have is about the artifice of it. Of course, as Todd says, all poetry is artifice, but how does such an artifice become relevant, legitimate, and poetic? I guess I have similar concerns about the stoked poems, especially because a lot of readers won’t know me, and might think that this is just a ploy, not me really saying my guts sincerely.
Where Neely’s collection takes a step above simply being a series or exercise is the way the language, the construct, and the poems themselves come together. Though not always aesthetically pleasing for me, I appreciate his sense of the image, the sense of how things unfold in these little windows, which says a lot about the power of the way they are presented, automatically creating a balance in the purpose, the content, and the delivery. Most importantly for me, when together, these poems create their own image about the author, about the style, about the scenes laid out, piled together, that pushes this collection to be a true achievement in series writing.
Because of the descriptive style of Neely, I was reminded of another chapbook with a unique style and construction called Descriptive Sketches by Nate Pritts. On the acknowledgements page, Pritts explains that “each sketch is a haze of language built out of the first line” with the point “to explore the tensile strength of language itself.” While I certainly appreciate that attempt and style as an exercise, these pieces together as a chapbook of poems clashed with my understanding of what makes a solidified work.
Maybe it is a result of differences in aesthetics, though I certainly love other poems of Pritts, I feel that these poems run their course and lose their uniqueness only a few poems in. This is not to say the writing or the language exploration is bad. Here, I am talking about how a series comes together. Looking at the first and last of the bunch might help this point. The first one begins with an onslaught of autumn-devolving-into-winter imagery:
this spinning snow fall leaves scattered bird bright in grey
bright leaves scattered spinning fall snow this bird in grey
snowfall in grey this bird spinning scattered leaves bright
This continues for four more stanzas. Certainly, the ability to refigure language in this way is notable, but when the last one, and the ones in between, look, feel, and resonate so similarly, it is difficult to grasp onto the collection as a whole, as in the beginning of the last one:
I am right now more than ever feeling again
I am feeling again right now more than ever
again more now feeling I am ever right than
While certainly the content and even diction is different, the result for me, merely thinking about how the poems work together does not illicit any sort of overall response from me as a reader, a fear I constantly have with my poems.
Neely’s book on the other hand sticks with me because of how the stark images and underlying emotion are framed within the artifice of the series in a way that lets them breath their own life, but are even stronger in such a contained series.
This reminds me of Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! by Peter Davis. With all poems titled “Poems Addressing…”, everything from Babies to People Who Read My First Book Of Poems, so Are Checking This Out, Davis comes at the audience in a straight forward way that at first can seem unpoetic and plain.
However, what makes this book so impactful for me is the unrelenting assault on the reader of this back and forth between the deeper emotions Davis expresses and the humor as the guise. For instance, several poems address people, such as universities or reviewers, that Davis is seeking approval and recognition from. While the style and the series makes this humorous, the underlying emotion is astounding. When these are packed and repeated in a full length collection, the quality and the quantity of emotional honesty breaks through the humor, creating a lasting set of poems.
I suppose my point with this post is to not necessarily criticize Pritts, as he did do some cool things in those sketches, or point to Davis’ or Neely’s books as any revolutionary works. Rather, they all three are helping me deal with coming to grips with my project, the focus of it, and how I can improve it to make the lasting impression on the readers that I want.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
JOHN FREAKING BERRYMAN + Smalldoggies Magazine + BEARDZ
John Berryman's Dream Songs were at this dusty little bookstore in Colorado.
John Berryman's Dream Songs quickly found their way into my hands.
John Berryman's Dream Songs enraptured me for two weeks because IT WAS GREAT and IT WAS CONFUSING.
John Berryman's Dream Songs tuckered me out and were set aside around number 280.
John Berryman's Dream Songs snuck into my American Lit class.
John Berryman's Dream Songs should be in every American Lit/Poetry class ever.
John Berryman's Dream Songs make more "sense" now, I guess.
John Berryman's Dream Songs, more importantly, were picked back up by me yesterday.
John Berryman's Dream Songs were finished by me yesterday.
John Berryman's Dream Songs still make my head hurt, but OH YEAH THE PAIN IS GOOD.
Find more about my thoughts on The Dream Songs here.
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It's probably no secret that I think Smalldoggies Magazine is one of the hot things around the web right now. I mean, COME ON, I do contribute to a column there and yesterday, a group of my "On Poems" went up there. IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH TO BE WICKED COOL I DON'T KNOW WHAT. That's a joke.
Smalldoggies Magazine main dude Matty Byloos keeps it real. There is a beautiful word buffet waiting FOR FREE. So much developing there and so much gonna happen. I'm so stoked to be a part of it (EVEN A TINY PART).
The Vouched/me/Smalldoggies connection came about after I posted this Vouch of Smalldoggies.
Since then, there has been a ton of cool stuff at Smalldoggies, like poems by J.A. Tyler and Adam Robinson, these interviews with old students by Mickey Hess and a bunch of cool reviews.
My favorite thing is probably this sweet interview with my bud Mel Bosworth. Full of knowledge and heart and cool.
CHECK OUT SMALLDOGGIES MAGAZINE BEFORE IT CHECKS YOU OUT
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Professorpal Todd is growing a beard. He is blogging about it. He featured me and my beard on the blog today (ALONG WITH PETER FREAKING DAVIS). NICE.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Influence
So, I found this poem in my "Completed" folder on my flash disk and I thought it was interesting.
Without checking the date, I can tell you that I wrote this around the time I read Poetry!Poetry!Poetry! by Peter Davis, due to the sense of humor and some of the syntax.
Also, this reminds me that I'll be giving the Christmas chapbook to my non-poetry reading family and friends soon, most of their first exposure to my work, and this is kind of how I feel, though maybe less rude about it.
Do you share your creative work with family and friends?
Instructions for Reading My Poems
This would be a good time
for you to open your eyes.
If you are a friend or relative
who thinks I waste a lot of time
writing these “poems,” then it
might be wise to take deep
consideration of my poems’ meanings.
If you are confused by my words,
read slower. Facebook me saying,
What the hell does this mean?
I might say idk. I might say I don’t know.
Any way, I think reading my poems
is the first step to reading my poems.
They are better than tabloids. If you
are a friend or relative, you should find
more use in my poems than in a tabloid.
If this is not the case, you are a bad friend
or relative and I’ve done all I can do.
Without checking the date, I can tell you that I wrote this around the time I read Poetry!Poetry!Poetry! by Peter Davis, due to the sense of humor and some of the syntax.
Also, this reminds me that I'll be giving the Christmas chapbook to my non-poetry reading family and friends soon, most of their first exposure to my work, and this is kind of how I feel, though maybe less rude about it.
Do you share your creative work with family and friends?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
IT WASNT FOR ME EITHER
Two New Things Of My Words On The Web:
Review of Peter Davis' new book
Guest Blog Post About Chapbooks
Review of Peter Davis' new book
Guest Blog Post About Chapbooks
Thursday, September 16, 2010
BACK TO BACK BOO YEAH
Tuesday, my bloof book pals Jennifer L. Knox, Shanna Compton, and Peter Davis invaded Ball State. My good pal Cody Davis got to kick off the reading with some of his hard hitting short poems. People laughed, people bought books, people talked to me. Three things that make me go WOAH.
Great things are happening for the Bloofers. They are on the road right now for their new books. Shanna has a new chapbook that is a pretty little thing and is a teaser for her new book out early next year. Jennifer tore down the house with her "slam poem" from her sweet book A Gringo Like Me. Also, it was great to hear her read from her new book, The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway. Those neat pages are sitting on my shelf, waiting on things to slow down. And Pete, oh Pete, with another reading from his new book Poetry!Poetry!Poetry!, delivered his usual stuff, a heartfelt, funny, and cool reading. They all ruled it for real.
I AM ON THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY BLOG. WHAT?!
Then last night, I was still reeling from all that coolness and Sara and I drove down to Bloomington for the evening to see No Age (along with Osteoferocious and this other band I won't talk about because I was bored and don't remember anything.) Osteoferocious, besides being pals of mine and having a sweet band name, do some pretty mean No Age-influenced jams, short, clanky, and fun. They real brought it last night. And then, No Age, I mean really, oh really, these guys, with their electronics, and their lead singer-drumming, front and center. IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT HONEST. Their first full-length just rules and I listen to it regularly and the minute I got the Facebook event invite I RSVP'ed. (SCHOOL NIGHT WHAT?) BUT I HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS GETTING MYSELF INTO. One thing I can't get out of my head is the confidence and the complete control they showed, especially the drummer/singer, seeming so flawless, so smooth, yet so intensely insane, while managing to howl and buzz his vocals the whole time. And in between songs, he would stand up and talk to people in the crowd or just laugh and joke. I RESPECT THAT MAN. They have a new album coming out September 28th (Shame on their label for not letting them bring it with them), and the new songs sounded so killer. Oh MAN I CANT STOP. WONT STOP. BYE.
Wait:
- I have some words to say about the new elimae and also a Kim Chinquee story at Vouched.
- The new Collagist is out!
- Next weekend is my birthday weekend and The XRA Fest. DANG.
Great things are happening for the Bloofers. They are on the road right now for their new books. Shanna has a new chapbook that is a pretty little thing and is a teaser for her new book out early next year. Jennifer tore down the house with her "slam poem" from her sweet book A Gringo Like Me. Also, it was great to hear her read from her new book, The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway. Those neat pages are sitting on my shelf, waiting on things to slow down. And Pete, oh Pete, with another reading from his new book Poetry!Poetry!Poetry!, delivered his usual stuff, a heartfelt, funny, and cool reading. They all ruled it for real.
I AM ON THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY BLOG. WHAT?!
Then last night, I was still reeling from all that coolness and Sara and I drove down to Bloomington for the evening to see No Age (along with Osteoferocious and this other band I won't talk about because I was bored and don't remember anything.) Osteoferocious, besides being pals of mine and having a sweet band name, do some pretty mean No Age-influenced jams, short, clanky, and fun. They real brought it last night. And then, No Age, I mean really, oh really, these guys, with their electronics, and their lead singer-drumming, front and center. IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT HONEST. Their first full-length just rules and I listen to it regularly and the minute I got the Facebook event invite I RSVP'ed. (SCHOOL NIGHT WHAT?) BUT I HAD NO CLUE WHAT I WAS GETTING MYSELF INTO. One thing I can't get out of my head is the confidence and the complete control they showed, especially the drummer/singer, seeming so flawless, so smooth, yet so intensely insane, while managing to howl and buzz his vocals the whole time. And in between songs, he would stand up and talk to people in the crowd or just laugh and joke. I RESPECT THAT MAN. They have a new album coming out September 28th (Shame on their label for not letting them bring it with them), and the new songs sounded so killer. Oh MAN I CANT STOP. WONT STOP. BYE.
Wait:
- I have some words to say about the new elimae and also a Kim Chinquee story at Vouched.
- The new Collagist is out!
- Next weekend is my birthday weekend and The XRA Fest. DANG.
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