Fiery?

2011-06-06

I read a blog post the other day referring to Emily Dickinson as “the fiery redheaded poet”. I found that odd, as I never thought of Dickinson of being all that fiery. Interesting and complex, yes. But not fiery….I think it’s the pictures of her with the bun thing going on. It’s hard to be fiery when you’re dressed up like a school marm.

maximus prime... autobot poet?

2011-06-06

Ok, Charles Olson wasn’t a robot. I just couldn’t keep my fingers off the keys. Olson spent the last ten years of his life writing the Maximus Poems; dying before finishing the project. I think that I would be happy if I could produce something even half as fine in my life time. The way he uses space on the page to build tension in the poem is as valuable as the words. That’s the lesson he taught me from beyond the grave.

Memorial Anthem

2011-05-30

“War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means.” –Carl von Clausewitz “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” –William Tecumseh Sherman Although they both are right, I find Sherman to be quite a bit more human. Yet even he manages to fall short because I think that war is one of those situations where words fail. We can call war “hell”, but does that really encompass the horror, agony, tragedy, and loss that war entails?

does writing poetry count as a superpower?

2011-05-23

Over the weekend I was having a poetry jones. Of course, all my books are packed away nice & tight (we’ve been trying to make the house look neater and more appealing in the chance that we actually get a move on with putting it on the market)… what was I thinking? I’m going to have to head to the storage place one day and dig out some poetry. I don’t have a lot of poetry books, maybe three dozen poets have made my hardcopy list over my lifetime. Those are the poets whom I keep close to me as if their works were some sort of force field against whatever worry or problem is trying to peck into my skull.

Millay for Monday

2011-05-23

A little tip of the hat to Ms. Millay who has the distinction of being the inaugural poet featured on Poetry Monday back on January 31st. OK, well maybe it doesn’t carry as much weight as the Pulitizer Prize she won for The Ballad of the Harp Weaver or the Frost Medal she was awarded. She does, however, have a special place in my heart as being the poet who started this whole exercise. I like Milllay; she makes me feel that the obsessive manner that I adopt regarding my relationships with the fairer sex is normal. Or if not normal, at least not totally uncommon. OK, maybe it is just me.