End of the Semester

So I guess it is that time of the year where everything is winding up. It seems like after Thanksgiving break everything has FLOWN by. While it seems to be relief that my other three classes are finally ending, Poetry is one class here that I will miss. I came into this class very unsure of what to expect; that is what was expected of me as far as creative writing. I was also worried about the workshop aspects as well. I found myself asking questions such as: how will people understand my poetry? Will I be able to take criticisms well? Will I grow as a writer? But after a couple of weeks of getting into the routine of writing poems about specific topics and reading published poetry, I found myself at ease with my own writing as well as interpreting other people’s poetry. One of the most beneficial aspects about this class was being able to communicate with peers about our poetry in a positive environment. Although it seemed that people were a little bit more reserved in the beginning, everyone seemed to open up very well towards the end. I do feel that I also learned firsthand from Theo about how professional writers work. This class served as a great introductory course for poetry writing, as well as creative writing.

politics of hunger

I attended the poetry reading some time ago called politics of hunger. I wasn't sure quite what to expect out of the reading and what sorts of poems people would find to fit the topic. It ended up being really interesting. I think the aspect of the reading that makes it the most memorable for me is the fact that it was on the Wednesday the day after the election. Everyone who read just could not say enough about the change that is happening and how our country is heading in a new and good direction. There was a great variety of people reading, some professors, community members, and students. There were two separate people who read in different languages, which bothered me at first because the majority of the people, myself included, couldn't understand, but I ended up liking it. These people were sharing how they felt about politics of hunger, using who they are to get it across. It also sounded really beautiful, especially if I just closed my eyes and listened. Another man went up and read an ars poetica, which is funny because we started talking about them the next day, or very soon after. I remember that he went up and said that he thinks that everyone should have an ars poetica. Well, I will have a completed one very soon.

And this is a pig you don't need to see.

My Mum sent my roommate and I a package full of little wrapped presents and chocolates. I opened one this morning and got a mini anteater named “Antsy”.
“Beatitude Anthology” is sitting on my desk as I write. It’s a bizarre old poetry book. One of my favorite stanzas:
“I dreamt
& saw her face in a hothouse sequence
kiss my loins & steam my ears .
I remember she had a big nose . O
The grief burned sadly, like the leaves
On that street in Rockville Center”
-David Meltzer
There’s a poet named simply “Jo” in the credits. She writes sweet little poems that are spread out all across the page. They’re a little cliché, but somehow sincere.
I’d really like to be an artist or a poet but 1) what if I run out of material and I can’t find the wire of inspiration ever again? 2)……
This all sounds too whiney, I’m moving on.
Instead of buying tissues, I use toilet paper rolls out of the bathroom. Antsy’s tail fits neatly into the center of the roll. His snout points straight up, sniffing my room for even tinier ants.
I wish I could leave on Monday but I think I’ll have to wait until Wednesday. I love doing laundry. I want to do everyone’s laundry on my floor. I bet I could do that in two days. The laundry rooms are always busy but I could practically live down there if I don’t have classes. The trouble is, I only know around two people on my floor and that’s not nearly enough laundry.

Break posting, uploaded late

Blog over break

I sure hope I read something in the next couple days! I was on my bum all weekend and I got out of the gates running today. I’ve done more work than I usually do in one day already. I brought one book home, but I’m just not amped on it… It’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” all the reports are good, but it just moves so slowly. Oh well. Reading is hard for me at school, normally I read a ton, but when I am studying it can take a lot of the fun out of reading. I am a social person, so I can’t balance work, friends, and reading for pleasure at all.

Still, how fortunate are we to be able to read for pleasure? That is a blessing not many people in history have had, and I don’t for a second take it for granted. I almost wish I could write a book but I don’t know what it would be about. Maybe a biography, a fictional biography, about a nun. I hope I can eventually learn to figure out something descriptive like Tom Robbins style. He’s definitely my favorite writer. Definitely different.

ars poetica

Before this class, I had never even heard the words  "Ars Poetica". So, this concept is pretty new to me. I have written two very different ars poeticas. I wrote one that was more of a biography about myself than a reason I write poetry. It talked about this semester and the events that have occurred and how everything has affected my person, myself. The other one I wrote in class when we had the last half hour to do so. It talked more about my poetry and who my poems were meant for. It talked about the things I find important in my life and why I write about what I do. Now that I have looked over these, it is difficult to decide which ars poetica to use. How do you know? It is really hard to capture everything you want to about yourself in only thirty or so lines. But, at the same time, it would not be a better poem if it were to be one hundred lines, I think it would just ramble. So, I need to decide what I think makes an ars poetica important and what would benefit reading my portfolio. Tough call.

Good luck everyone on the last week of class and finals!

coconutshell limbs

I am in the process of major revision of three poems. It’s much easier than I thought it would be. I was thinking about adding endings or visual accompaniment to a work of art and how permanent that always feels. For example, reading the end of the Harry Potter series made all of the possible ending I had in my head conform to the ending that J.K. Rowling wrote. Similarly, when I saw the first Harry Potter movie, the actor who played Hagrid became what Hagrid looked like in the books even though I had a very different picture of him in my head when I began the trilogy. I find it a bit sad that literary creations are the product of someone’s mind that is somehow untouchable by other people. Anything that is written down (besides purely factual documents) is made in someone’s mind. The outcome of story is made-up. So, why is my ending any less true than the author’s ending? Why is my image of a character less correct than the author’s image? Sure, it’s their work, but if the characters are to exist in my mind as well as in the author’s, then I can manipulate them as much as the author. This thought led to the thought that poems really can end in anyway that the audience wants them to. If the audience is willing to abandon the belief that an actual event exists on the page, then the meaning can change without guilt or constraint…but perhaps that’s not possible. We like our stories and trust our storytellers.

writing the poems...

How do you guys start writing your poems? When Theo gives us guidelines for a poem in class or as an assignment, I feel like I write a beginning line of five different poems each time, then pick the one that I like best. I do not have a problem thinking of a subject or some theme to write about, but I can never seem to actually write about it - I can't get the words on paper. In class sometimes I will write a line that I think could make an interesting poem, but then later I don't know where to go with it. I think my problem is that I try to tell a story. It's instinct. Looking back at my poems, they are all stories. But poems aren't stories, are they? I think Mr. Moss would say "no."
This gives me a new respect for poets. it shows that some people just have a mind for poetry. All my stuff starts and ends in the same place. Regardless of how I feel about the person, I would be open to any comment by a published poet. Stan Moss, for example, didn't strike me as the most reliable of sources regarding world history or his own history for that matter, but his work speaks for itself.

poetry for peace

So I went to poetry for peace last night and heard some interesting poems. The theme was gratitude and many made some good points. The theme also went along with Thanksgiving which was cool. A few dealt with what you should be thankful for. And it pretty much came down to be thankful for the hardships in life, mainly because they make you stronger. I though it was nice that people have been embracing the good as well as the bad. After all, I think you learn a lot about yourself when you are facing a challenge. It kinda makes you grow as an individual, and I guess make you a more understanding person. Like the more you have been through, the more you can understand situations of others. It gives you a connection to others. I am not sure of the exact lines but it was something like life should be "healthy, strong, and beautiful as a poem." It was cool to see someone's definition of what a poem should be. I thought that the line was slightly vague too though. I mean what exactly is beautiful? This makes me think of Ashbery's poem for today. That as readers we all have our own interpretation of a poem and the poet writes, hoping for a certain interpretation I guess. I think that's the part of poetry I think the best. There are no right or wrong answers. It is simply what you think and that really isn't set in stone either. You are always allowed to change your mind.

last couple weeks!

We are almost there- only two and a half more weeks of school and then we have the entire month off. I went to the library the other day and I have never seen it so crowded. It is pretty hilarious/depressing how everyone floods into the library for the last few weeks. It would be really nice if teachers paced our work throughout the semester so we didn't have to spend the last two weeks staying up late to finish final papers, big presentations and all that other wonderful stuff. 

In response to Erin's post, I am having the same difficulties. I write all of my poems in a certain mindset and in one period of time. It is really hard to try to get back into the exact same mood or situation as when you wrote your original poem. I am not quite sure how to go about it either. Any ideas for revision strategies?

Class Today

After reading and discussing Frank O'Hara's "Why I Am Not a Painter" in class today, I immediately thought if my sister and me. I received no artistic genes whatsoever, whereas one of her majors is art. She is fabulous. (In 10th grade she was told to continue art, I was told I should...probably stop after that year..ouch.) Anyway, I love looking at her art because its almost foreign to me- I don't know how she did it, or where she got the idea, or how she knew what tools to use to create it. It makes me, literally, wish I was a painter/artist, etc. On the other hand, I'm the writer of the two. I'm not saying that she doesn't write or that shes not good at it...or even that I'm good at it, its just that she prefers art while Id rather write. She sometimes reads my writing (not necessarily my poems, more of the stuff from Techniques of Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction) and laughs at my sarcasm and wonders how I came up with some of the titles, phrases, etc that I use. We wonder about each others work, yet at the same time I do, in a sense, paint with words. Writing is a form of art, just not the traditional form people expect "art" to be. Art is also another form of writing- so much can be inferred or told just by looking at a piece of artwork. She tell stories through her artwork and it evokes certain feelings from people observing it, just as writing evokes feelings too. I enjoyed our class discussion of that piece.