A lot of my more recent work has started with some sort of source text and pruned it, embellished it, rearranged it, “translated it,” etc… In short you could say that I’ve been working with altering texts. I don’t really feel any anxiety about altering these texts or about claiming ownership of their parts. The odd thing is that I do feel a marked level of anxiety in reapplying similar alteration techniques to the results of the first alteration, or to my own texts. As I think about it, this is really quite silly. Not quite sure of all of the implications at work there. I’m trying to work it out though, trying to butcher my own words with an equal lack of trepidation.
November 7, 2008
tactical achoo
Spending some time with older work, I came across an experiment that felt like it might yield some results with further attention. The original was a fairly lengthy (for me) homophonic translation. This is a method of “translating” that preserves the sonic component of the language while altering the actual words used. “actual words used” becomes “factual birds flew” or “tactical achoo” etc… Anyway, I had initial reservations about altering the text beyond the primary “translation.” This tendency to cling to the source text is a bit of an issue for me and something that I will have to look into later. After getting a bit of distance and returning to the work, it was apparent to me that the piece as a whole was not all that interesting, but that there were components that seemed to mesh well with the things that I’m currently working with. So I got out the metaphorical scissors and started to trim. Here’s what I ended up with… for now.
tender our wires
they get twisted
trees trimmed tart
and tap holes
appeasement of your
creeping norm
your prows and clocks
daunted time fawns
November 3, 2008
(slight return)
Clearly, I haven’t been using this blog lately. I’ve been schooling and working and polishing up my thesis manuscript, having very little time to read and even less to write here. So, for those few who visit… sorry.
I’ve been spending time with classical Japanese poetry this semester, which is mildly problematic for me because I’ve been trying to move away from the shorter form and now I find myself shoved right back into it. Certainly my work places a similar emphasis on the image laid bare, but so much haiku and tanka is bringing back the tendency that I have to “get in and get out,” not to spend the time in the poem that it deserves/needs.
A couple of tanka (5-7-5-7-7)
you admire systems
scapula built for scraping
a primitive tool
buried in your small shoulders
will you let me dig it out?
beside the highway
the jesus emporium
cranks its tiny gears
glowing neon tube crosses
churn the desert night to froth
August 13, 2008
munificent fricative mendacity thalia agnes
that’s the subject line I found in my spam folder today and I have to ask, why can’t all garbage be so deliciously constructed?
July 1, 2008
hey there
Just finished a first read of Aaron Kunin’s “Folding Ruler Star.” Liked it quite a bit. The whole thing is written in metric units (tercets of 5 syllable lines) and each poem is paired with another poem of the same title. I often find that these sorts of “gimmicks” get in the way of the work, but in this case the metric lines create a great clipped rhythm. Not getting the full effect of the paired poem thing yet, but then I definitely need to give the book another read or two as it is fairly indirect. The enjambment is such that lines occasionally run from one poem right into the next. Really mostly enthralled by the rhythmic success in the book, the peculiar feeling of propulsion. I hope to give a more thorough look into this book after going back through it.
June 3, 2008
stimuli
economic stimulus check recently took the form of a new electric lawn mower. feeling rather decent about myself for not creating emissions. not having to buy gas. avoiding the inevitable gas spillage when filling. less noise pollution (sounds like an industrial size fan rather than a small motorcycle). simply charge battery and you’re set to mow. old mower donated to ever grateful junk scavengers that prowl our streets on trash day. missing clippings bag but I’m sure it will be put to good use by one in need.
also stimulated economy by treating ourselves to a new digital slr camera. many bells and whistles for me yet to conquer, but hopefully some picture/poems forthcoming soon.
of course there were some books to be purchased too. round one was Jasper Bernes Starsdown, Aaron Kunin Folding Ruler Star, Daniel Brenner The Stupefying Flashbulbs, Arielle Greenberg My Kafka Century. more on the way (these things take time). will get down to some fierce poetry reading once I get through Mark Danielewski’s Only Revolutions, which is attacking me from angles I was not quite expecting. only just beginning though, so not much to say about that.
May 30, 2008
it’s here!
a time-out from the usual antics for a bit of promotion. an announcement for all of you book lovers. it’s official, the new Borders.com e-commerce site has launched and is ready for your business. I’m taking this moment to urge all of you to think twice before your next amazon purchase and consider giving your money to a company that actually runs book STORES as well. Borders.com has everything that you need, including a “marketplace” co-site for the ordering of cheap used books for all of you penny-pinchers out there. also, I highly encourage you to take the time to create a user account and spend a bit of time writing reviews of your favorite books. The site is yet an infant and intelligent reviews of books are necessary for the browsing pleasure of future shoppers. as a final note and in all seriousness, consider the implications of shopping with a company that exists solely as a warehouse and a website versus a company that exists as nation-wide chain of bookstores that prides itself on employing knowledgeable salespeople that also happens to offer a web purchasing service. do you see what I’m getting at?
May 16, 2008
not a poetry book
Nearly finished reading Dave Eggers’ “novel” What is the What. This book brings up an interesting crisis of “I.” The main character is based on an actual Sudanese immigrant/refugee, Achak Deng, who did many interviews with Eggers in order that Eggers could write Achak Deng’s story in quite a novelistic fashion. I suppose this is not so different from the idea of historical fiction such as The Other Boleyn Girl or Don DeLillo’s Libra. Yet I feel like the content of this book and the timing of it’s publications (during a span when several fairly successful memoirs have been penned by other Lost Boys which have all been presented as straight “history”) make for a certain level of discomfort and doubt about the factuality of its events. This is not to say that I desire strict adherence to the facts. In fact, I support the idea that certain things must be tweaked in the presentation of true life as a novel. Eggers’ book makes the claim right on the cover that it is “a novel” and also includes a disclaimer page written by Achak Deng that describes the process of interviewing that the two went through and reiterates that what follows is a “novelized” version of his story. Certainly a great deal of the information included in the book about the Sudanese Civil war is 100% factual, but there’s a strange sense of unease and mistrust when it comes to some of the personal experiences included in the plot. For one I don’t really want to believe in a life where that many distinct experiences with death belong to one man. I think the issue lies in the fact that these experiences in a work of pure fiction would be too much. The symbolism would be overwrought. The character would be unbelievable. Yet because of the ostensible factuality behind the story there is a sense of tension. A degree of unbelievability coupled with a sense of guilt and/or shame at the desire to brush the narrative off as being overwritten given the implication that such an act would minimalize the experiences of a survivor of a great historical tragedy during which you lived and most likely which you ignored or never heard of as it happened. An interesting place to be as a reader.
May 14, 2008
sometimes, i kill me
used the phrase “manufactured horticultural splendor” in a final yesterday. seriously?
