Next chapter in the semester

So far, as soon as I am moving on to the next portion of my semester schedule, something is already in mind to work on. This time it is the Epic. Having done sonnets and triolets in my first two packets, epic has presented itself for consideration, mainly in Jane Rawlings The Penelopeaia.  This book pertains due to its re-gendering of the form, from Epic Male Hero tale, to Female tale; also for its adaptative approach (taking an existing text and adapting it to new use). Adaptation is only part of the compositional strategy of the poet here - sequel,is more to the point. The book has the advantage of having corollary texts, such as Atwoods, Penelopeaid and the new first-ever Odyssey translation by Emily Wilson. These books will inform on the re-gendering project, as will Anne Carson's Orestaia.

Anne Carson as a poet is a secondary topic for this section. I have three of her books to wade into. So far, her poetry seems highly experimental and highly displined - rare.

I have stumbled into a new form in which I will be writing some poetry.  I'm calling it the Cyclical (which is more what is in it rather than what it is).  Its a 9 to 11 line stanza with a segmented "title" line and echoing end line in each stanza. It is a form dependent on abstraction, recursion and one whose content is reflected in the name of the form.  It also has one short line, line 4,5 or 6 and which uses more than one font color.  Pretty messy and under development.

Keep on writing

It's funny. I keep writing and never know which way its going to go or if its going to go at all. Did I just write something wonderful or something idiotic and worthless. Is it just a thin line? Don't know. Maybe the process should be: write 30 poems as fast as possible, then pick out the best one, then start again? I don't know. I'm sure that would work all right. It is sort of something like what I do anyway.

Poets galore!

One of the best things about this MFA business is increased exposure to poets I didn't even know about, like Kay Ryan. I should have known about her, since she was the Poet Laureate back for part of the Obama Administration, but didn't.  I really like her poetry which bends words around, is simple and has short lines. Very pungent stuff.

Some others are Ai, CK Williams, AR Ammons, Anne Carson and Amy
Clampitt. These are just a few, but they're all really getting to me.

I cranked out four poems in the last 24 hours, all of which are pretty obtuse, which I like.  On we go.

Another Day Another Art Project

so, another project: 100 micro poems on soap opera episodes

2 poetry books that are smiting me about the mind-fringe:

            Barbie Chang  by Victoria Chang
            When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz

Impressive.

I don't know, there aren't that many books of poetry that really impress me, but these do. These are like read and read again deals. Really way above other stuff going on.

I guess its enough

I keep thinking I'm not doing enough, but today I wrote up my critical essay on the triolet, wrote 10 triolets and a sonnet. I also read some mythology, some E.B. Browning and some C.K. Wright. Here's the sonnet - it's a kind of crazy, abstract, word sausage poem:

(abstract) Wind-a-Mill Sonnet

Shattered like a slatted treadmill scattered

Flustered, blistered, beyond all things plastered

Rattled as though they existed and stuttered

Meddled and blissed and then again scuttled

Battened as though listed, they were flattered

Wrestled through windfarms oddly flickered

Faltered as they toasted odd wind-a-mills shattered

Fluttered because misted and duly mastered

Knitted, busted whereof knew, they muttered

Pickled, puckered, battered, fattened, muddled

Shuttered, were it wasted, were it not puttered

Adulated though twisted until patterned

Mattered it not, glittered, glistened when erred

Sheltered to be boasted in the wind and flittered

Mythology, Will S, and Triolet madness

1. Myth1ology: at the library I found a 1932 Greek Mythology book that is quite good (the Greek Mythology by Duthie). I was looking for one like my six-year-old grandson, Matthew has. That book has a lot of charts, family trees and so forth. However, this one is quite good, very readable and the author goes God by God from the beginning. I think the topic of Greek mythology has been unapproachable for me because I didn't have an overall structure into which I could add knowledge. This book, I think will give me that. Then I can move on to Ovid, Robert Graves, et al.

2. Measure for Measure is the first late-period Shakespeare play I am reading. I am reading it in the Modern Library 2010 version by Bate and Rasmussen, editors. It has annotations, a good forward and useful essays. So far, so good. This is a play that is imminently relevant in the current #metoo era.

3. Triolet. I am working on a critical essay on the triolet and am working mainly from my own triolet composition. However, Thomas Hardy (late Victorian, early modern) and Patrick Carey (17th C) have much to recommend on the form.

2/6/18 a little distracted

we were so lost

I mean, I was lost

lost and found I was

always lost wherever

whenever I was I was

lost and I'm lost now

where am I?

Reading Troilus and Cressida by Geoffrey Chaucer, trying to get the rhythm right - its rigorous rhyme royal, Chaucer pitching some curveballs, not the straight and narrow iambics.

Richard Brautigan, Chaucer and unrelated items

Fellow MFA student Miles sent me a copy of Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar, along with a Jerry Garcia b&w post card for my edification.  I haven't thought about this poetic novella in awhile and hadn't seen the original hippie artifact paperback in longer, so this is a welcome sight. I emailed Miles that I would have to buy beverages over which we might discuss this blast from the past.

Rededicating this week to Geoffrey Chaucer. Tomas, my adviser, suggests seven days of Chaucer to fill my head with his poetry. That's a real good idea. I will hit some of the major poems, Parliament of Fowls, Troilus and Cressida, The Legend of Good Women and some of the short poems. I will also listen to my Canterbury Tales vinyl sound recordings.

It came to mind that I need to consult with Jill Franco on my gender re-imagining of In the Penal Colony. She has, no doubt, thought a lot more about this sort of thing than I.

Bad Book Club discussed Kung Fu High School, by Ryan Gattis last night, to great effect. We have three new members and the discussion has really gotten energized. Although Mr. Gattis seems to have had high artistic intent in writing this novel, it is Very Bad, perhaps due to a disconnect between that intent and the actual execution. He seems to have not integrated art and plot. I was predisposed to
like the book as he attempts to vocalize a teen-age female as his narrator, but does so quite unconvincingly. Props for trying, but dude.

Two new poems I am fairly happy with:

1. Cattle Mutilations Reported   
a externally-sourced-text re-composition. I worked this one around and around and around

and
2. Painting the Bridge
a spontaneously composed, formalist free verse poem that came to mind when I heard the Scottish saying, "It's like painting Forth Bridge" (meaning: it's a job that is never finished)

Encouraging Rejection E-mail

I got my first encouraging rejection email from Brevity.com. They said they really liked my piece that I sent them and gave me some tips on how it could be improved for them.  This is very good! However, this was for flash fiction not for poetry. But anyway, anything beyond just a form letter is a win, I think.

Sonnet!

I am starting to make headway on my sonnet book, which until further notice, I am calling 'broken bones'. I'm not sure why I'm calling it that, but it seems like the right title for now.  I want to punch it up, get it somewhat reviewed and submit it. I think there are around 70 sonnets in there. I know I have more, I just have to pull them up and fit them in there somewhere.  68 would be an okay number, as that's how old I will be later on this year.

All set on reservations for AWP in Tampa. I think this should be interesting this year and I will plan my focus closely. Likely LGBTQ, African American, Latino again. This year some focus on micro forms / flash forms and formalism, if I can find them. And whatever catches my fancy, like the Dylanologists last year.  I plan not to be as freaked out as last year and to pace myself.

The Usual Dilemma

I notice classmates are engaged in a different MFA process than I am. They seem to see preparing the monthly packet of work as something to get done quickly (get the ticket punched) somewhat more than I do. I look at more as work all month to improve what I am doing, then deposit the results for evaluation. (Relatively speaking). These are two distinct approaches.

This relates also to the quandary of whether to prepare work for a contest or submission versus do the work to get the best result you can and then search about for somewhere to submit (if at all). Distinct.

I note that people tend not to share their work with each other much, preferring their mode of communication to be journals, books, whatever.  Odd, I think.

Next up: Full Docket

I'm moving to the next section of my semester:

1. Poetics review (theory, principles, definitions)

2. MORE KAFKA (get to atomic level of In the Penal Colony, more thinking on translation and adaptation, structure for planned poem)

3. Sonnets Book Revisions and Organization

4. Aesthetics

5. Essay on Constraining Poetic Forms  (triolet, micropoetry, etc)

I sent the first packet for review to my advisor, Tomas and will hear back in a week, when I can add "Revisions" to the above list. I sent my first submission since starting the MFA. (3 poems: "Squirrels of the West", "J Harbor by day break" and "bonba atomikoa" to Tinderbox.  These three poems are very various.


I had a virus the last couple of days and note how it depressed the poetry output. (duh)