tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15628918830246217122024-03-13T14:02:27.613-07:00The Inner MusicThe greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make. ~Truman CapoteMichael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-40517528802661421732018-08-15T18:38:00.002-07:002018-08-15T18:38:22.651-07:00The Poem's Skeleton<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most common way to think of form is as external, a
container that holds content, like a glass holding water. However, it is more
an internal structure, like a skeleton providing support and movement to the
various other systems that hang from it. So, form is not simply an external shape
but an internal frame, the support for all that is potential in the content and
without which the content would remain inert. Leonard Bernstein suggested this
when he said, “Form is not a mold for Jello, into which we pour notes and
expect the result automatically to be a rondo, or a minuet, or a sonata. The
real function of form is to take us on a varied and complicated half-hour journey
of continuous symphonic progress.” Form’s function is to take us somewhere, to
provide the means of progress. Without form, there is no movement.</div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-12645959274808047782018-04-25T14:00:00.000-07:002018-04-25T14:00:22.530-07:00How Poetry Makes Things Happen<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the past I was irritated by being asked what a poem
means. The irritation sprang from impatience. A poem, to me, is the most direct
way to articulate something for which there are no other words. To explain it
in other words is, in a sense, to lose what it means, which is not only an
intellectual quality but an emotional one carried by the rhythms and phonetics
of those exact words. However, I no longer find it an irritation but rather an important
question because I understand more fully what meaning itself is. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meaning is the definition of a relationship. Meaning is not
just what something is in a vacuum but what it is in a universe of interactions
and interconnections. Those interactions and interconnections are meaning. Think
of the implication of saying to someone, “You mean so much to me.” The idea is
that there are a multiplicity of connections you have to the person,
significances that resonate across time and space and tie your lives together.
This idea of meaning applies to every kind of relationship, i.e., to people, to
nature, to society, to family, to friends, to God, to every jot and tittle of
which you take notice. Our meanings, our definitions are our relationships and
they make up our identity and our culture. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When someone asks “what does a poem mean?” they are asking
really what are the relationships it is defining? It is precisely at this place
that the important conversations can occur, because how those relationships or
meanings contrast with our own are a clear opening to dialogue. They can
provide a way to enlighten and make connections. This is how poetry,
literature, and art in general can bridge gaps. We may agree or disagree with a
poem’s definitions, feel they are outdated, or find they open our eyes to the
realities of others. It is not only how we might learn from “Musée des Beaux
Arts” that suffering is common or from “One Art” that the loss of a loved one
is an art no one masters, but it is the consequences in the reader of what he
considers. So a white, suburban-born male might learn from Langston Hughes’
poem “Who But the Lord?” that his relationship to the police is very different from
an African American’s. Or he might learn from N. Scott Momaday that the American
government is sometimes selective in who has freedom of religion. These
realizations can come by discussing what a poem means, and those realizations
might lead to a desire to change the way things are, a desire to expand the
range of our humanity and expand the inclusion of our society, edge our society’s
flawed image of itself a little closer to its ideal. In this way, poetry can
make something happen.</div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-55080573323096916802018-04-03T13:52:00.001-07:002018-04-03T13:52:37.097-07:00Reflection on Language<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Language is not simply communication, it is also manipulation.
This is true of all language because when we guide someone through language to
understand something as we do, we are devising a kind of map that guides the
listener to the point. We are, through intent and skill, managing what is and
is not perceived. The difference between this and something we might call
propaganda is only the difference of intention behind that guidance. It is what
Keats sensed when he said, “We hate poetry that has a palpable design upon us.”
It is what Orwell understood when he said, “All art is propaganda.” Thus the
language in everything from a poem to a casual conversation carries in its
nuances the potential to free or ensnare our humanity. Those who do not respect
that power have the potential to misuse it, while those who do not respect
humanity have the potential to abuse it. The former is ignorance; the latter is
evil. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-84967715378585397122018-03-07T14:31:00.003-08:002018-03-07T14:31:58.879-08:00The Will to Be Lucid<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Camus has a phrase that I love. It is “the will to be lucid.” Lucidity, clarity is not automatic; we must activity pursue it. That is, for me, what poetry is: a will to be lucid. People sometimes have difficulty with poetry because they find it more like an uninviting puzzle. Yet a poet, in his pursuit, is always after clarity. It is not mathematical clarity or logical clarity, but the clarity of shedding light on things often left unsaid and, therefore, not easily said. Those times you feel something but just can’t get it into words, those moments you know something but can’t articulate exactly what it is you know. Sometimes it’s a failure on our part to know the words that exist; sometimes it’s because no one has ever articulated that particular feeling or experience or knowledge before. Poets are always grasping for that. We are striving to give “to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.” In all this struggle for words, this struggle with language, it is a struggle toward clarity.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
George Oppen: from “Route”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful<br />thing in the world,<br />A limited, limiting clarity</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I have not and never did have any motive of poetry<br />But to achieve clarity</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Poetry, like all other arts, is about connections: connecting people to their environment and each other through meaning, because meaning is connection. Meaning binds the world together and poetry is the discovering, the disclosure of that meaning. As Muriel Rukeyser put it, “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” Confusion of meanings is an exploding of these stories, a severance that can create discord not only in art but in society.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Rukeyser: From “Ballad of Orange and Grape”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I ask him : How can we go on reading<br />and make sense out of what we read? –<br />How can they write and believe what they're writing,<br />the young ones across the street,<br />while you go on pouring grape in ORANGE<br />and orange into the one marked GRAPE –?<br />(How are we going to believe what we read and we write<br />and we hear and we say and we do?)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
He looks at the two machines and he smiles<br />and he shrugs and smiles and pours again.<br />It could be violence and nonviolence<br />it could be white and black women and men<br />it could be war and peace or any<br />binary system, love and hate, enemy, friend.<br />Yes and no, be and not-be, what we do and what we don't do.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Bertrand Russell described this another way. In describing modern physics’ relationship to matter he said, “It is the events that are the stuff of the world.” Matter is not as substantial as assumed in past philosophy and science; it is more events, relationships, as in music, the relationship of notes to create chords, and chords to create harmony. In this sense that confusion of meanings can even severe us from an understanding of the universe and plunge us into darkness.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Stafford: from A Ritual to Read to Each Other</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
For it is important that awake people be awake,<br />or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;<br />the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —<br />should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
Notice that “maybe” is among the clear signals given. Is “maybe” a lack of clarity? No more so than light itself that presents sometimes as waves and sometimes as particles, depending on how we look for it. Variable factors mean variable answers. Sometimes it’s “maybe.” The language of poetry directs us toward clarities in a variable, shifting universe, a universe flying apart, changing, a universe made of events and stories, yours and mine and how they interact. Poems thread those stories together, make a tapestry of our various colors and complexities. A successful poem is a crystallization of that will to be lucid that captures all the light needed to see, to focus it and present a path through the confusion, a music out of what was previously an oppressive silence.</div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-8499980204841128462014-12-18T09:27:00.000-08:002014-12-31T06:46:58.406-08:00 Interview with Essayist, Novelist, and Poet Okla Elliott<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWw8Kci4rLk/VI9aAkC9c1I/AAAAAAAAAcc/apHbywRD29o/s1600/okla_photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FWw8Kci4rLk/VI9aAkC9c1I/AAAAAAAAAcc/apHbywRD29o/s1600/okla_photo.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank you, Okla, for agreeing to an interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your new
collection of poems, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cartographer’s
Ink</i>, has such a wonderfully provocative title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if you could comment on the title
itself and the significance it has for the collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it meant to suggest?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I recall precisely when I came up with the title. I was
taking what I call a brain-walk, which is when I take a break from work and
just wander around aimlessly for about an hour, thinking through some movement of
a piece I am working on, or just wrestling with whatever political or
philosophical conundrum is caffeinating me at the time. That evening, I was
running through possible titles for the collection, just letting random
associations play out as they would. Then the title just popped into my head,
and I knew it was the title for the book without any doubt at all. In a way,
the entire collection is a mapping of personal, cultural, and literal
geographies, thus the cartographer of the title seemed fitting to me. And there
was something pleasantly undefined about the idea of a cartographer’s ink. I
imagined it as still in its bottle, on an eighteenth-century desk, textured
paper of an unmade map of some uncharted territory beside it. I know that’s
very specific and awfully Romantic-sounding, but that’s how the image came to
me along with the title that evening walking across University of Illinois’s
campus on one of my little brain-walks.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Birds show up in this collection in significant places, at
the end of sections and in the last poem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What do you see as the significance of the birds in the collection, what
they symbolize, perhaps?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: All of these dark birds and birds-that-aren’t-really-birds—but
rather bats or war jets—kept popping up in my poems for about a year. In fact,
I had to discard several poems because they got too repetitive, but my general
rule is to trust these unconscious or semi-conscious obsessions, because the unconscious
and semi-conscious parts of our mind are often smarter than the conscious
parts.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is
worth noting that no pretty birdies show up, only birds of prey or death. The
only colorful bird in the entire book is a dead cardinal, so it’s safe to say
these aren’t spring birds singing in the joys of new life, but rather autumnal
birds reminding us of death and human destruction. Not sure if that says
something good or bad about me or the poems, but it is what it is. There is
also something defiantly transgressive about many of the birds in the
collection. And they often have companions in their apocalyptic landscapes.
This suggests that even in a world in drastic decline, they are not without
hope, and companionship can help ward off the sufferings of the world. They’re
not completely bleak figures, in other words.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A number of the
poems, especially toward the beginning of the collection, deal with historical
events or confrontations with the past such as the poems “Blackened,” “Visiting
Lenin’s Tomb” or “Alien War, Human War.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What do you see as the importance of confronting these elements in the
past in the context of the collection?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: The geography I am mapping is partially personal, but it
is also cultural and historical. You might have seen one of the various
internet memes showing all the violent conflicts around the world over the past
century. If you haven’t, go find one. It proves that any cartography of human
culture that leaves out war and other historical calamities would be delusionally
remiss in its duties to historical truth and intellectual honesty. I teach
Holocaust studies at the University of Illinois, and my dissertation deals with
trauma centrally, so these are interests of mine, but we just have to read the
Senate Torture Report or any number of history books produced every day to know
that these sorts of events are ubiquitous.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> “Learning Russian (a Letter to My Schizophrenic Mother)”
says, “You’re not what I keep of you” and “Pointless Movement” says, “Our
patterned selves, playing at being ourselves.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over the course of the book, the poems seem to wrestle with the conflict
between our social or public self and our genuine identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you see this as central to the collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In what way?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also, do you see this as a general problem we face in our society: that
is, conflicting versions of the self?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">O</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">kla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Issues of the self are philosophically and psychologically
complex, which is part of my point in this book and other things I’ve written,
particularly in my creative nonfiction. The first thing I feel pretty certain
of—and there is very little we can be certain of on this subject—is that there
is no stable self. Everything from Buddhism to existentialist philosophy to
contemporary cognitive psychology bears this out. Our psyches are a series of
patterns always in a state of flux, however subtle or slow that flux might be—though
often it is incredibly fast (just think of the vast changes in our desires and
demeanors that occur during puberty).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is
why, when I hear someone say “be yourself,” I cringe. There is no permanent,
settled self for me to be. Even over the course of a single day, what I want or
think will change drastically. We are ever-changing projects, and the only way
we can judge our authenticity is at a given moment and in a particular
situation. What is hardest is to not feel beholden to past selves and therefore
stick to beliefs or patterns of behavior that are no longer valid for the new self
we are and the new selves slowly emerging on the horizon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If there
is a conflict between this flux of selves and society, it is that society
insists as often as possible that we remain one ossified version of ourselves
in perpetuity. If you change your taste in music, your style of dress, or your
political beliefs, etc., or if you ditch your religion, society tends to punish
you as being fickle or flimsy of character. So, in effect, there is a lot of
pressure to stay consistent in our patterns of self, even when those patterns
are antiquated artifacts of previous selves that no longer hold authentic
interest for us. I mean, how many times have you watched someone hold onto an
affectation that was part of his/her identity long after an honest interest in
it was gone? How often have we all done this?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pILDtv5UMQI/VJAu-EKhLYI/AAAAAAAAAdw/F9dBIKjJWTY/s1600/Okla_cartog_ink_cover.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="206" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Click the image to go to Amazon<br />to order The Cartographer's Ink</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nikola Tesla turns up in more than one poem in the
collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is his importance to
you and to the collection? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I began college as a physics and computer programming double-major
and remain an amateur enthusiast for science. Newton and Tesla both make
appearances in the book, as does science more generally. I think I like those
two figures because they were basically so smart it drove them insane, yet the
visionary way they approached the world was something almost superhuman. That
tension between the powers of intelligence and the dangers of it intrigues me.
As it turns out, on a related note, depression is much more common among those
with higher IQs. I think there are several explanations for this, but the one
that comes immediately to mind is that intelligence can alienate people from
those around them. I don’t imagine Tesla was invited to a lot of cocktail
parties for his gripping conversation, ya know? And he must have felt so
removed from the thoughts and concerns of others. Yet his vision of the world
was transcendently genius. It is that tension that interests me, and I also
like the idea of trying to understand the minds of such thinkers, to humanize
their technical and theoretical pursuits.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Many of these poems seem – as one poem puts it – “fertile
with bizarre need.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They seem to suggest
we are driven to sometimes dark places by those needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, they also suggest there has to be some
kind of acceptance of this, like the bat in the final poem that we are
encouraged to “make its future our own.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you see this embrace of or acceptance of the darker side of our
nature as essential to our survival or at least some way of decreasing the
violence in our world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Well, I would say that ignoring the dark cargo our species
carries with it everywhere isn’t going to do much good. As the self-help cliché
goes: you have to acknowledge the problem before you can fix it. As a person
who teaches Holocaust literature and does research in trauma studies and the
ways violence and suffering shape our lives, I spend a lot of time wrestling
with some of the more horrifying things humans have done to each other and
continue to do to each other daily. And even if we bracket the genocidal
horrors and constant wars and daily reports of rape, murder, and general mayhem
from every corner of the Earth, I find our species riddled with pettiness, greed,
scorn, and small-mindedness.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are,
of course, generosity and love and kindness as well, but I think any honest
assessment of the way the vast super-majority of us deal with our fellow
humans, and certainly how groups of humans treat other groups of humans or animals
(don’t get me started on our sadistic cruelty toward animals), would reveal
that we bring much more suffering and destruction into the world with very
little concern that we have done so, often not even being willing to
acknowledge we’ve done anything damaging.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, what’s
my point? It’s not that we have no hope, but rather that we have to admit the
depth and breadth of the violence our species has wrought on each other and the
world around us before we can make the proper steps toward correcting it. It is
only after we internalize the problem of homelessness—I mean really internalize
it on an empathic level—that we might volunteer at a soup kitchen or donate to
a homeless shelter. It is only after we fathom the suffering of animals that we
might change our habits toward them. Only after recognizing the victims of our
wars as full human beings who live full internal lives like we do will we stop
agreeing so blithely to allow our governments to bomb the hell out of them. In
effect, I want to show this stuff in visceral detail and get people to acknowledge
it on both the abstract philosophical level and on the visceral gut level,
because it is only by integrating our reason and our empathy that we have some
small chance of improving the state of affairs in the world and reduce the
amount of suffering that fills every second of every day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The main figure in “The Philosophy
Student,” thinks to herself, “There is no convincing proof that we have any
right to happiness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel this is
true?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, how do you see it in the
context of the darker issues addressed in the book: war, violence,
helplessness, etc.?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Given the situation of the character in that poem—her
brother is already at the Chechnyan front; the young man she has romantic
feelings for is about to be sent there; and her family is haunted by Soviet
oppression from previous generations—I was exploring how a deluge of horror can
alter the way we philosophize about the nature of human existence. Given her
situation, the philosophy student in the poem has deduced that our lot as
humans is unhappiness and that we can’t really expect much more. I am not quite
so pessimistic personally, though I see her point.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You are as much a philosopher as a poet; the influence of
philosophy is very much in your poetry with references to Kierkegaard,
Heidegger, Kant and others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside the
obvious references, how does philosophy influence and inform your poetry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see as the relationship between
these two fields?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Norman Mailer once wrote that literary writers are doing
important philosophical work because they operate on the edge of the language
system, and Martin Heidegger believed that literary language dis-closed truth
to us much more than rigid philosophizing. I take from their two statements
that the divide between literature and philosophy is not so great as it is
often assumed. The greatest writers—Atwood, Beauvoir, Dostoyevsky, Mailer,
Oates, Sartre, Shakespeare, Stegner, Steinbeck, Tolstoy, Wright, and a dozen
more I could name—are philosophers and literary authors in equal measure, or
there is at least a strong element of philosophy in their literary output. So,
I guess I see the relationship as being one of a large Venn diagram overlap,
where we of course have philosophy that is not literary and some literature
utterly devoid of philosophy, but the truly great stuff merges the two
seamlessly and productively.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: What are your favorite activities that have nothing to do
with poetry or writing?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I love to cook. I think it’s an unsung art form—and a
highly practical one, at that! I am also an on-again, off-again gym rat. I
really feel at my best when I am working on various projects intensely, and
then take a break to go fully inhabit my body via a punishing workout. And then
I get to cook myself a huge meal, since I’ve earned it, thus combining my other
two loves.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for your
time, Okla.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s close with your
favorite poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cartographer’s Ink</i>.
Which is it and why is it significant for you?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okla Elliott</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I have several that are tied as nearest and dearest to me,
and even the poems on that list change every time I think about the book, but
the one that most often makes it among my favorites, the one that if you put a
gun to my head and forced me pick just one, is “Alien War, Human War.” It has
political scope without being preachy (I hope), and I like the way the ending
forces the reader to finish the incomplete line about the “gnawing void of the
world.” Something seems very fitting to me that those words should be forced
into the spaceless space of a reader’s mind.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alien War, Human War<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><i>
written on the tenth anniversary of the Iraq invasion</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 1.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Death is an underwater bird,</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">not a bird at all;</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">an eel with wings. It is a metal
bird</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">loaded up with techno-artillery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">War, this war,</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">war between the eagle and other
birds-of-prey</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(different prey).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Death is depleted uranium,</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">radiating strangeness into the
cells of our victims.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">It is a strangeness we are all born
into,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">borne by all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It is a strangeness taking many
forms,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">natural and un-<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">in equal measure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Stranger still to be guilty<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">of murders we did not commit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 2.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Making ourselves alien to ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">we diminish all things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">That curve of a bell, the curve of
buttocks<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">the bell-curve normalizing us all,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">the image of a model’s ass that
makes us want<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">to find that image in the flesh of
the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Making others alien to ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">we diminish all things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The curve of a bell,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">the curve of a missile scudding<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">toward its living targets—<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">the curve of a line representing<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">fatality statistics over a six-week
period.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">When an alien dies, nothing human
is lost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">When we make others alien,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">we diminish all beings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">When the bird flies into the storm<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">it is gone to us. When the bird<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">swims into the earthquake<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">it is gone to us until
its perennial return.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 4.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The imbricated self, the implicated
subject.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The guilt-threads are tightly
knotted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Imbrication, implication—the nouns
sound<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">so alien, so Latinate<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I can’t feel my way into their
fact. Abstraction<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">alienates lived life. To make
others alien<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">we must abstract them to mere
ideas,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">not particular flesh and thoughts
peculiar<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">to them. To kill others we must
make them alien.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Murder, therefore, is an abstraction
abstracted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 5.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Our appetites and terrors fill the
gnawing void<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Our appetites and terrors fill the
gnawing void<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Our appetites and terrors fill the.
. .<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">-----------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Keep up with Okla Elliott and his work at his website: </span><a href="http://oklaelliott.net/"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">http://oklaelliott.net/</span></a><br />
<o:p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.amazon.com/Cartographers-Ink-Okla-Elliott/dp/1630450103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418735389&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cartographer%27s+ink</span></a></o:p>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-53322568637384332292014-09-23T18:28:00.000-07:002014-09-23T18:28:53.881-07:00Interview with Publisher, Editor, and Poet, Emily Vogel: Cat in the Sun Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-PidwPqOaQ/VBsZNRR-mWI/AAAAAAAAAZY/tyX9ozKxYII/s1600/emily%2Bvogel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-PidwPqOaQ/VBsZNRR-mWI/AAAAAAAAAZY/tyX9ozKxYII/s1600/emily%2Bvogel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-PidwPqOaQ/VBsZNRR-mWI/AAAAAAAAAZY/tyX9ozKxYII/s1600/emily%2Bvogel.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: Hello, Emily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thank you for agreeing to an interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Cat in the Sun Press is a new press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its first book, Micah Towery’s collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whale of Desire</i>, was published only at
the end of last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m interested to
find out why you and poet Joe Weil decided to start a press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What need did you see that prompted such a
large undertaking?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What void do you hope
the press will fill?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original idea for the press arose when Joe and I were
visiting with our friends Lucas Rivera and Sharon Zetter. We wanted to launch
an online journal and also each Joe and I and Sharon and Lucas a kind of
consortium. Sharon and Lucas named their press “Called Back Books,” and we
named our press “Cat in the Sun” because I kept thinking about our cat, Pushkin,
languorously sleeping in the sunlight. Joe had always wanted to launch his own
press. He was the editor and publisher of the journal “Black Swan,” and also one
of the founders of Monk Books, as well as various other low budget journals
over the years. One of the original intentions of the press was to curate “art
books” by painters or photographers that were also poets in their own right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: What in particular about Micah Towery’s work drew
your attention?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What singled it out as a
good book for the press’s debut collection?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>: We had been wanting to do a book of Micah’s for a while.
This was his first book, and we liked his poetry and thought it should be
recognized. We wanted to do first books as well as the books of well-known
poets with extensive publishing histories.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: What are your plans for the press?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you foresee Cat in the Sun Press publishing
a certain number of books per year or only as you come across those you want to
publish?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><strong>Emily</strong>: We’re planning to publish two a year---one in the
spring/summer and one in the fall/winter. We’ve just completed an art book
(with poetry) of Maria Gillan’s which will be made available on Amazon very
soon. (Since this interview, Maria Gillan's book, <em>The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets</em>, has been published. An image of her book is at the end of the interview. You can click it to be taken to Amazon.com where it can be purchased.)</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MFgluGARMCc/VBsbfPrbF3I/AAAAAAAAAZk/-vsawcxnBS8/s1600/Joe%2BWeil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MFgluGARMCc/VBsbfPrbF3I/AAAAAAAAAZk/-vsawcxnBS8/s1600/Joe%2BWeil.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poet Joe Weil, cofounder<br />
of Cat in the Sun Press</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: Sorry to ask what may be rather pedestrian
questions, but I think it might be interesting to see what a poet and publisher
thinks on these things. What do you think is the role of poetry in American
society?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are our poets doing their
part?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not, what should they be doing
differently?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>: I tend to consider poetry that is being written today as
being circulated only amongst other poets. It feels very self-contained to me
(and almost “incestuous”) because from what I’ve seen the only American
citizens that actually read the work of living poets are other poets, who are
ambitious perhaps and seeking to emulate their work. I don’t see a lot of
people other than “poets” who are reading poetry. And if they do read poetry,
then they seek to compete with the poets that they are reading. Poetry has lost
its purpose in being an exclusive art that ordinary citizens admire and
appreciate. If my students (who are not English majors) have read poetry, it is
the work of dead poets, like Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe, and Emily
Dickinson. Good poets, and rightfully so---but in my opinion poetry has become
a “scene” which every aspiring poet wants to leap upon. It has, in my opinion,
become more of a business than an art. There are more MFA writing programs than
I can count on my fingers, toes, and my children’s fingers and toes (and
furthermore) and it seems to me an industry. Some even call poetry a “career.” I
write poetry, so I can tell you just how much I loathe the utilitarian “ins and
outs” of the poetry biz. Because I am a writer myself, I can tell you that I do
everything I can to stay away from this nonsense. Sure, everyone needs a
publisher, but in the meantime I’d like to muse upon the trees without
contingency and write well, and write out of something rhapsodic and holy.
America prides itself on trophies and awards, and everyone gets one because
this is an equal opportunity society. But which poets do we remember from the
past who are now dead? I can tell you from the romantics: Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, Keats, and Blake. That’s six. And how many so-called
“important” poets do we now have swarming our nation?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: You say that “poetry has lost its purpose.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is that purpose?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Shelley
said "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" in his
Defence of Poetry---I think he meant something quite different from the way
that poets see themselves in today's world. I think he may have meant that
there are (or were) very few poets that could rightly refer to themselves as
"poets." Wordsworth said something similar in Preface to the Lyrical
Ballads: something along the lines of the poet "being a very particular
kind of person." There are so many poets who are publishing their books
now that I think poetry has become too commonplace and ordinary---maybe even
mainstreamed? Poetry was once written by the drunks and madmen---eccentrics and
recluses. Now it seems to be written by any academic that writes well enough to
be accepted into an MFA program. When the business of submitting work online,
filling out applications for residencies, and collating manuscripts becomes
just as important (if not more so) than the actual art, I do think at least
some of the purpose gets lost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: What American poets do you see as great voices that
aren’t being acknowledged or, perhaps, even published?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>: John Richard Smith, a poet from New Jersey is one of my favorite
poets. Also Adele Kenny (another NJ poet), and Nicole Broadhurst, who writes
this really wacky and almost religious poetry, which reminds me of Ginsberg.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: What are the press’s current plans and projects?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Emily</strong>: For the fall and spring, we’re looking to do a couple of
art/poetry books, or collaborations. We also want to do conversation books.
We’re eclectic. We want to tailor our press to those voices of artists who are
damn good and sometimes don’t get the credit they deserve. We want to do
beautiful books that you wouldn’t dare leave under the passenger seat of your
car.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong>Michael</strong>: Thank you, Emily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will be a pleasure to see what poetry comes out of Cat in the Sun
Press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Chartreuse-Jackets-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/0991152328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411490237&sr=8-1&keywords=The+girls+in+the+chartreuse+jackets" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Chartreuse-Jackets-Mazziotti-Gillan/dp/0991152328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411490237&sr=8-1&keywords=The+girls+in+the+chartreuse+jackets" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rz2au0BSCgU/VCGfoMOndVI/AAAAAAAAAbk/qNbFYu-04Tk/s1600/The%2BGirls%2Bin%2Bthe%2BChartreuse%2BJackets.jpg" height="400" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Please click the image to be taken to Amazon.com<br />where you can purchase Maria Mazzioti Gillan's book<br /><em>The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-74465607439391234102014-09-09T18:18:00.000-07:002014-09-09T18:20:17.618-07:00Interview with Poet Micah Towery<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AYNpJ_DJQUw/VA3ocHud3WI/AAAAAAAAAY4/f3DVh1n9Prs/s1600/Micah%2BTowery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AYNpJ_DJQUw/VA3ocHud3WI/AAAAAAAAAY4/f3DVh1n9Prs/s1600/Micah%2BTowery.jpg" height="320" width="255" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank you, Micah, for agreeing to an interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your new
collection of poems, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whale of Desire</i>,
has such a wonderfully provocative title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wondered if you could comment on the title itself and the significance
it has for the collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it
meant to suggest? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I misremembered a line from my own poem, but it stuck. It
also seemed to evoke the whole gist of the book, the idea of largeness, the
appetites. Also, I like whales. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: The poem “It’s Not That I Don’t Like Charlton Heston,”
says, “who among you/would rather be understood than//thrown over my
shoulder/and hoisted to/the highest point in the city/with the thrilling fire
of bullets/from jealous fellows following?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This suggests that being desired is greater than being understood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel this is true?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you see this as significant in the collection?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Well, certainly that line tugs at those two possibilities.
I want to say that what we often desire when we desire is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to be known</i>. One could differentiate mere understanding from fuller
knowledge. In that sense, desire is bound up with true knowledge. In most
theistic traditions, bliss is the fulfillment of the desire to know, to be
mystically unified with the source of being.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your poem “On the
Closing of the Coca-Cola Plant in Binghamton, NY,” seems central to the
collection, bringing together both spiritual and economic realities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the end of the second section where
the milk men say, “You Coke guys eat more shit//than my dog,” made me think of
near the end of “To Elsie,” where Williams says that we are “degraded
prisoners/destined/to hunger until we eat filth.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your poem somehow seems to be the belly of
the whale: where we descend into the murkiest depths to recover that little bit
of light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you comment on its place
in the collection and its importance: what it addresses in the arc of the book?</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Those 5 poems took me several years to write—most of which
was not spent writing but processing those feelings and experiences. In one
sense, they layer together various parts of my life and unify them in a way
that I can’t do outside of poetry. It catches the kind of strange feelings of
how I related to the other men at the Coke plant and how, in them, I saw the
ghosts of my family history. The connection with “To Elsie” is perceptive
because the whole series is unified around working with America’s best known
“pure products”: Coca-Cola. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The poem “Poem in Honor of My Own Birthday,” says, “I think
it’s clear I like/cold things, like the chilly offices/of love.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also a series of love poems in the
collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see as love’s
place in the collection’s progress and development?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Most of the love poems are pretty personal in the sense
that they arise out of personal experience. Because the book spans some 10
years, it’s hard for me to not feel there is some deepening/development of my
idea of love in the book itself. Yet on the more ‘cosmic scale’ of love, as a
Christian, I believe that “God is love” and, therefore, love animates the
universe itself: the awe of being, the unfathomable diversity of it and the
almost terrible creativity—unaccountable and unable to be accounted for—the
kind of thing that mystics speak of as both God’s darkness and light. I hope
there is an arc in the book in which the personal experiences and that cosmic
sense begin to meet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Roethke said, “I believe that the spiritual man must go back
in order to go forward.”<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>was<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>reminded of this because so much of
your work engages the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered
if you could comment on the importance of engaging the past within the
collection, referencing or engaging everything from Psalm 39 to Miles
Davis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel a spiritual journey
must engage the past in this way?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so,
why is it important?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I think it was Faulkner who said “The past is never dead.
It’s not even past.” I am a little obsessed with understanding how different
peoples conceive of time and what that says about their aspirations, their
sense of history and memory. We use the past, in combination with our
aspirations for the future, to construct our present. And poems are nothing if
not an attempt to be present, to present and make living a self for the world.
This is a spiritual act, a tradition of speech you learn from other poets. The
biblical Psalm writers, as well as contemporary writers like Michael S. Harper,
are powerful models for these modes of poetry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Your poem “Image of a snake striking the eagle while being
carried away,” ends saying “In this way/we rescue the light/from the
darkness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the collection seems
to be an effort to do just that, dive into the dark areas where light has been
stolen away and bring it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
reminded me of the old Gnostic view that the serpent was the true god who stole
into Eden to free Adam and Eve from the false god that kept them enslaved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you see this as an element in the arc of
the collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see as its
significance in the collection or in a spiritual journey?</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: The telling and retelling of stories creates an
interesting space for the exploration of truth and human recognition of it.
What I think is interesting about the Genesis accounts is that, taken on their
own terms (literally), they are pretty clearly redacted versions of
polytheistic creation accounts. In it, the divine figures are petty, jealous of
their prerogatives. Yet, at some later point, they became the cornerstone of
the major monotheistic religions. In that sense, the redactions are not a flaw,
but rather the very integrity of the text: evidence that people over time have
‘sat with’ the elements in the text and tested them against collective
knowledge and experience, recognizing what they saw as truths. I reject
gnosticism generally, but insofar as I think humans generally seek the truth,
there must be some genuine truth. I do think the ‘slow emergence’ of truth is a
theme in the series you mention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whale-Desire-Micah-Towery/dp/099115231X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410286370&sr=8-1&keywords=whale+of+desire" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Whale-Desire-Micah-Towery/dp/099115231X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410286370&sr=8-1&keywords=whale+of+desire" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-19ZeFvWvUOU/VA9C4cwegRI/AAAAAAAAAZI/xG2YKSQvnbE/s1600/Whale%2Bof%2BDesire.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to be taken to Amazon.com<br />
to order <em>Whale of Desire</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The spiritual<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>yearning
of the collection takes place in contemporary America with gas stations, a
Coca-Cola factory, Jazz, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do
you see as a particularly contemporary problem in man’s spiritual needs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see as the solution to that
problem?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: For some time, art denied the spiritual aspirations of
‘low’ art, art that didn’t fit class or race assumptions. Now we tend to
embrace low art but deny spiritual aspirations. I see this true in a broader
sense as well: the inability to recognize something as a spiritual need,
generally. So, for example, we look at unemployment as a social or economic
problem, but we don’t recognize that it’s also a spiritual problem. I think our
common discourse suffers from this flattening. We live in “a secular age,” it’s
true, but I believe we need to find a way to bring spiritual needs back into
the discussion. We can probably start by acknowledging that even in our diverse
and divided society we hold a lot more in common than we acknowledge. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This may seem a rather pedestrian question, but what
American poets are most significant for you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m curious especially because of the spiritual engagement in your
poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What American poets do you find
important for that spiritual engagement?—maybe poets you feel are important not
just for you but perhaps for our larger cultural growth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: It’s a really important question to me, actually. I have
to acknowledge some of my teachers--Joe Weil and Tom Sleigh, as well as
Christine Gelineau, Donna Masini, Jan Heller Levi--these folks put a mark on my
poetry because they actually explored it with me line-by-line. They also had a
profound impact on my spiritual outlook. In the scope of larger American poetry,
though, Eliot, Williams, Bishop, Lowell, and O’Hara, as well as Michael S.
Harper, Allen Grossman (at least as a poetry ‘theorist’), and Frank Bidart.
Anyone with a knowledge of American poetry will see a pretty clear lineage in
that list. I can’t deny it. To me, these poets model not just voice and style
that I find engaging, but also a way of being in the world and manifesting that
presence through poetry. Eliot really sparked my love of poetry. For a while I
drifted away from him, but after many years I’m coming back to him as a
touchstone. He expressed such strong critical opinions, and I suspect that
people assume a similar stance underneath his poetry (especially his
post-conversion stuff). But I find a profound ambiguity in a poem like “Ash Wednesday”
that doesn’t cut corners.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: What is your favorite poem in the collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is it and why is it significant for
you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I’m really proud of some of my poems--like my Horace
translation--as personal poetic accomplishments. But the poems I enjoy
returning to are some of the love poems to Jill. In my humble opinion (!), the
second is probably one of the best poems I’ve written. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Are there any prose works that have noticeably influenced
your work as a poet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you say in what way you feel this work or
works influenced your poetry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: Definitely Augustine’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confessions</i>.
That sense of inwardness, but also his willingness to use personal events to
explore profound philosophical issues. I love that he shifts from his last
memories of his mother into his deep meditation on the nature of memory, time,
and creation. When I first read these sections of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confessions</i>, I felt like I was seeing into the heart of the
universe itself. Further, Augustine is such an amazing writer that his ability
to craft a sentence comes through even in translation! I think his prose style
probably did impact my poetry on a stylistic level as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: What do you like to do that has nothing to do with poetry
or writing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Micah Towery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: I enjoy fantasy baseball. I also like to make wine &
beer and roast my own coffee. Cheese making is next on my list.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for your
time, Micah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s close with your
favorite poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whale of Desire</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span>Second Love Poem for Jill<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . . . </span><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">In Idaho</span></em><br />
<br />
Down at the boat launch, on the river that feeds<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> into Lake Pend Oreille,<br />
the slanted concrete slab still warmed us where<br />
we sat, and the mountains faded into the sky<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> as the train went by<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> to Coeur D'Alene.<br />
<br />
I stared into the clear and moving water<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> at the rocks<br />
until I saw how full the water was of fish--so full--<br />
such as the light--after a while I saw only <br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> the fish after the rumble<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> passed away.<br />
<br />
On that evening when we'd spent the day<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> negotiating, careful,<br />
you said to me, <em>I'm figuring out marriage</em><br />
<em>and you and figuring out me</em>, and the river<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> in its wisdom<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> said nothing wise.<br />
<br />
And the water glinted with the last light of the bugs<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> that broke<br />
the surface, and it sounded with the fish that ate them.<br />
And the mountains kept fading into the sky.<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> Then you said,<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> <em>I love</em>. . .<br />
<br />
and didn't finish. So we left the launch<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> and drove<br />
away, and the river echoed that <em>I love</em>. And<br />
afterwards, a moose began to wade across<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> the water<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . .</span> slowly.</div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-21109649942384907672014-07-18T10:47:00.000-07:002014-07-18T10:48:09.237-07:00Please take a look at my review of <em>In the Event of Full Disclosure</em> at The <em>Philadelphia Review of Books</em>. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" target="_blank"></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ONsRVBlwoxQ/U8lcvzQGLII/AAAAAAAAAYI/1P0wnBLylH4/s1600/Atkins+cover+final.jpg" height="400" title="" width="267" /><span id="goog_1839521198"></span><span id="goog_1839521199"></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" target="_blank">Click the image to be taken to the review </a><br />
<a href="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" target="_blank">at The Philadelphia Review of Books</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/" target="_blank"></a><br />
<br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-25090403733126091032014-06-03T10:10:00.001-07:002014-06-03T18:30:22.649-07:00Interview with Poet Cynthia Atkins<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CdvmQMW2Mw/U4y5ezA8L-I/AAAAAAAAAXY/HF5g6BQ-Il0/s1600/Atkins.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CdvmQMW2Mw/U4y5ezA8L-I/AAAAAAAAAXY/HF5g6BQ-Il0/s1600/Atkins.jpeg" height="320" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you, Cynthia,
for agreeing to an interview.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Many
have pointed out that your new collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
the Event of Full Disclosure,</i> is about a family dealing with mental illness.
I was struck by the number of ways the collection connects those familial
struggles with larger societal issues as, for instance, the way our tabloid
culture wants the dirt on everyone and the idea that completely confessing our
mental dysfunctions will somehow lead to a cure. Did you intend such
connections and could you comment on them in the larger arc of the collection?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I guess I see larger
societal issues as the threshold I wanted the arc of the book to straddle—that
fine line between public and private, the interiors and exteriors. These things
interest me and they inevitably lead to a discussion on how we exist in the
world as individuals, families and societies, and yet we exist in the world for
the most part, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alone.</i> We are still
seriously stalled in knowing how to deal with the elusive and complex problems
that arise when a family member is afflicted with a serious mental derailment. In
my case, both my father and my sister had debilitating mental health issues
that threatened the health of all of our relationships. Also, the whole mental
health system is very broken. I am hoping that my book can help continue the
conversation, and help allow some air in the room of stigmas and taboos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope the narratives and personas allow the reader
to experience from different tones, vantage points, and personas. In our life
time, most of us will know someone who is afflicted, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">or
we, ourselves will be dealing with instabilities of our own. Daily life is
stressful and complex, which is of course one of the reasons we go to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Art,</i> to help us disentangle the morass
of life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The opening poem, “Liturgy,” concludes by
saying of the unsayable thing it talks around that “It is the greed inside your
prayer.” The complications of desire surface in the collection in various
places. What do you see as the issue around desire and greed as it evolves in
the collection?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: “Liturgy” was
a key poem for me in the book, which is why it is the first poem, and it
addresses the first layer—the individual. For me poetry is the place I go to
ask the questions. This poem was speaking to the place between carnal and
spiritual life—our wants, our needs and our desires. I think being human and
growing up is realizing that these dualities are so closely tied together, and sometimes
it is hard to separate them out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
last line in the poem was for me a kind of revelation and it was a shock to me when
it came—the truth being that much of what we do in our lives starts from a
place of greed, pure human greed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again,
I think art and literature help us find redemption for this failing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>poem “Vessels” says, “All I learned and
forgot, tallied/and catalogued in the room beyond/the room of knowledge.” And
the poem “Birth Right” says, “Born to know that we’ll never settle our
accounts.” How much of the cure to anguish these poems seek is in accepting
that there is no cure, only a kind of reconciliation to the given? What
constitutes that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting that you make the connection
between these two poems. I think there </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is a thread that connects these poems for me in the idea of knowledge—and how
much of our knowledge is instinctual, rather than learned. While writing “Born
to Know” I was in the throws of watching my son learn how to read and write, and
thinking about the things he comprehended while I was reading to him. For
instance, when reading him the legendary bedtime book, “Goodnight Moon”
(Margaret Wise, Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd 1947), I was always
amazed that he understood that symbol of the moon—crescent, full, waning,
gibbous, waxing—he understood that they were all the moon. That seemed to me <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">instinctual</i> knowledge, rather than
learned, and I thought a lot about this concept while writing that poem. The
way in which we take in, learn and process the world around us, as well as </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
knowledge that we learn to catalog and compartmentalize. “I know trees are
meant/to hold the rain.” That image is made from the point where all these
things fuse and come together. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
am curious about how much luggage we come in with and how much is acquired
along the way. Of course the ultimate question we ask and wonder—do we come
into the world knowing we will die?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
will never forget when my 3 yr. old Eli asked me that, the hardest thing to
have to tell your child. I paused and realized that I had to answer and pop the
bubble at three<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>“Yes, you will die.”
But at that moment when he asked, I realized that he already knew the answer
for himself. I think we all come into the world with the crib-notes on that
score: “We are but skin about a wind, with muscles clenched against mortality.” ―
Djuna Barnes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In “God as a
Character in the Room,” it says, “where everything is dated,/nothing is
sacred.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The limits of knowledge and of
confession are probed throughout the collection. Could you talk about those
limits in the context of the collection? How do you see them in relation to the
anguish and trying to get at the truth?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our culture is at a strange impasse between commercialism and fast-food religion, in trying to sustain any kind of spiritual life in this climate of superficial hype a la reality TV and the branding of our own images. It is a strange time to be living in the vortex of science, politics and religion.
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Finding the balance between the material and spiritual realm is a challenge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have so many millions of pieces of
information coming at us all day long. Not to mention, the cadre of selves we
also have to keep up with on social media. In the old days, you were interrupted by a chance phone call, or the UPS truck, maybe a car alarm. Otherwise,
one felt truly alone. There is a place of complete solitude that I need to feel
to get to mechanisms that allow me to write. Sometimes it is several layers to
get to the bone, like the fat of the day that needs to be skimmed off. I feel
it is more and more difficult to feel this sense of self and isolation. We are
plugged into so many orifices, everything we say is held before a jury and
court, and our self-worth is measured by how many ‘likes’ we receive in a day.
We are bound to be taking a psychological beating and it is exhausting. Paul
Bowles said, “The soul is the weariest part of the body.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> A number of
poems indicate that language and writing are profoundly important. For
instance, “As Seen From Above,” says, “words/were considered monuments.” What
is the significance of writing and language in the context of mental illness?
How does it help or hurt? Can this be related to the larger societal issues
suggested by the collection?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: In working
with the subject of family and mental health, I was very interested in looking
from completely different aesthetic angles and conceits. For me as a poet,
language is my way in—images and words that allow us to perceive an object,
let’s say an iron, or a bowl from so many places, depending on the context.
Sometimes, I like to jettison narrative and let the language just play itself
out. I let myself off the hook, sometimes just wanting to be on the playground
with words, getting dirty, taking risks, failing, just having some fun with
words. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The poem “In a
Parallel Universe,” says, “On the other side of the mirror, we will be
stalked/by the lies we told.” The poem “Order/Disorder/Order” says, “Disclose
my unbearable/junkyard of mental debris?—No dice.” How do you see balance
struck between the need for limits on disclosure and the equally important need
for honesty?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It interests me that no matter how close or
intimate we are with another human being—no one can really know our minds. It
might be the last vestige of our privacy. Our lovers, spouses, kids, parents,
siblings—as close as we are tied by blood, semen, history and roots—we are not
kept privy to the real thoughts of another human psyche. In the end, it makes
me wonder </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">what
we disclose to each other, and finally, what we really disclose to ourselves.
Honesty is a very guarded enterprise and it comes at many costs. Not long ago,
I read with my students the essay by Stephanie Ericsson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i>The Ways We Lie<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">”</i> and I
found it truly fascinating to see how she disentangled the various ways we lie
to each other and ourselves. Striking the balance with my own writing has been
a high-wire act. In writing about family or those we know, we have to be
careful with the privacies of others in what we disclose. This is why I often
write through a persona. Readers may want to see the speaker and writer as one,
but this is not always the case.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank"></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HUvy8i9Yy30/U44AVGgqKPI/AAAAAAAAAXo/2Jx3TTlwN1o/s1600/Atkins+cover+final.jpg" height="320" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank">Click the image to go to Amazon and </a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank">purchase In the Event of Full Disclosure</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank"></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Questions of
identity, of course, play out in many of the poems. The most obvious is “Google
Me,” where the knowledge at our fingertips suggests that we are changing
ourselves with every search and with a right to claim any of those identities.
What do you see as the nature of identity in this collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does it relate to the other themes of
desire, disclosure, and the need to negotiate some way to handle the
anguish?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Id and ego are such close siblings. I teach a
class called “The Ties That Bind” which deals with the roles of family in our
lives—the quest of course is to consider all the things that go into the
composition of our own identities. For instance, I think it is endlessly
fascinating to think about the fact that in a single family, sisters and
brothers may be made from the same DNA, yet all turn out so differently, even
with similar histories, memories, and experience. Gratuitously, much of the material
from class readings, discussions and reflections on these matters has landed in
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Event of Full Disclosure</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As
I say in another poem, “anguish is harmful to live with” and “I’m wanting a
text book/on the matter.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These things I
say with some dry cynicism, but at the bottom, I feel full of heart about
trying to find the balance. Pain is painful, but it is the thing that makes us
appreciate happiness and pleasure. I am a strong believer in yin/yang—we can’t
know one without the other. Our identities are shaped by the good, bad and ugly
of life experiences. I know I am a composite of all of these fragments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: What is your
favorite poem in the collection? Which is it and why is it significant for you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Family Therapy IV” is a poem that for me
has resonance on a few levels. First crafting this poem was a significant turn
for me. Having the boundary of the couplets made me reign in and say what I had
to say in a more compressed and compact fashion. I felt an affinity for the
voice in the poem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of it as the
voice of ‘the doctor,’ someone who knows us intimately and
impersonally—detached indifference. I felt I had achieved what I was after with
the poem in music, conceit and subject matter. I still get a faint chill when I
read the poem, so it has held up to me in my own readings. I guess I have a few
favorite children here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Are there any
prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they?
Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your
poetry?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: In terms of
fiction writers that have lit the poetic fuse, I would have to say some of the
post-modernists—Luis Borges’ stories, Italo Calvino, Djuna Barnes were writers </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
was reading while writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In The Event of
Full Disclosure</i> (five years!), as well as poets like </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Amy
Gerstler, Sylvia Plath, Kenneth Koch, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Gertrude
Stein—many voices and bats in the belfry no doubt are lurking around. They’ve
all taught me something about language and meaning. The best writers make you
want to write. Rambling around in the attic of everything we write are these
archival ghosts, they leave us such resonant contrails.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: What do you
like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia Atkins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I guess I‘d
have to say visual art is my other passion—but maybe that has too much to do
with poetry and writing, as it is a great source for me. I think poetry and
visual art are much more related than poetry and fiction. There is an immediacy
and sense of time that happens when looking at art or reading a poem—a kind of
synesthesia that happens as all the elements come together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I guess this doesn’t really answer your
question, but on the other hand, not much has nothing to do with poetry or writing:
“The writer should never be ashamed of starring, there is nothing that doesn’t
require her attention,” said Flannery O’Connor. I guess the answer to your
question is watching my son Eli play soccer—he plays with such vim and vigor. I
have never been anything remotely athletic, so I really enjoy the way he uses
his mind and body together to accommodate the mission. It gives me a lot of joy
to watch him connect to his passion. But then, I just used a ‘goal post’ as an
image in a poem, so nothing escapes a writer’s wrath. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank
you for your close and passionate reading, Michael—these questions were seriously
penetrating, and they made me do some serious and heartfelt digging!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for your time, Cynthia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s close with your favorite poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the Event of Full Disclosure</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Family
Therapy (IV)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
is the thing we always fail</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
mention on all the forms—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
despotic voices dancing off </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
charts, and on the trail</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
our acrid ancestors, haphazard </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
lorn, sniffing us out like cadaver dogs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Our
chromosomes flirting</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">on
the cordless phone—Deceases of the heart</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
kidney are just the body’s bric-a-brac.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Incorporeal
or obscene?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are the doctor’s worst</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">unexplained
nightmare. And we never speak</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
the Endocrine glands—Unsavory</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">secretions
passed down like the heirloom</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">nobody
even wants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are a Rogue nation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">No
country or comfort zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inhospitable
bedrooms,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">where
our parents detonated bombs, blamed</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
groping in-laws. Our family trait is to remember</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">only
the good times, like a last blown kiss</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">at
the door—But more like a breath</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">blown
over a bottle, forever haunting</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
offspring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hush, we’ll never tell,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">yet
deep down we know, the mind’s pain</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is
the last inconsolable and extra gene.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Rabid
dog in the school yard—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mean
and mad and frothing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cynthia
Atkins</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">First
appeared Harpur Palate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p>If you would like to read more about Cynthia Atkins and her work, please check our her website: <a href="http://www.cynthiaatkins.com/">http://www.cynthiaatkins.com/</a>. </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Event-Full-Disclosure-Cynthia-Atkins/dp/162549033X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401815164&sr=8-1&keywords=In+the+Event+of+Full+Disclosure</a></o:p></span></div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-5280607959486612812014-04-21T20:50:00.000-07:002014-04-21T20:51:48.378-07:00Remembering Nina Cassian<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9o3kdsRdlak/U1Xf5rmbPxI/AAAAAAAAAWg/DVFrdQNMmQ4/s1600/Nina-Cassian-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9o3kdsRdlak/U1Xf5rmbPxI/AAAAAAAAAWg/DVFrdQNMmQ4/s1600/Nina-Cassian-1.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The
news that Gabriel Garcia Marquez died on April 17<sup>th</sup> has overwhelmed
the news—even for those who are likely to know—that another amazing literary
figure died only 2 days before: Nina Cassian. Nina Cassian was the pen name
for the Romanian poet born as Renée Annie Katz. Cassian’s biography is
the stuff of Nobel Prize winners, like that of Joseph Brodsky or Czelsaw
Milosz. She grew up primarily in Bucharest, where her family relocated when
she was eleven. Her first collection of poetry was condemned by the
Communist authorities. For a time Cassian tailored her writing to be less
controversial, but she was an exuberant personality and secretly wrote satires
of the government during the oppressive Ceausescu regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1985, Cassian was invited to teach
at New York University. While here, her friend, Gheorghe Ursu, was arrested
and tortured to death. The authorities found Ursu’s journals in which he
also transcribed Cassian’s unpublished poems lampooning the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This resulted in Cassian’s home being seized
by the authorities and all her books and papers being confiscated. Realizing
that her life would be in danger if she returned, Cassian appealed to the US
Government for asylum and, having it granted, remained here until her death on
April 15, 2014. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I
had the good fortune to meet Cassian in the early 90’s. I was introduced
to her by poet Dana Gioia at a reading she was giving in SoHo. She had a
magnificent presence: elegant in the way we think of great Hollywood actresses.
I can still hear her voice in my head, for the way she delivered a line was
indelible, as was the power of her poetry, which is really the focus
here. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Cassian
was incredibly prolific, publishing over 50 books in her lifetime: poetry,
children’s books, fiction, translations, even puppet plays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had a playful imagination but also a big
heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may account for her poetry
being something like surreal love poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But don’t think of her as another Pablo Neruda; her poetry is quite
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The playfulness of Cassian
also accounts for her prolific publication of children’s books, which in turn
might give you an inkling of her surreal bent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Think of fables and fairytales, but those which don’t shy away from the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance her poem “Sand,” </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">My
hands creep forward on the hot sand</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">to
unknown destinations;</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">perhaps
to the shoreline,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">perhaps
to the arms from which they are severed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">and
which lie on the beach</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">like
two decapitated eels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">(translated
by Naomi Lazard)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">What
is remarkable about so much of Cassian’s poetry is that the majority of it seems
to lose nothing in translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
instance, in the marvelous poem, “Orchestra,” the ethereal quality of the
beloved is likened to the elusive emotional force of music as it is played.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in English that pursuit of an impossible
spirit is perfectly rendered:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Climbing
the scales three octaves at a time,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I
search for you among the high notes where</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">the
tender flute resides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where are your</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">sweet
eyelashes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Then
I descend among the sunlit brasses—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">there
funnels glistening like fountain tips.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I
let them splash me with their streaming gold,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">but
I can’t find your lips.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Then
daring ever deeper I explore</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">the
depths the elemental strings command.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Their
bows will not create a miracle</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">without
your stroking hand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The
orchestra is still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The score is blank.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Cold
as a slide rule the brasses, strings and flute.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Sonorous
lover, when will you return?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The
orchestra is mute?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">(translated
by Dana Gioia)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">At
times she rendered with perhaps greater clarity than other more celebrated
poets the problem of art under tyrannical regimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though one could also see it as a kind of
pride, it is a pride born of necessity in the face of oppression:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Vowel</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">
A clean vowel</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">is
my morning,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Latin
pronunciation</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">in
the murmur of confused time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">With
rational syllables</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I’m
trying to clear the occult mind</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">and
promiscuous violence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">My
linguistic protest</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">has
no power.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">The
enemy is illiterate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">(translated
by Brenda Walker and Andrea Deletant)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">For
Cassian, language is sensuous and even sexual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reading her poetry one is more inclined to think of poetry as a kind of
dance, the movement of a body.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Licentiousness</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Letters
fall from my words</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">as
teeth might fall from my mouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Lisping?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stammering?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mumbling?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Or
the last silence?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Please
God take pity</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">on
the roof of my mouth,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">on
my tongue,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">on
my glottis,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">on
the clitoris in my throat</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">vibrating,
sensitive, pulsating,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">exploding
in the orgasm of Romanian.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">(translated
by Brenda Walker and Andrea Deletant)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Clearly
that appeal to God also shows a keen awareness of the danger involved, that one
is not only exposed to the single lover as a poet but to the authorities who
are in power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If poetry is a form of
lovemaking, it is, once published, also public and, therefore, a terrible kind
of vulnerability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may also account
for why the majority of her poetry is love poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But also Cassian is masterful in her embrace
of being fully human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may be the
core of her poetry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Her
face was striking with its prominent chin and aquiline nose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so she made these powerful features the
point of her poem “Self-Portrait.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
few poems so well exemplify her desire to fully embrace the great range of our
humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pointing out the oddities of
her own face, plunging into them, and insisting on them even as others might
mock them, results in an enlargement of what we call “human” as so much of her poetry does:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I
was given at birth this odd triangular</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">face,
the sugared cone that you see now,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">the
figurehead jutting from some pirate prow,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">framed
by trailing strands of moonlike hair.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Disjoined
shape I’m destined to carry around</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">and
thrust out steadily through endless days,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">wounding
the retinas of those who gaze</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">on
the twisted shadow I cast upon the ground.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Disowned
by the family from which I came,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">who
am I?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earth conspires to turn me back,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">the
white race and the yellow, the redskin and the black,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">till
even to the species I lay little claim.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">And
only when—a self-inflicted woman—</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I
cry out; only when I face the cold;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">and
only when by time I’m stained and soiled</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">do
they find me beautiful: and call me human.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Sentence-Selected-Nina-Cassian/dp/0393307212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398137948&sr=1-1&keywords=Nina+Cassian+life+sentences" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Sentence-Selected-Nina-Cassian/dp/0393307212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398137948&sr=1-1&keywords=Nina+Cassian+life+sentences" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BsQPChvWYoI/U1Xk80JnctI/AAAAAAAAAWw/iNVlAiODDq0/s1600/Cassian_Life+Sentence.jpg" height="320" unselectable="on" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to order from Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p></o:p> </div>
<img height="96" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BsQPChvWYoI/U1Xk80JnctI/AAAAAAAAAWw/iNVlAiODDq0/s1600/Cassian_Life+Sentence.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 207px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 2725px;" width="65" />
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-BsQPChvWYoI%2FU1Xk80JnctI%2FAAAAAAAAAWw%2FiNVlAiODDq0%2Fs1600%2FCassian_Life%2BSentence.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BsQPChvWYoI/U1Xk80JnctI/AAAAAAAAAWw/iNVlAiODDq0/s1600/Cassian_Life+Sentence.jpg" -->Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-78769970444107420042014-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:002014-02-13T11:32:46.867-08:00Interview with Poet Djelloul Marbrook<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>Thank you,
Djelloul, for agreeing to an interview. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You were a journalist for many years.
Your first collection of poetry came out in 2008. How do you think your many
years as a journalist influenced your efforts as a poet?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: I started
out at <i>The Providence Journal-Bulletin</i> as a reporter-photographer, so it
heightened my perception of place and circumstance. I had to notice people and
their circumstances more closely, not as a matter of survival, in the manner of
a battered child, but as a professional observer whose work depended on
noticing what others missed. For example, there came a time when a wealthy
blue-blood WASP decided to contest our Irish-American governor in a primary. The
newspaper was hostile to the governor, as it was to most Democrats, but in my
personal encounters with the governor I noticed that he took notice of the
ordinary circumstances of ordinary people and interrupted his schedule to
engage them, while the patrician noticed only the most important hands extended
to him. On another occasion I came late to a horrendous house fire. It was
raining. The headlights of the emergency vehicles made each raindrop a kind of
candlelight. Under the circumstances a decent photo was almost impossible. But
I walked around and saw a man in a bathrobe holding a cat and consoling it. It
was the owner of the house. Using the police headlights I photographed him from
his starboard stern quarter. The photo ran six columns in the next evening
paper and it won an Associated Press prize. So yes, my experiences as a
journalist have had a profound influence on me as a poet. But there was more to
come. When I went to work as a metro editor for <i>The Elmira </i>(NY) <i>Star-Gazette,</i>a
heavily unionized newspaper, the composing room people knew I was a sympathizer
and they allowed me to hold sticks of type in my hand. There I was among these
fellow unionists holding words—words!—in my hand. It was an alchemical
experience. By then I was writing headlines and thinking about Walt Whitman
working at <i>The Brooklyn Eagle.</i> Headline-writing had a profound effect on
me. You need terse, muscular words to convey ideas. You intuitively understand
the nature of line break. And you know, if you’re any good, that a good headline
has a certain meter. You whisper it to yourself as you compose it. How does it
sound? “Yale’s Viking Map Knocks / Wind Out of Columbus’ Sails”—I wrote that
two-column 24-point headline for <i>The Baltimore Sun.</i> It won a prize. Or
consider this banner headline: “Fleet steams, Qadaffi Fumes.” But there was a
downside to journalism that I would have avoided had I remained a sailor. The
press composes the authorized version of everything and is insufferably smug
and uninquiring where it should be inquiring. The press is a prime conveyor of the dread
received idea. Only in old age have I been able to make this understanding work
for me as a poet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b><i>Brushstrokes
and glances</i> opens with the
poem “Shabtis,” the Egyptian figurines in funerary rites. Throughout the
collection, the dead and ghosts appear. What do you see as the significance of
the dead in the collection? What are they to bring our attention to?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook: </b>Death is in
some ways incomprehensible to a child. Having said that, let me go back to my
infancy. My mother’s story was that my father had been fatally shot in a
hunting accident while she was pregnant in Algeria. She later embellished the
story to say a cousin may have shot him and called it an accident. But in truth
he lived until 1978. So I had to deal with this death myth. When my mother took
me to Brooklyn via London in my infancy she left me with her younger sister,
Dorothy, and her mother, Hilda. Understandably I bonded with them. Dorothy was
my idol. I was crazy about her. She used to take me skating. She made an
orange-crate scooter for me. At age five my mother took me away from Dorothy
and Hilda, away from my nanny, Peggy O’Connor, whom I also loved dearly, and
sent me to boarding school. Nobody explained why. Several years later I was told Dorothy had died. So now I had two
deaths to fathom, and I couldn’t. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for the shabtis, we lived near the Brooklyn Museum,
which has a famously good Egyptology department. That’s where I encountered the
shabtis. I drove Peggy to distraction with questions about the shabtis. How
were they? Did they have enough to eat? Where did they sleep? She and her
brother Junior took me again and again to see the shabtis. I dreamed about
them. I think in a certain way the people I lost, the people my mother was
always separating me from, became shabtis. They guarded me, they accompanied me
into the netherworld. As I grew up the list of shabtis became quite long. But I
was afraid to go back and visit them because I felt somehow I had betrayed
them, I had abandoned them. They had been everything to me and I had failed
them. So I was always failing as I grew up. Poems consoled me. I could see loss
in them, betrayal, courage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>The poem
“Francisco de Zurbarán” says, “I mourn for what the dead give up;/they mourn
for what I fail to see.” Do you think this failure to see could be corrected?
Do you think non-artists could benefit from a basic artistic course in how to
see with the focus and precision of an artist? If so, in what way would it
help?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: I’m hot
for this question, Michael, because I’m in the midst of a project of learning
about poetry from my camera, just as I’ve spent a lifetime learning from
paintings. My mother was an artist, and so was my Aunt Irene (I. Rice Pereira,
the geometric abstractionist whose painting is on the cover of <i>Brushstrokes
and glances</i>). The Navy taught me photography, although it wasn’t my rating.
I was first a boatswain’s mate and then a journalist. Recently I bought a compact
camera capable of taking RAW images. The RAW image contains thousands of
details the photographer doesn’t see in his viewing lens when he clicks. They
can be introduced to the final image in computer software. This, for me, is a
powerful metaphor. We always take in more than we’re capable of processing at
the moment. That’s true of the painter, too. And it’s true of us when we view
the painting. There are thousands of recognitions awaiting us. But as we enter
into these recognitions, as we engage them, we must also engage the artist, not
what we know about him but what we intuit from the work we behold. Did Jan
Vermeer love the maid with the pearl earring? Almost certainly, but that
over-the-shoulder glance at him, what about it? Is it the very moment at which
the girl herself recognizes the artist’s love? Or is it, as someone has
suggested, the moment Jan’s wife enters the room? We don’t know. We don’t have
to know. But we do have to know something, something we choose to inspire us,
to enlighten us, to amuse us. I have always talked to paintings, and they talk
to me—some of them, anyway. Some remain mute, perhaps knowing I don’t get them.
Historically, especially in the Francophone world, there is a long tradition of
artists and poets interacting. But I think poets would benefit incalculably
from more contact with musicians, scientists, athletes and others. This was one
of the splendors of the Convivencia in Arab Spain. So many of its Arab, Berber
and Jewish poets were also astronomers, doctors, mathematicians, because the
Arabs tended not to pigeonhole the disciplines the way we do. They saw no
reason, for example, to parse alchemy from chemistry; alchemy is merely an
adaptation of their word <i>al-khemya</i> for chemistry (<i>khemya)</i> with
its article <i>(al).</i> This is why they were able to discover that surgery
requires perfect antisepsis—their most brilliant minds spoke with one another,
and their most advanced disciplines were often married to poetry in one skull.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>The poem
“Picasso’s bull,” opens with “We need a museum to show us/we can unbind our
captive lives.” What do you see as the source of our captivity, what’s its
nature and what is the means of our release?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: I think we
live in a world of authorized versions, of Flaubert’s received ideas. No Child
Left Behind is a perfect example. We tell the child what to learn, not how to
learn. But museums are about how to learn. They open vistas. They’re hospitable
laboratories for our own wildest speculations. At least that’s what the best of
them are. What is Gauguin doing in Tahiti? Why does Corot return over and over
to Ville d’Avray? Is Caravaggio angry, is he mad? Museums are in many ways what
our schools ought to be, like the Montessori and Waldorf schools. They guide
us. They suggest meanings. They give us history. But we’re on our own when it
comes to arranging what we have recognized in our own minds. Increasingly we go
to schools to have the furniture bolted to the floor, to have the windows
barred. But in museums we rearrange the furniture of our minds. Perhaps more
importantly, we are reassured that beauty and the individual’s way of
perceiving it is crucial to life. Nothing is dying in a museum—everything is
coming to life. But that is not what our pedagogical ideas of education are
about. The press and the politicos and the corporados are our captors. They’re
invested in our seeing things in certain ways. The museums are invested only in
our seeing things. They’re helping us, not pummeling us, not bending us. That’s
overstatement, of course. The Museum of Modern Art has often been accused, for
example, of diktat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>The poems
“Manhattan Reef,” and “By the pool of The Frick,” suggest an apocalyptic
outcome, such as rising sea levels, if we don’t face what art confronts us
with. What do you see as that confrontation? What connects the problems of
climate change to the insights of art?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: I think
I’m saying that our greatest treasures must not be taken for granted. They can
be swept away; they can be drowned. The earth is always shaking off our ill
effects, always trying to repair the damage we have inflicted. I don’t see
apocalypse in the end-time context that fundamentalists do. To the Romans their
fall to the barbarians was apocalyptic. To the Byzantine and Amazigh cultures
the arrival of the Arabs was apocalyptic. To the Arabs the advent of the
Mongols was apocalyptic. I see an ongoing alchemical process in which the
cosmos tries to ennoble the elements, the species, over and against our childish
notions about religion and significance. I look for the elixir, and in that
poem, “Manhattan Reef,” I mean like Magritte or, more aptly, de Chirico, to
transform the world by turning it on its head and inside out. I don’t mean it
as a doomsayer. I don’t mean it as warning. I mean only to say, It happens; how
will we be ennobled by it? “We” in this instance becomes a problematical word,
because “we” may not survive in our present form. I believe, for example,
that “we” are evolving towards androgyny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>The poem “Distraction,”
in the first section and the poem “A naming spree,” in the second section both
address naming as a vital, although perhaps ambiguous act. What do you see as
its importance in the collection and how does it relate to art?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: It was my
experience as a journalist that heightened my awareness of naming things. And
perhaps it was my own difficult experience of bearing my “foreign” name in our
society; it was certainly a trial, and not the trial of a boy named Sue either.
It was a standing invitation to be disinvited. I think our culture not only
names things, it pigeonholes them, and once a thing is named and pigeonholed
it’s as if it had become unimpeachable, inarguable. For example, terrorists
belong to Al Qaeda, never mind the Arab meaning of the word (the base) or the
fact that reputable intelligence people doubt its existence. The same is true
of the national debt; it’s a disgrace, a threat to our peace and security, even
if it has been cut in half, even if we did have this debate at our inception
and decided we must carry a debt. We are a society that does not choose to
revisit what it has decided, what it has named. Americans should look like the
Marlboro Man or Marilyn Monroe, and that’s that. That’s what our childish
ethnocentrism is about: we have decided how Americans should be named, how they
should look and behave. Naming is dangerous business, serious business. We
ought to be at least as careful and mindful as the good poet in choosing words.
But we have chosen instead Emerson’s bugbear, foolish consistency. That’s why
we have entertained the stupid flip-flop debate. Dwight Eisenhower is famous
for changing his mind about the military-industrial complex, but we have chosen
to forget that in our zeal to label the inquiring mind a threat to society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As
for the place of this consideration in the collection, we’re influenced by the
titles of paintings and sculptures, and we’re influenced by the names given by
critics, curators and historians. Clement Greenberg says, This is Abstract
Expressionism, so it’s no longer allowed to be anything else. Even worse, if
the Clement Greenbergs of the world are thwarted in their efforts to categorize
a work of art or an oeuvre and it may languish in neglect simply because the hot shot
of the moment couldn’t pin it down, like a captured butterfly. We’re reckless
namers and categorizers, and we’re always tripping over our own handiwork.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A
naming spree” consists of only three couplets, but it’s an important poem to
me. I spend a great deal of time contemplating classical and Islamic containers
in museums. The idea of containment is crucial to civilization, and predictably
it has a dark side. Without amphorae the Greeks, Romans and others were unable
to transport things. The unique shape of the amphora conforms to the curvature
of their galleys. The Arabs, whose ship designs foreshadowed modern ships, had
to rethink the idea of the container. The Arabs were concerned with elixirs and
alchemy, so their containers began to take on strange new shapes. I deal with
this at some length in <i>Guest Boy,</i> the first novel in my trilogy, <i>Light
Piercing Water.</i>The dark side of containment in metaphorical terms is that
it seeks to limit and therefore readily becomes a received and suspect idea.
For example, the church may be perceived as the container of religion. It
limits, defines and controls, the message on its own being considered volatile
and dangerous. This is my view of many Christian churches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So
the idea of containment is crucial to understanding civilization, and the way
we look at containers is crucial to the way we allow civilization to develop.
The Arab view was wholly different from the classical view. The Arabs sought to
ennoble what was contained. It would be facile but tempting to say the Greeks
and Romans had a more practical view, but the Arabs were great merchants,
travelers and seafarers, so they can hardly be accused of being impractical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My
poetry is rather obsessed with the contemplation of this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>You are
quite politically conscious and I think this shows in the collection. What do
you think is the poet’s responsibility to society? Do poets have a political
responsibility? If so, what is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>: I am
politically conscious, but I certainly wouldn’t require that of other poets. I
see a lot of writers deploring the lack of political and social engagement
among poets and other artists. I think the complaint is as bogus as the many
obituaries of poetry I’m always seeing. A poet does what it’s in his or her
nature to do. A poet uses the resources he or she chooses to use. It’s a matter
of respecting the gift as it was given. To require this or that of a poet or
any artist is an ostentatious display of egocentrism on the part of the person
requiring it. It’s also intellectual slovenliness. It says, in effect, I will
not inquire into the nature of your work unless it conforms to my ideas. It’s
akin to No Child Left Behind— intellectual regression. I think growing up in a
boarding school and having a badly fractured family made me aware of politics
at an early age. I’ve never been politically adept myself, but I am a keen
observer. I found much to admire in small-town politics when I was a reporter.
I grew up thinking I would be a great traveler. But the truth is I have not
traveled well since leaving the Navy, and I find life-sustaining beauty
wherever I am, most recently in reflections in manhole covers after
storms. </span></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cTx4cJ38TgE/UvpH7WR0yJI/AAAAAAAAANA/esO0UhRK_wc/s1600/Djelloul_Manhole+green.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cTx4cJ38TgE/UvpH7WR0yJI/AAAAAAAAANA/esO0UhRK_wc/s1600/Djelloul_Manhole+green.jpeg" height="320" width="213" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young</b>: What is
your favorite poem in the collection? Why is it significant for
you? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Djelloul Marbrook: </strong>My
favorite is “The Fountains,” the last poem. Not because it’s the best, but
because it best expresses my sentiments about museums. I’m haunted by what goes
on when they close. It would be easy to say “Basquiat,” because then I could
talk about how amusing I find it that the New York Police Department formed an
entire squad to suppress his work. But “The Fountains” expresses my conviction
that nothing is what it seems to be and all settled notions about art are
suspect: nothing is settled or ever should be. That’s why the determinism in so
much of our art and literary criticism turns me off. The hubris of the critics
gives criticism a bad odor. They put on pageants of referential knowledge to
make a point that arrogates to them more importance than the art they’re
discussing. That isn’t true of all critics, of course. But it’s common enough.
“The Fountains” also expresses my whimsical view of life. I like to think of
the beasties partying at the urinals and bidets. I like to think of the artists
making notes and sketches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young: </b>Are there
any prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are
they? Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your
poetry? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook: </b>Yes, Mark
Helprin’s <i>Winter’s Tale,</i> for one. As you know, it has recently been
filmed. A.S. Byatt, Iris Murdoch, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Glenway
Wescott, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster—all are big influences.
I should mention Mary Renault’s <i>Fire From Heaven.</i> I’m something of an
amateur Alexander scholar, and I find his life haunting in many ways. As a
child I suffered from an Alexandrian mindset. I was always asking, Why not?
That, and my difficult name, got me in a lot of trouble. I love the story of
the Gordian Knot, whether apocryphal or not, because it reflects my own
characteristic response to education, which has never served me well in the
presence of big egos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young</b>: What do you
like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Djelloul Marbrook</b>:
Photography, walking, bird-watching, gardening, reading, chatting with my wife,
Marilyn. We both used to sail and lived on a sailboat for ten years, but we
can’t handle the sail bags anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Michael T. Young</b>: Thanks for
your time, Djelloul. Let’s close with your favorite poem from <i>Brushstrokes
and glances</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fountains</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What of the urinals at night,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the demons that slurp</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at these Alhambras?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What of the books and mannikins,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spanish dukes and Polish riders,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are we a sub-species annoyance</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after their revels and secret rites?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The race of janitors is mute,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as befitting acolytes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In every painting a green-eyed wolf</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">whose keen night vision arrests</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ghosts we leave behind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Into the sun we go diminished,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">having left behind a self</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that chose four legs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In every painting a twitching snout</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">parsing our most elusive scent</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">where we do not doubt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I dream of beasts and otherlings</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cavorting around bidets;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I envy them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #141413; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would highly recommend Djelloul Marbrook's website: </span><a href="http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.djelloulmarbrook.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. And following him on FaceBook. He will keep you well informed not only of poetry but give you many alternative perspectives on current political, social and economic events reported in the mass media.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #141413; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-fq55dozXz0o%2FUvbPVJXqcuI%2FAAAAAAAAAM0%2FpfVRU-ouBrk%2Fs1600%2FDjelloul%2BMarbrook.jpeg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fq55dozXz0o/UvbPVJXqcuI/AAAAAAAAAM0/pfVRU-ouBrk/s1600/Djelloul+Marbrook.jpeg" -->Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-88826632913792111172014-02-12T19:12:00.000-08:002014-02-13T05:18:15.277-08:00Review of Brushstrokes and glances<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brushstrokes-glances-Djelloul-Marbrook/dp/0982810016/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392142161&sr=8-1&keywords=brushstrokes+and+glances" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Brushstrokes-glances-Djelloul-Marbrook/dp/0982810016/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392142161&sr=8-1&keywords=brushstrokes+and+glances" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Az3Ky02OH7k/UvpheS113ZI/AAAAAAAAANQ/a2HMJvInnv8/s1600/Brushstrokes.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the image to order <br />
Brushstrokes and glances from Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brushstrokes and glances.
Djelloul Marbrook.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Cumberland, ME: Deerbrook Editions, 2010. 88 pages, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
ISBN: 978-0982810019</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
By Michael T. Young</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It would be easy to laud this collection for its lively
engagement of art, its history and beauty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But to do only that, as the note from the publisher, the forward and the
blurbs all do, would be to miss a large part of what it’s about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brushstrokes
and glances</i> is not only about art, but about how through art we see
ourselves, how it stands as an indictment of much of modern society and how it
might redeem us, if we opened our eyes and paid attention.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Like good poetry, the poetry in Marbrook’s second
collection, is dynamic, engaging us on multiple levels at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It weaves his love for art with his love for
his mother who was an artist, it threads the implicit ideas of permanence with
the persistent reality of our individual and collective transience, and, to me,
most importantly, it sounds the vacuity of modern society against the
meaningfulness of paintings and other artworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This seems the most important because our culture needs but does not often
celebrate or produce poetry that simultaneously engages sociopolitical
realities and maintains high aesthetic standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>There are two sections in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brushstrokes and glances</i> and the first could stand as one of the
more elegant sociopolitical criticisms of recent years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not all it does, of course, but it is
undeniably there and strikingly good poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Such poems as “A Government like Caravaggio,” “Goya in iPodia,”
“Basquiat,” and “Manhattan reef,” force use to look at the failures of our
society while at the same time being pleasing poetic accomplishments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Some of the poems seem to say that the failures of
government and those governed rest on the inability to challenge norms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Governments plod along with the status quo
and the governed shrug it off with the complicit assumption that it could
always be worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A Government like
Caravaggio” concludes, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
if it had his irreverence</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
for dogma and popes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
it would help somebody.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This same assertion is more positively put in the poem
“Painted Out” in the second section where it says, “the kingdom of heaven/rests
on heresies we dare.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Our cultural failures reinforce this problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Our diseases serve the system” (“Basquiat”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are encouraged to look at nothing deeply, but
rather surf and skim so we are blind to anything that isn’t obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, that means we are blind to reality for
in our world, as “Manhattan reef” declares, “More always rises than meets the
eye.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or as the speaker of “Basquiat”
exclaims, “one thing I always knew, always,/is that things aren’t what they
seem.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the context of art, this means
deeper meaning and commentary on our humanity, in politics and society it means
layers of lies and betrayal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poem
“The Color Black” asks, “what is it we don’t want to see/in a Ray-Ban world of
anti-glare?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And “I saw Mona Lisa once,”
concludes, “image runs a gauntlet of lies/until one or the other dies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Taking the time for a second look, slowing down to consider,
observing closely is what both art and civilization require.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection is suffused with images
playing behind the eyes and the need for a second look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pierre Bonnard’s Late Interiors” asks, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
May we come in?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Only on second thought</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
perhaps. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“I saw Mona Lisa once,” opens with “Everyone is worth a
second glance.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is most elegantly
stated in “Goya in iPodia,”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Someday, Francisco, we’ll follow you</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
into the dicey realm of doubletake</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
where nothing is as it seems and we know less</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
than we think we do and in that less</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
find the simple elegance of a second look.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Following Francisco is what the second section of the book
is all about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection’s title
poem concludes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It isn’t much of a testament,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
but it does suggest we never know</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
exactly who we’re looking at</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
or, just as important, what.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It is the wisdom of never presuming to fully know anyone or
anything, which is different than living in the ignorance the collection decries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if art in general asks us to step back
and look at our humanity or lack of it, the second section of this book steps
back from culture and society to see the larger context of time and
nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Accordion of worlds,” which
also titles the section, is a kind of Ozymandias poem that declares all
civilizations come to an end, where a Roman statue of Athena is observed in an
Arab garden</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
and you have some idea</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
how foolish we are</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
to exalt ourselves</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
in the nebulae</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
of light and dark.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Or, more simply, as “In a time of spin” puts it,
“Civilizations come and go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all we
know/so do worlds.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the apocalypse,
usually in the form of flooded museums, and the danse macabre thread the
collection with their threat, or perhaps, more accurately, with their
imminence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This way, the collection
tries to arrest us in the time we have, suggesting that we take the time to see
as fully as we can both what is before us and ourselves for “Not even zero
helps to count/the ways there are to see us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>If, at times, the music falters or feels like an
afterthought, it is redeemed by what seems the stated aesthetic of the poet in
several places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>. . . I don’t sing well, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
but things have a way of tipping me off</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
to their true identities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
(“Basquiat”)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The diction here shows that Marbrook was for years a
journalist and his need for clarity and truth align him poetically more with an
ontological poet like George Oppen than a musical poet like Richard
Wilbur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What resonates is not the beauty
of a phrase but its clarity, it’s aptness to tell us what we know but don’t
have the ability or courage to articulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So when he says, “the danger of UV/is not as great as seeing well,” we
know the environmental dangers of ozone depletion are a consequence of our own
failure to seize the day, and know it clearly from the abruptness of the
comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Comparison is a variety of contrast or perspective, one of
the great elements of drawing which this collection employs to create emotional
clarity and depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marbrook’s
relationship with his mother, a painter, provides contrast to the larger
context of culture and society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that
microcosm, the heart comes into play and gives rise to lines that are masterful
for their poignant simplicity, such as “Art my mother never saw saddens me” and
“No one can comfort a broken child,” and even at the edge where mind and heart
meet, “intimacy’s more private than we think.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, in one of the more intimate poems of the collection, “My
Mother’s Paintings,” there lies that which unlocks the collection’s suggested
cures to our societal illness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking
of his mother’s painting he says,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I am, God help me, the husband of this work</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
and must take better care of it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
than I took of the hopes that haunt it;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
now let them glisten in museums. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The poet claims his past with all its faults, for only
through that act can the hopes be realized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This may speak, in the context of sociopolitical poems, of our culture
doing the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the longer arc of the
collection, it speaks to admitting even the animal side of our spiritual
struggles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the final poem, “The
Fountains,” says,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Into the sun we go diminished,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
having left behind a self</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
that chose four legs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In every painting a twitching snout</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
parsing our most elusive scent</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
where we do not doubt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I dream of beasts and otherlings</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
cavorting around bidets;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I envy them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I’m reminded of Blake’s spectres, those entities that emerge
from the repressed aspects of the psyche.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here, those things in our nature we don’t face when we enter the museum,
remain behind to prowl its halls after we leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The epigraph to the collection provides insight,
a quote from Chapman’s magnificent “Shadow of Night.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the quote, night is “blacke in face and
glitterst in thy hearte.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These beasts
are the glittering heart, what we must reclaim if we are to reclaim our
humanity and perhaps stop our glide toward self-destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This collection is another such glittering
heart, offering to us a mirror wherein we may reclaim, if we dwell long enough,
part of that image that is the best version of ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-62178087108611435552013-10-16T19:30:00.002-07:002014-02-13T05:21:12.312-08:00Interview with Poet Joe Weil<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85vMKtrgKaU/Ul8hzfCuPCI/AAAAAAAAAMI/E8xwphQPkok/s1600/Joe+Weil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85vMKtrgKaU/Ul8hzfCuPCI/AAAAAAAAAMI/E8xwphQPkok/s320/Joe+Weil.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you, Joe,
for agreeing to an interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Your
most recent collection is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Plumber’s Apprentice</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike many
collections out there, the title doesn’t have a title poem from which it
comes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phrase doesn’t even appear in
the collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if you could
comment on it: why you chose it, what it’s meant to draw our attention to as we
enter the collection and read through it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: Well, there
was a poem, “The Plumber's Apprentice,” published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lips Magazine</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story is
rather involved but the friend who chose the poems for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Plumber's Apprentice</i> decided “Plumber's Apprentice” the poem
should not be in the manuscript. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will
be appearing in my New and Selected due out soon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never argue with editors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look at it this way: if they're wrong,
they'll look wrong in retrospect and poor innocent me will look terrific. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they're right, they just saved me a world
of hurt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t mind my saying, I feel the
descriptor on the back of the book doesn’t do it justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reduces the voice to that of one that
tells the hard truths as a mere bargaining ploy but it seems to be much more
profound than that, more genuine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
is, without a governing purpose for the honesty, collections that tell hard
truths are themselves a kind of false stance like any other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This collection seems to suggest poetry and
beauty really have the power to redeem and save us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one poem early on says, “each beautiful
thing is reprieve,/and stay of execution.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The final section reasserts this, especially the final poem, “Filthy
River,” which concludes “Sing in the river/until only the song remains”—certainly
a kind of redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you comment
on this theme within the collection, i.e. the redeeming power of beauty and
poetry?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I was homeless
for a while. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was young and healthy and
not rip-roaringly mentally ill (I was depressed as you might suppose). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one talks about the sense of endless
drudgery involved in poverty. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my
case, I was taking long walks to nowhere—just walking for miles. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, I found a ten dollar bill on the
ground which in 1978 was worth far more than it is now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cigs were 75 cents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could get pork fried rice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could eat well that day, and I sat in
thickets by the railroad tracks, smoking a cig, and seeing this bird I didn't
know climbing down the trunk of a tree. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
bothered me that I didn't know the bird, so I went to the library and looked it
up: Nut Hatch! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I started looking
up birds, and trees, and weeds, and my long walks became a sort of ongoing
urban nature lesson plan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, I'm
sitting there and I think: “Does anyone know I am a guy who knows the names of
the weeds?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I cried. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn't stop crying. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought only God knows me, and a few other
nobodies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought the real God is a
nobody and the one people think they worship is just their social world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you leave that place where you know and
are known, that social God disappears. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
weeds have names and nothing is without its history, but the world is all about
pretending most things don't exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
you have is that God I think Emily Dickinson addressed when she said: “I'm
nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody, too?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt I had this God as my companion—this God
of weeds, of things that are considered ugly, of no consequence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It became a persistent theme of my work: not
the beauty that is agreed upon and mass produced—but the beauty that ambushes
us, that shows up in unlikely circumstances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my poems are good, they are exactly
someone who is smoking a cig and sees a bird, and goes to find out its name. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything proceeds from there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's the seeking, the quest we deny exists
in some horrible conditions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is why
the communal sin of how we treat the poor is so egregious. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not just shunning people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are destroying consciousness itself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most revolutionary thing I ever did was
cling to my right to look up a bird.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> There is a very
complex view of lies and falsehood within the collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are lies we need against the horrid
fact of death, all “the loving falsity Cordelia could not manage,” but then
there are those “bogus spiritual comforts” that make one grateful to those who
don’t mind appearing callous when trying to avoid touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel there are certain lies that are
helpful or justified and others that are not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What distinguishes them?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: It is arrogant
to think we are capable of the truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are capable of seeking it, hoping for it, and welcoming it as a possibility in
our lives, but an old Persian saying submits that truth told without compassion
and without fully understanding its consequences is not truth at all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compassion and the wisdom to know how to “tell
it slant” are important. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cordelia loved
her father, and, in the end, reconciles with him, but her lack of tact and
guile sets a shit storm into motion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
Cordelia had had just a dose of her sisters’ poison—just a touch of the illness
they suffered—enough to inoculate her against their worst tendencies—she may
have been capable of realizing her father was old and wanted to make a grand
gesture and hear, “well done,” before he died. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a play written during the Elizabethan
era in which virtue in its pure form, its most extreme form, is considered a
form of madness (See Henry the 6<sup>th</sup>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To Elizabethan thinking, the saint is as much a cause of calamity as
Satan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That play, that wonderful play,
should warn us that the extremes make civil life impossible, but then, there
are times when civil life ought to be made impossible: storms clear the air. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the civility of mere seeming, of fake
goodness has grown too all pervasive, the saint, the mystic, the poet, the
great comic, must expose such lies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is a balancing act, and my Grandmother was right: Life is a king sized bed with
twin sized sheets. You'll never cover it all—with lies or truths.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There is an
amazing layering of desire, want and lust within the collection.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I
was especially interested in the couplet that closes “Clap Out Love’s
Syllables.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Stocks
fall, leaves fall, we fall, yet, falling, praise</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
fields of lust on which our bodies graze.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
is such an unusual stance to take with lust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wondered where you place lust as a manifestation of our basic needs or
how you relate it to spiritual needs, if at all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That poem was written right after the
economic crisis of 2008. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to
take some of the words of banking and trading and apply them to desire—to lust,
not as a moral precautionary tale, but to find some meaningful coordinate for
how different terminologies (banking, trading, lusting/loving) could share a
new dynamic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an experiment with
the metaphor and with what I suppose is called “the trans-valuation” of values.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don't see lust as sacred, but it is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It drives the life force. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I was saying was that desire in its
sacred context trumps the market—transcends stocks, and bonds and all that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every complicated thing we do is done very
often just to win some moments of abandon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also am interested in the courtly poets, and
in word play. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That poem had a lot of
word play since both the courtship of lust and that of the market is learning
the art of play—of smoke and mirrors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The poem “Dead
Things” says “perhaps misremembering/is a form of prayer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another poem in the collection is called “I
Am What I Remember” and includes the line “Memory lies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m curious: what do you see as the
relationship between who we are and the weave of false and accurate
memories?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, since the
tradition is that memory is the mother of the Muses, what do you see as the
relationship of false memories to poetry and its creation?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I tell my
students that their day begins with a selection from existence (what they give
their attention to) and then the part of the brain that puts these perceptions
into a coherent pattern of being is activated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In dream states, that part of the brain that
gives coherence is shut down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
memories of the waking mind and the sleeping mind are privileged by different
structuring strategies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These different
strategies do not live in isolation one from the other but meet, and merge, or
almost merge, or almost resist each other. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That dynamic is part of our being, and so
memory is never truly loyal to our selected narrative of what actually happened
or to our un-selected narratives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
snow you did not notice melting into your Navy blue coat might become a former
lover melting into the oblivion of a blue landscape, or you might dream you
melt like a snow flake on her tongue. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
memory, waking memory, might exclude all these possibilities, and all you
remember is that you went to the store and bought a six pack of beer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The procedural: just the facts sort of writing
we consider closest to the plain truth of things, is little more than a series
of lies by omission. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Kafka said, the
minute you write that she opened a window, you have already begun to lie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Miss-remembering is a form of prayer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is supplicant prayer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It represents our desire and our “Way” of
wanting things to be—being towards a hoped for meaning to our lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Memory lies” is also true, but the lies carry
their own emotional truths. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
learn a lot about a person by knowing what they lie about—and not just
intentional lies, but what I call the lies of the adamant—that which they would
swear is the truth upon pain of death, but which is really only a resolving
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their cognitive dissonance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People lie to stay in their comfort zones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Plumbers-Apprentice-Joe-Weil/dp/1935520105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381976932&sr=8-1&keywords=the+plumber%27s+apprentice" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xGL8JVxI7YQ/Ul8knf2Q0yI/AAAAAAAAAMU/5zxlCTrJJ-g/s1600/Plumbers+Apprentice.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to purchase<br />
The Plumber's Apprentice</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In such lines as
“I obey//only to annihilate you” or “a newness/in the east!/a vermillioned
somethingness/of which we are too/distantly a part/in 'I quit,' 'That’s
it,'/'fuck you!'” there is a startling meld of amor fati and carpe diem, ways of
refusing and embracing simultaneously to assert the self in a hostile
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you relate this stance to
anything philosophical or do you see it as purely a psychological reaction to
an oppressive situation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you see this
stance in any relation to the questions of memory and failures of memory which
the collection addresses?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: First, I was
having fun with Wallace Stevens in that poem. Instead of vermillioned
nothingness of which we are too distantly a part, I changed it up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, to me all philosophy helps make life more
portable—to be carried in this or that conjecture, in this or that situation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In so far as it is situational, true
philosophy is not consistent, but it speaks in emphatic ways toward the moment
of a verity with the hope that something in it is eternal, or universal, or
final. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one truly obeys, the system is
no longer necessary for one has embodied the whole of the law; so true
obedience destroys the law. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
incapable of true obedience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that
poem the speaker seeks to “annihilate” God by absolute obedience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There's a term for that in psychology where
one sublimates and expresses aggression by being extremely compliant and even
slavish. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this poem though, I believe
this is the high and mysterious hurt of the true lover. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the most extreme situations of being, the
contradictions are unavoidable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be in
such cognitive dissonance and to not resolve it is the true advent, the true
faith. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is agon, birth pain: I will
not solve, I will wait in this place where waiting is impossible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can't go on and so I will go on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a space that is easy for human
beings to accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is absurd. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We resolve the cognitive dissonance—almost always
with a lie, a compromise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that poem,
the speaker is telling God he will absolutely not resolve the dissonance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His love and hatred for God are both unstable,
both absolute in their instability, and the greatest integrity is to remain in
that awful state until God speaks from the maelstrom or the speaker of the poem
dies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is someone saying that even his
no is a yes, and even his resistance is an act of obedience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is absurd, and contradictory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Memory can either reconcile contradictions
(lie) or it can hold them steadfast (suffering towards truth). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keats’ negative capability gets at it, except
I don't believe one remains serene in that negative capability (except with
writing) as Keats himself showed in his life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the first
section there is the poem “When I Was Twelve,” and in the closing section there
is the poem “Poet as a Young Voyeur.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What do you see as the significance of your younger self in the
collection?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of my younger “self” in these poems watches—witnesses,
getting it wrong and right at the same time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Poet as a Young Voyeur” is all about noticing
what the world might consider pedestrian (a bald man watering his lawn at dusk)
and making the pedestrian into a thing of wonder. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I call the wonder-making “sympathy of the
detached.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a comical, almost
cartoon rendering of how we are never or seldom in our lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are always above or below them, but seldom
in them—for a brief moment the 8 year old notices Venus, the evening star, and it
seems the man he has been watching notices it, too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He thinks the man looks up at the sky as if
his real life were there where the dark “swallows them whole.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“When I was 12,” is about the narrator's
first crush and how it expands his sense of the significance of all that
surrounds him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girl, rather than
being the focal point, is more the catalyst in the speaker experiencing an
intuition of the enormity of life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both
poems represent an expansion of being. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is important in the book.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you have a
favorite poem in this collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
one is it and what is significant about it for you?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Poem for Advent” is my favorite. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the speaker insists he is both “Con and
evangelist” that pretty much sums up the strategies of contradiction these
poems are fascinated with. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Con means
“with” in Latin and Spanish, but in English and American English it connotes a
situation in which you are conjuring someone, creating a false expectation with
someone to your advantage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
confidence man is a great figure in the American mythos: he sells hope of
riches. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gains your confidence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don't consider him a creature of grace, but
he can be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am playing with how close
true spiritual belief is to the con. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
angel says “fear not.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The angel draws
us in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a sales pitch. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grace is getting something for nothing,
gratis, and the greatest cons, including one who shares my name, Joseph yellow
kid Weil, say all cons are perpetrated on someone thinking they are going to get
something for nothing (usually money). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
poem “For Advent” is my most complex poem in terms of meaning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it we “despair” more deeply into joy, this
dark thing that comes to save us from our “truths,” meaning those that are
grounded in false epiphanies, in their own self-deceit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: You are very
conscious of social and political issues and inequalities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m curious, what do you see as the poet’s
role in society?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How should our poets
rise to that role and take part in shaping our culture both socially and
politically?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The role of the
poet is to write well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, his
mitsvah (love of neighbor), his shema (love of God or ontological truth) is to
somehow believe that writing well has worth beyond what he can deliberately institute
or know. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't think political issues
are at the heart of my poems, but the sermon on the mount, the reversal of
values, and the idea of Eucharistic reality in which the king and the beggar
are one certainly is at the heart of my poetry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you insist there is infinite value in
what is sacred and what is Grace under the appearance of the thrown away and
the broken, this makes your poems political without trying. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ferocity is too often avoided in our spiritual
poems. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hate that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poets of serenity are too often selling a
noxious brand of “feel good.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serenity
junkies mistake serenity for God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
seek the understood peace of nice things, and happy silences, rather than the
peace that surpasses all understanding—peace in the maelstrom and without
rejecting those who have no peace. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
refuse to admit their serenity and spirituality is built on the exploitation,
starving, and oppression of millions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is a spirituality privileged by affluence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It costs a lot of money to be serene like
that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many slaves did it take so
that we could sit in the garden at evening listening to the fountain, drinking
good wine, having lofty thoughts, and talking about how awful slavery is? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often do we make our heaven from someone's
Misery? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am political in the way Simone
Weil was political: one should choose to give one's will freely and without
reservation to God and to surrender the self into God, but that is not a free
choice for the poor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poor are
compelled by affliction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They suffer most
by having necessity become so overwhelming. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A monk makes a choice to be impoverished, and
that is a world of difference from someone who is forced into slavery or
prostitution or injustice at an early age and is robbed of the right to choose
the poverty to which they are condemned. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A poet must return or give true value where it
has been taken away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This the poet must
do by writing well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad writing kills
truth deader than a lie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poet must
write well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's the imperative—the
whole of his or her mission. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the
first and last. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, the shemah of a
writer is the hope that good writing has an effect and a usefulness he or she
will never be able to manipulate or foresee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Are there any
prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they?
Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your
poetry?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: My favorite
form is the short story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Gimple the
Fool,” “For Esme with Love and Squalor,”—just about every story by Flannery
O’Connor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the stories of Chekhov, and
Gogal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nabokov's “That in Allepo Once,”
Joyce's “The Dead,” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Death of Ivan Illyich</i>, Williams Carlos Williams' zany and
wonderful, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the American Grain</i>, the
stories in the Bible, Bernard Malamud's amazing and forgotten collection <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Magic Barrel</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winesburg,
Ohio</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You Know me, Al</i>, by Lardner; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Great Gatsby</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Day of the Locust</i>—Eudora
Welty's stories. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grace Paley, Philip
Roth, James Baldwin, Buber, Kenneth Burke, Susan Sontag. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these works or writers have reflected a
sense of hard earned empathy and compassion, but best of all, a mastery of
style and enchantment—a sense of humor and double-consciousness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Bernanos had a profound effect on me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a comic poet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My music is broken to a purpose of comic
consciousness—what my dear Kenneth Burke called perspectives by incongruity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never worried about categories too much. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found paragraph structure limiting, and so I
put stories into lines, but I don't think having prosaic elements in a poetic
context is an aesthetic blight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hate
purist sensibilities. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These works have
given me a strong sense of a speaking voice, and of using different registers
of speech.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: What do you
like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Weil</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I like to play
the piano. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to google things like
the history of White Castle, or the life of Jack Benny. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love youtube, and fishing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoy digging, and carting as long as I
don't have to do it for a living and a foreman isn't standing over me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love walks, eating oysters—but, hey,
everything has to do with writing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
like to misuse face book. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love to sit around a kitchen table and yack
until I am sleepy with good talk and I have to go to bed, leaving the
conversation to continue somewhere else in the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you, Joe, for such an amazing wonderful interview. Let’s close with your favorite poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Plumber’s Apprentice</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Poem
for Advent</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
world takes us at its leisure</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">slowly,
by increments of infamy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">or
“virtue”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
beyond that taking</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">we
wager freedom</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">against
our corpses,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">trick
ourselves into living</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">fully—whatever
fully means.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
am writing this in the dust</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
an old Chrysler,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">its
lascivious grill, its chrome</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">freckled
with rust,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">its
front end grinning</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">like
Burt Lancaster</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
Elmer Gantry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">What
do you mean?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
million dollar grin,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
atavistic power of healthy teeth</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">might
convert a nation (see Joel Osteen),</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">might
make us believe</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
the power of “abundance.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But
suppose I write:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Lack
is the necessity of being.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
nation will turn against me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
sun is a used car salesman.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To
get something for almost nothing</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is
the pitch of grifters and of angels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
I have been both</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">con
and evangelist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Fear
not” says Gabriel,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
usual line</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(See
Britannica, 1962: how an angel gets one foot in the door)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“For
the Lord of Lords has chosen you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
the little girl inside us nods her head.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Yes.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
birds cheep.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bird
twitter and angelic hosts are all around us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
am postponing the inevitable</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">until
further notice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Pregnant
with God,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
write in the dust of an old Chrysler,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">all
the sins of the ones with stones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Slowly
they turn away,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
I am left with the woman</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">taken
in adultery,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
I am left with my own</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">trembling
girl, who kneels</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
the deepest part of my sarcasm,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">beyond
all cons, who cries</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Maranatha!
Who waits</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that
the spirit might shadow her,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that
the womb might not be empty,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that,
even in despair, the soul might</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">feel
its worth, and, feeling it,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">despair
more deeply into joy—this dark thing</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">that
comes to save us from our “truths”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">this
dark season where poverty is blessed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Plumbers-Apprentice-Joe-Weil/dp/1935520105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381967063&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Plumber%27s+Apprentice" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/The-Plumbers-Apprentice-Joe-Weil/dp/1935520105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381967063&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Plumber%27s+Apprentice</a>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-80581617636301278342013-07-08T18:35:00.002-07:002014-02-13T05:14:54.077-08:00Interview with Poet Gary J. Whitehead<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nB7-z1eXtQ4/UdsYpME1v_I/AAAAAAAAALo/_J2Nfo8xwEE/s1600/Whitehead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nB7-z1eXtQ4/UdsYpME1v_I/AAAAAAAAALo/_J2Nfo8xwEE/s320/Whitehead.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you, Gary,
for agreeing to an interview. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Your
latest collection is called, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary
of Chickens</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a funny
title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you mind commenting on
where it came from and what the general inspiration was?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
book is titled after one of the poems in the collection. That poem came about
several years ago while I was at an artists’ colony in the Adirondacks. There
were hens there, and each evening another poet and I would make sure the hens
got back in their coop before dark. One day, this poet handed me some
photocopied pages from a book on poultry raising. It was a glossary of terms
having to do with chickens. He gave no explanation. He must have known I’d
enjoy it. I wrote the poem as a thank you to him and left it tacked to the
swinging kitchen door on the day I left, knowing he’d find it. I’d raised
chickens myself for a few years, so the poem was meaningful to me, as well. It
seems to have struck a chord with chicken enthusiasts all over. It was the
first poem of mine to appear in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New
Yorker</i>. When my book manuscript was chosen by Paul Muldoon for the
Princeton University Press Contemporary Poets Series, he suggested I change the
title to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of Chickens</i>. I
liked the suggestion, especially because it sets a whimsical tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection suggests an opposition between
the movement of nature toward some kind of intention and man’s artificial
plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, the poem “Pastoral”
says at one point, “no theme/but the old/chance/of seeding again/a better
world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the poem “Drosophila
Melanogaster” concludes by saying “Why overprioritize long-term plans//at the
expense of our present enjoyment?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
curious if you could talk about this opposition and what it means in the
context of the collection. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
me, nature has always been a refuge from the more oppressive aspects of
civilization. As a young boy, I spent a great deal of time in the woods. My
family got into camping when I was seven, and I loved everything about it. I’d
always feel a profound sense of peace getting away from suburban New England
and lying out under the stars, listening to a lake lap at the shore and loons
making their haunted calls. Several years ago, I had the good fortune of being
selected for a writing residency in the wilderness of Oregon, where I spent six
months living off the grid in a cabin tucked along the wild and scenic Rogue
River. There, I felt that opposition between nature and man’s artificial plans,
between the need for solitude and the pangs of loneliness. I remember making
the two-hour drive to stock up on provisions and being shocked and disgusted
walking the aisles of a Walmart; I couldn’t wait to return to the peace of my
canyon. Then, a few days later, I’d be pining for human contact, for mail, for
Thai food, for the society of a café. These conflicting impulses are expressed
often in my poems. In the lines from “Drosophila Melanogaster,” a poem about
aging, there’s a kind of cross-over between nature and suburban domesticity;
fruit flies have invaded the house, and the speaker, delighting in watching
them do their thing, has a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">carpe diem</i>
moment. As a nature lover, I can’t help but have such moments, which occur
between nature running its course and man running his.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The title poem
“A Glossary of Chickens” concludes by saying “We think/that by naming we can
understand,/as if the tongue were more than muscle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is, of course, a very interesting thing
for a poet to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you discuss the
importance of this insight and its relationship to the arc of the collection?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Words
are symbolic and so can never fully convey what we want them to, so I see
writing</span><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
poetry especially</span><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">as a striving toward something
that can’t be achieved, yet, in the attempt one can create another kind of
truth, which is the essence of art. The title poem expresses this idea:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we want the right words to describe the
quirky behavior of a chicken, but those words, as delightful as they may be,
fall short. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A poem in the
same section as the title poem, “Tied Dog,” clearly suggests the struggle of
the writer to break out of the language that constrains him and grasping or
articulating something that is “just out of reach/of whatever’s worth snapping
at” just like a dog tied to a leash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Could you elaborate on how this relates to the limits of understanding
suggested by “A Glossary of Chickens”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is the relationship between these poems and the overall theme?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
“Tied Dog” poem is perhaps more overt in expressing the idea that writing
poetry is an exercise in failure. The poet is restrained by the limited
language he has, and there is always this feeling of the right words being just
out of reach. I think this is true of all art. Perhaps great art, as subjective
as that may be, is the art that for a majority of people comes closest to a
“true” expression of emotion or experience. I think that what keeps the artist going
is that carrot he can never quite eat. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The poem “Trap
Door” says, ‘It is not the disappearance of the dead I grieve/but the way the
living abscond/into the past.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poem,
especially when it evokes your mother “sitting across from me, chews chicken
with rice/but tastes the dish her mother made,” recalls Proust’s famous
madeleine moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see in
these excursions into the past and what makes it an object for grief?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel the present moment is enriched by
or impoverished by these times when we abscond into the past?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
remembrance of things past is always a little tragic, because memory too is
flawed, is expurgated by the limited power of the brain, and it reminds us of
the inexorable nature of time and our own mortality. Of course, memories can
also be beautiful and profound, even the witnessing of one remembering in
grief. In “Trap Door” I tried to communicate how it felt to see my mother
grieving her own mother’s passing. I didn’t consciously refer to Proust’s
madeleine moment. The chicken with rice moment was real. Smell and taste can be
powerful stimuli for remembrance.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Is there any
significance to the collection starting with Lot’s Wife and ending with Noah
contemplating the dilapidated ark? </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
poet friend recently wrote me asking why we poets agonize over the arrangement
of poems in a book when so often a reader doesn’t read from beginning to end
but rather just flips through randomly. I had to laugh, because it’s often
true. Are reviewers the exception? Arranging a collection of miscellaneously
written poems (i.e., not on one idea or theme) must be a bit like curating a
gallery or museum exhibit; one is forced to think about coherent flow, larger themes,
an arc. In arranging <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of
Chickens</i>, I tried to do my best to achieve these elements, and the
placement of the biblical poems was intentional. Both bible stories are about
destruction and human depravity and resilience, though in my recasting of the
latter I’m interested more in creation, in art, than I am in destruction. Noah
is the stand-in for the poet, and I see his looking down on the civilization
he’s made as my looking down on the poems I’d written. In retrospect, I should
have included a biblical poem in the second section, as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The collection
opens with a poem called “Oyster,” ends with Noah contemplating the rotting
remains of the ark and in between is Melville, a slaveship and a character from
a Melville story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you see as the
significance of sea imagery in the collection? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As
the manuscript was coming together, its first title was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salt Variations</i>, because of the preponderance of sea imagery, not
to mention poems like “Spice Rack” and “Lot’s Wife.” As the poems piled up, I
liked the idea of Melville as a recurring character in the collection. About
ten years ago, I had the good fortune of being chosen for a National Endowment
for the Humanities Summer Institute focused on Melville and Multiculturalism.
Along with fourteen other teachers from around the country, I studied Melville
with some of the leading scholars. I teach two of his shorter works every year
in AP English. Herman floats into my mind often. Much of the sea imagery comes
in the Melville-inspired poems; “Luminescent Jellyfish,” for instance, arose
from the NEH institute and a field trip we took to Mystic, during which we
spent a night on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Charles W. Morgan</i>
whaleship. But my love of the sea is older. I grew up in the Ocean State. When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of Chickens</i> was suggested as
a title, I let the sea poems become a sort of thread, just as the chicken poems
are, and the insect poems, the slavery poems. I liked that there were many
woven subjects in the book. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you have a
favorite poem in this collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
one is it and what is significant about it for you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
always have a hard time picking favorites of anything, because I change my mind
so often, but if I had to pick one, it would be the title poem. I admire that
poem for its rhetorical set up (I saw in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
New Yorker</i> just last week that Charles Simic used a similar approach in a
poem called “Dictionary,” and I was glad I did it first!). I also like this
poem for its tone and for the character it suggests as speaker, a character I
see as true to myself.
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Are there any
prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they?
Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your
poetry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
don’t think there are any specific prose works that have influenced me as a
poet, but there are prose writers I admire for their uses of language:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Melville, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and McCarthy
come to mind. I’m a big fan of Kent Haruf, too, though there’s nothing poetic
about his writing at all. I admire his understated, simple, descriptive style
and the way he can communicate human emotion. I recommend him to everybody.
Some poems in my book were sparked by novels: “Lot’s Wife” by Vonnegut’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Slaughterhouse-Five,</i> and “Babo Speaks
from Lima” by Melville’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Benito Cereno</i>.
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: What do you
like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing? </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Gary J. Whitehead</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
enjoy gardening, painting, cooking, making and solving crossword puzzles,
walking my dog, and noodling around on the guitar. Almost all of these
activities, not surprisingly, are solitary and meditative, so maybe they do
have something to do with poetry or writing.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for your time and thoughtful
responses, Gary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s close with your
favorite poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of Chickens</i>. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">There should be a word for the way<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">they look with just one eye, neck bent,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">for beetle or worm or strewn grain.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">“Gleaning,”maybe, between “gizzard”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">and “grit.” And for the way they run<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">toward someone they trust, their skirts<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">hiked, their plump bodies wobbling:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">“bobbling,” let’s call it, inserted<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">after “blowout” and before “brood.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">There should be terms, too, for things<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">they do not do<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span></span>like urinate or chew<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Symbol;">¾</span></span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">but perhaps there already are.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I’d want a word for the way they drink,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">head thrown back, throat wriggling,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">like an old woman swallowing<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">a pill; a word beginning with S,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">coming after “sex feather” and before “shank.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">And one for the sweetness of hens<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">but not roosters. We think<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">that by naming we can understand,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">as if the tongue were more than muscle.</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Please
visit Gary J. Whitehead at his website and learn more about his work: <a href="http://www.garyjwhitehead.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.garyjwhitehead.com/</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">
<o:p></o:p></span>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-70432508630317766902013-07-08T18:35:00.001-07:002014-02-13T05:14:23.941-08:00Review of A Glossary of Chickens<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pZ4FDQXXx1c/Udr55yo9NsI/AAAAAAAAALY/yLL-59hqeq0/s200/Glossary+of+Chickens.gif" height="200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="131" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the image to order <br />
<em>A Glossary of Chickens </em>from Amazon.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of
Chickens. <br />Gary J. Whitehead. </i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, March 11, 2013.
72 pages, ISBN: 978-0691157467<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
The first thing to strike one about Whitehead’s poetry is
the simple beauty of its language. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
clearly knows language as a tool to create art, to create beautiful objects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond the meaning of what is said, there is
a profound pleasure in reading something like,<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . . </span>flecks of pepper atop the soap dish
soup<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>(“Drosophila
Melanogaster”)<br />
<br />
or, with a more delicate touch, something like</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>Autumn, with its globes, the gold
and silver saved,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>hanging here and there like
something to reach for,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>has become this time to walk
through</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>(“Warren”)<br />
<br />
These are the kinds of linguistic graces that feed the more
rarified elements in the sensibility, the depths that only a handful of prose
writers ever reach, and even when they do, do so only as they approach the
province of poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The second thing to strike a reader of Whitehead’s poetry is
the simple pleasure of following his mind through its connections, both serious
and humorous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, his latest
collection (his third), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of
Chickens</i>, opens its first section with a poem called, “The Wimp.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this “chicken” is such, as the poem says,
because “I lack wherewithal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so,
one of the primary thematic threads is established and probed, which is the
question of purpose or intention and how it threads or thwarts true
living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This motif is introduced along with
others in the opening proem of the collection, “Oyster.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The negative image of the oyster as “all abductor-muscled,”
filtering the world, the “as-yet/with now instead/of then,” leads into
questions of the past and present crisscrossing as they do with the attempt to
understand life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the poem ends with
advice to this tightly closed animal, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>Better to be rent apart,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>all jiggly and liberated,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>than to fret an irk until it’s
pearled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
And here we have the seed of thematic contention: how what
appeared to be a needed vessel – like a shell – can come into conflict with
inspired living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such vessels can be in
many shapes, they could be people we once cherished or plans as simple as
naming things that mislead us into thinking “that by naming we can understand,”
or certain desires that are part of “the unrealizable certainty/of the way
things should be.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What often shocks us
out of these ruts is death, or the threat of death, the various kinds of
loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the shapes of that threat wake
us to living as it is meant to be, or to the simple pleasure of being alive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>Why overprioritize long-term plans</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>at the expense of our present
enjoyment?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>(“Drosophila
Melanogaster”)<br />
<br />
But it is not a simple insight to live by, about as easy as
making a flower bloom by yelling at it to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The root problem is “we are pinioned by whatever
we are.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tragedy that often shocks
us back into inspired living becomes nothing but a season to the quotidian, as
the salt pile of “Lot’s Wife,” by the end of that poem, and after people have
moved on from the tragedy of the city’s destruction, becomes nothing more than
“salt with which//to season for a while their meat, their daily bread.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>From beginning to end, the collection is a transformation of
the idea of death, from a tragedy that we try to elude or which makes us
cherish life, to a shedding in the form of all loss necessary to life as it
moves forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> of living gives way to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i>
as life is embraced in the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or,
as it says in “Death Watches,” “Not why, then, but when to bite/and what
like.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This transformation is also
reinforced by succeeding poems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, in
the final section, the poem “Death Watches” is followed by “In the Butterfly
Conservatory.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from the butterfly
being a timeworn image of transformation and renewal, the poem concludes </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>There must be room for joy,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>a door to the other side.<br />
<br />
This transformation is mirrored in the full arc of the final
section, which opens with a poem called “Slaveship” and ends with a poem called
“Ararat” where Noah contemplates the remains of the ark years after it served
its purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The slaveship becomes that
discarded ark that carried the needed cargo for the world to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that its purpose is served, it is not
needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any plan that has served its
purpose, if we continue to follow it, becomes a prison, a trap, a
slaveship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be as if Noah had
kept his family and the animals on the ship after the waters receded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wisdom and this collection teach us to abandon
the plans that have served their purpose, the various stratagems that enslave
us, just as the poem “Ararat” concludes with the observation </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>Above the green plateau there is always grief,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . . . . . . . . .</span> </span>which, inspired, becomes the breath of life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Throughout, this collection is a pleasure to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only one puzzle piece did not fit: its section
breaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coherence of the collection
is so clear and the progression from one poem to the next so strong, even when
crossing from section to section, the section breaks seemed rather forced to
frame the thematic development unnecessarily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thankfully these section breaks don’t do any harm to the
collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Glossary of Chickens</i>
is one of the more beautiful and subtle collections I’ve read in some
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact I haven’t even touched on
the nuanced distinction the collection makes between memory and the past or
explored the significance of how the collection’s third poem is about Lot’s
Wife and the concluding poem about Noah and the seeming bridge between them is
Melville. But I will leave these for readers to search out themselves since
there are simply too many connections to explore in a brief review.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Though it is never said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Glossary of Chickens</i> suggests that life is truly lived when it is lived
like good jazz rather than as an agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In fact, we need to break free of agendas, free of the plans that have
served their purpose, in order to truly live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This may be the reason for the underlying sea imagery throughout the
collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps that connection to
the sea suggests the importance of flowing, of letting go and moving on, like a
river, like water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection is a
quiet carpe diem, not shouting it, as so many literary works do, as if seizing
the day were only possible to the loudmouthed and frantic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, it seems to say that enjoying our
daily bread with full awareness is the profoundest form of seizing the day.</div>
</div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-65410381318159906812013-03-09T19:37:00.001-08:002013-03-10T15:22:51.439-07:00Enrique Lihn: Charting the Voids<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Figures-Speech-Poems-Enrique-Lihn/dp/0924047178/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362886428&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=enrique+lihnfigures+of+speech" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o-3F2IMpOWs/UTv-AwlApQI/AAAAAAAAAKk/pGvc4Y-iBRU/s320/Lihn.jpg" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to go to Amazon.com<br />
to order. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the great pleasures in reading is discovering writers
one never read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A good friend sent me an
article on the richness of Chile’s poetic landscape and based on that article I
purchased <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Figures of Speech</i>, a selection
of poems by poet Enrique Lihn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lihn was
born in Santiago in 1929.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he was
very prolific as a poet, playwright, essayist, novelist and short story writer,
and I read that several volumes of his work have been translated into English,
those translations seem very scarce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scanning
through an Amazon search, only 2 of the 4 English translations that came up were
readily available. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
To say anything about a poet one reads in translation is
sketchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are things one can
say and things worth saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The overall
arc of his style still carries through, I’m sure, and what marks it out is how
it builds on voids and absences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
significance of his topics emerges from the accumulation of what remains unsaid
about them, or rather what he says around them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It may be a consequence of his persistent concern for the limitations of
language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like other poets who take up language
and it limitations as a subject, a poet like George Oppen, Lihn is somewhat
experimental in his approach, though not so syntactically complex as
Oppen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Lihn “style sure isn’t the
man/but a summary of all his uncertainties.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Uncertainties accumulate in Lihn’s sparsely punctuated poems in an
attempt, it seems, to create a context for those uncertainties, a kind of
linguistic net.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When he traveled the United States and Canada, his
observations always picked out the odd and alienated, the homeless who were rendered
otherworldly by the extremity of their destitute living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The genderless “Brooklyn Monster,” the woman
in Toronto who stared at the dying youth with her eyes of snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lihn sees these homeless people not as mere figures
of economic failure but as something of the repressed specters of our society’s
apparent success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he says elsewhere, “we’re
overrun by inhuman times.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In another place he says, “all our ways of meaning things
are contaminated.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus the darker sides
of our society are closest to purity, or at least, to accuracy in depicting the
soul of our society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the poem “The
Age of Data,” he puts his finger on the spiritual failure of mid-to-late 20<sup>th</sup>
century thinking: the failure of pure analysis, our god of information, for <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Instead of joining, we separate<o:p></o:p></div>
Separation and information are confounded<o:p></o:p><br />
and data is just the opposite of God.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It’s no wonder that his poems have the force of a Prokofiev
sonata and the power of a Turner painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their ability to suggest or conjure an impression are what stir the
deepest response and engage the harshest emotions, much as the way Robert
Lowell’s best poems do with their images and tone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a rather strange thing considering
that Lihn first attempted to be a painter in college, but after turning to
writing he produced, instead of a poetry of dense meticulous imagery, a poetry
of limpid images that disclose a depth of subtler thematic implications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So his poem on Turner concludes with something
that might describe his poetics, <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
the moment that consumes the substance<o:p></o:p></div>
and leaves only the embers of Being<o:p></o:p><br />
that conflagration that comes from clouds and wind<o:p></o:p><br />
and burns—spread out on the waters—its image.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGSKqmlGCw/UTv-sSrxBSI/AAAAAAAAAKs/t1ZEoOlQNac/s1600/Lihn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGSKqmlGCw/UTv-sSrxBSI/AAAAAAAAAKs/t1ZEoOlQNac/s1600/Lihn2.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGSKqmlGCw/UTv-sSrxBSI/AAAAAAAAAKs/t1ZEoOlQNac/s1600/Lihn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGSKqmlGCw/UTv-sSrxBSI/AAAAAAAAAKs/t1ZEoOlQNac/s1600/Lihn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: left;" unselectable="on">
</div>
</a>Lihn is always at the end of the world, always looking over
the cliff into what is not possible and defining the edge of that cliff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Life, beauty, is like this; or to put it a
better way is unthinkable/a mirage one cannot stop thinking of.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a dangerous terrain to chart, for at
the linguistic edge all other edges converge—historical, philosophical,
religious—and so even if he doesn’t occasionally fall into a cliché, he does
sometimes dance around a truism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
is worth exploring the boundaries between “Art and Life,” old world and new
world, nature and art, life and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In the last weeks of Lihn’s life, he composed poems
confronting the impossible enigma of death in the most personal terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are possibly the least interesting poems
of the collection as they court those truisms more often than elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they have their moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, facing the end, he is looking
farther into those dark places, those voids to discover the defining spaces around
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For him, his poetry had become <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>death,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
the dream of writing where all discomfort has its place</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
the prison of your being that deprived you of the other name
of love</div>
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . </span>written silently upon the
wall.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In his final weeks—dying just months shy of his 60<sup>th</sup>
birthday in 1988—Lihn writing, revising, even correcting proofs of his final collection
the night before his death, he was connecting the limitations of the self with
the limitations of language and life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
final poems seem less elaborate, sometimes pointed and powerful, at others not
fully engaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet they mark the closer
of a life devoted to poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If art
imitates life and we are “works of art momentarily alive,” there is in connecting
the limitations of life and language an insight into the nature of the self,
the constructed ego and how its grammar breaks down at the edges or in the face
of what is hard or impossible to define.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps lying in bed he realized<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Facing death he resists the giving in<o:p></o:p></div>
even though touched by it he’s a shadow<o:p></o:p><br />
but a shadow of something, clinging<o:p></o:p><br />
to the imitation of life.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
His life had become a work of art, a painted representation
of the patterns he had followed, sketched into his poems and other writings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, this calls to mind Wallace Stevens
who traced a similar trajectory in the imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, Lihn stakes as much in the
imagination as Stevens, though with less insistence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lihn also had the grit of the quotidian in
his poetry, the hard, troubled reality that life in a politically volatile
place as Chile would produce in others of his generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His voice never stops insisting on the
negative spaces that define the apparent truth; much like a Taoist insists
there is no mountain without a valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-86925093816489692222013-02-10T19:45:00.002-08:002013-02-12T18:45:29.383-08:00Interview with Poet Richard Levine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EEuAm3k0_iM/URhkyeY4F8I/AAAAAAAAAKE/Rg2lKZwGDA4/s1600/Richard+Levine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EEuAm3k0_iM/URhkyeY4F8I/AAAAAAAAAKE/Rg2lKZwGDA4/s320/Richard+Levine.JPG" width="240" /></a>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you,
Richard, for agreeing to an interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Your
latest collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Tide of a Hundred
Mountains</i>, opens with a poem that poses a problematic relationship to
objects of desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other poems in the
collection seem to touch on questions of desire in some way, such as
“Evolution?” “Hands I Watched,” and “Trick or Treat.” Could you comment on the
exploration of desire in the collection and what you see as its role?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I’d say that
to the extent that the book is concerned with desire, there’s one object of
desire, and that is my life, what I’ve experienced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each poem is an exploration of how I’ve
attempted to embrace what is given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While desire of the flesh is most gripping (sic), the drive to act well
in the world is more enduring and more difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what does it mean to act well in the
world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we give that value in a
poem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at the two veterans in
“Disturbing The Peace.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re in a bar
and one suddenly starts telling a horrific story that’s haunted him for
decades, and he’s shouting, losing control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His friend shuttles him outside to protect him from the scrutiny of
others at the bar, and to listen to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just as in war, they’re still rescuing each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, in “Fences Down” another vet is
having a PTSD episode that drives him into the woods in the night and
rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it a literal or figurative
forest; and the storm?<span style="color: red;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>By morning, emerging from the forest, he wonders “why a storm is
his to carry.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His desire is to be more
stable, but unlike the two vets in “Disturbing …” he’s alone in his
struggle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In “Picket Fences” a young
white man sees racism through the eyes of a black girl friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’d both desire an end to prejudice, but
their subjectivity to it is very different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And there are fences throughout the book’s poems that keep us from or
protect desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Parallel Universes” is
a funny parallel to “Picket …,” because two people appear to be looking at the
same thing but what they chose to focus on is very different – it’s their
desires that are different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You and I
both read and write poems, but probably are satisfied by different gifts within
them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the poems in the collection seem to
seek the heart-truth of a situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
thinking of poems like “Equating Love,” “Late Hour,” or “Measuring
Absence.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of these bear witness to
our conflicting emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For you, what
is the significance of this conflict in your poems?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, what does it mean for us – people in
general – in trying to do what is right in the larger world you often confront
in your poems?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: James Baldwin,
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fire Next Time</i>, said ‘Most
people know the right thing to do, but they don’t act on it.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, for me, one of the most important things
about being in the world is to act for the right reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sounds moralistic—well, why not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are we here for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re living in a time when avarice, cruelty,
and violence are out of control, worse, they’re in vogue ... being a psychopath
is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i>, man! Gordon Gekko was not our
generation’s Scrooge, he’s an example of and role model for the Koch Brothers,
the Donald Trumps, the Sheldon Adelsons, the IMF, World Bank and a journalism
and world view that makes the global economy more important than global
warming, war more meaningful than peace, information more valuable than
knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who want to earn their
living by doing things that make the most difference or contribute the most are
looked down on by those who want to make the most money or insatiably acquire
the most things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writing can be one way
of acting against this psychopathic age of raging greed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I consider myself an activist, and when
social confrontation becomes an occasion for a poem that’s great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> In the poem
“His Own Missouri,” it says Meriwether Lewis “wrote of how beauty and violence
wed, in the blind plunge of waterfalls.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you find this yourself in nature?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How do you situate man in his relationship to nature with that mix of
beauty and violence?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: Yes, I do find
this beauty-violence in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I
encourage all nature readers to read the Lewis and Clark journals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they lack in literary merit they more
than make up for in simple narrative drive and, even dampened by the cool,
distanced military voice, the true ring of discovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis’ observations, in particular, are
classic left brain-right brain: the practical centers are awed by the force of
nature, while the aesthetic centers are awed by beauty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They got to see the wilderness in a stage of
evolution set for us by eons of explosions and fireballs and the slow knitting
of an organism that sustains us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis
and Clark trekked out long before the Industrial Revolution, so although we
were already attacking the environment in our desire for agriculture and
energy—our fuel of choice and technical capability was wood, trees, at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, the changes climate change is
expected to bring are going to be too rapid for us to adapt to, so we’re going
to have to figure out how to survive super storms and weather of unfathomable
force and configurations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Wordsworth
wrote: “For this, for everything, we are out of tune.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
week of Tropic Storm Lee, which was about a week after Hurricane Irene, I was
in upstate New York which was devastated—farmers crossing crop fields in row
boats, propane tanks hanging from telephone poles, bridges crushed by
collections of downed trees that had been swept along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to get into town, but couldn’t,
rapids were running over all the roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was frightening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in a
house whose walls and windows strained and at times made me wonder if they
could hold as long as the storm might rage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The power was out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At night,
there was thunder and lightning, and the lightning was like<span style="color: #00b050;"> </span>heat lightning that strobed almost
continuously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was eerie, like the
whole sky was an eye opening and closing every few seconds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been through monsoons, but never
experienced anything like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
beauty and violence Lewis saw was an expression of how nature evolved to keep
itself in balance, what I was watching was nature’s expression of being out of
balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if scientific models are
right, ‘we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
don’t have to be poets to see our jones for oil as a destructive desire and addiction.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Your poem “Trick
or Treat” portrays Halloween as a kind of holiday that indoctrinates children
into a culture of greed and gluttony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The poem recalled to my mind Wordworth’s “The World is Too Much With
Us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m curious what you see as the
antidote to that gluttony, our cultural exaltation of “greed as good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or even our still unquestioned belief in
perpetual growth, which is also a form of greed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not raising our kids to be Gordon Gekko is
one action we can take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t help
thinking after the Sandy Hook school shooting that even in the face of that
there were humans somewhere who were thinking:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> this’ll be good for business, just lay low until the grieving’s over.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, in fact, it has been good for
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sales of assault weapons are
on the rise since then, and this has been true after most mass shootings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to fuel the sales and rabid paranoia the
wingnuts from FOX and on Limbaugh and Hannity are talking about the possibility
of Obama refusing to leave office, suggesting that he’s got the military and
law enforcement under his command … I don’t think it’s a coincidence that
they’re beating this drum while some leaders are trying to promote a civil and
serious discussion about gun control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of the constants of our constitution is the amending of its amendments—so who
hallowed the ground around the Second Amendment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly not soldiers or police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My money’s on the gun manufacturers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a challenge for how to act in the world,
we need to pressure our leaders and they have to enact laws—and, of course, the
wealthy psychopaths are going to act to protect their profits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>William Stafford had a line in one of his
poems about being concerned about how to hold his wings in response to some crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I always thought he got that idea from
Akhmatova, who also employs a similar image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe they were both thinking that we are or have the will and power
to be the angels that save ourselves, and through that the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the Talmud adage: To save one person is
to save the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> The closing
poem of the collection, just like the opening one, has the image of snow in
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The closing poem also bears the line
from which the collection takes its title, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Tide of a Hundred Mountains</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
title and the poem gave me a sense of location within the larger arcs of
geologic time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if this was
your intent and, if so, if you could comment on that significance within the
collection’s concerns with desire and shared responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: The first poem
involves a young boy playing in the snow and the last poem an old man on a
playful sort of pilgrimage in the snow “…carrying his own kind of hunger.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He looks out on “a tide of a hundred
mountains” that were once the bottom of a lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So there’s all these different measures of time: the lifetime of years
between the boy and the aged man, but also the time between hunger and
fulfillment, the trees he hikes among growing by annual rings, the geologic
time for the mountains to amass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
poem opens with the image of a hawk circling—snowball?—and closes with it
diving after prey “from daylight to the dark,/immaculate feet of the
forest.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just before watching the
hawk’s dive the narrator wonders “What has he found/that he believes in…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And throughout the book there are time
markers: anniversaries, holidays, evolution, the time it takes to <span style="color: #00b050;">‘</span>become the bearer’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s it all mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knows?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What are we here for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You are
politically active or at least a politically concerned poet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve exchanged e-mails on topics mostly
related to hydraulic fracturing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do
you see as the poet’s role in the framework of his country?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should a poet be politically active?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should that influence what he writes and, if
yes, how?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: This poet
should be politically active.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel strongly
about it, and I think it influences my thinking and writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I never sit down and think I should write
a poem about fracking or climate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
ask what I think a poet’s role is in their country, I’d say write as truly
about what they’re experiencing, what it’s like to live where they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t they lock Brodsky up because he was
more interested in his day to day struggle than the feats of the ‘system’?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a poem, a sonnet, I think, and the
first stanza is about the nuclear arms race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the second, he imagines that one the day nukes start flying he’ll go
across the city to his lover and hopes scientists a thousand years from then
will find them locked in each others’ arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it political?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does it tell us how Brodsky acted in the
world in which he lived and what it was like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will it be read a thousand years from now?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">You are also a
great lover of jazz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel this
love has influenced your poetry and if so, how?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music brought me to poetry, beginning with
rock n’roll and blues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chuck Berry and
Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters made me want to write in rhymes
that were physical, about all that goes on between a man and a woman <span style="color: #00b050;">… </span>and an automobile … I was a kid and didn’t know
about any of that, so it was all exotic<span style="color: #00b050;"> </span>and
exciting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Concision is the great lesson
lyrics and musical phrases continue to teach me, the electric emotion one note
or one word can deliver across time and space and make you quake at its
expression, in a concert hall or in your living room, or pouring tin and static
out of a car radio or from a transistor radio under your pillow when your
parents think you’re sleeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the
time I was listening to classical and jazz I was reading poetry and that opened
more possibilities, including the idea that anything you could or could not
embrace in the world could be a topic for a poem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do you have a
favorite poem in this collection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
one is it and what is significant about it for you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I think
“Disturbing The Peace,” because there’s so much pain veterans carry and since
WWII they haven’t had to do it so much for a greater common good, but for
narrow interests and profit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way we
treat or ignore them when they return is even criminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The largest demographic populations of
homeless are Vietnam vets, my peers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are over 56,000 names of American soldiers killed in Vietnam on
the memorial wall in DC—none of the MIAs or Vietnamese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than twice that number of Vietnam vets
have committed suicide!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than
double!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fastest growing demographic
of homeless are the vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, and their suicide rates are
already outpacing those of Vietnam vets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How can we continue to watch all this degradation and deterioration of
people and our environment, and in the name of profit?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And
the military is no longer democratic; this all volunteer army is a troubling
feature of the increasing distance between the haves and have-nots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I oppose war, in general, but if we are to go
to war I think we should require the support of a<span style="color: #00b050;"> </span>majority
of the people, who must be willing to fight and/or send their children to fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Orwell said, observing his own time
but it seems to fit well now, too, that the middle class helped capitalism,
which is just a form of fascism by another name, to replace the democratic
state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I’m
also disgusted by current<span style="color: #00b050;"> </span>journalism that no
longer covers war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who made that decision?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And today the Times announced that they are
disbanding their environmental reporting staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How could they do that just when politicians are beginning to talk about
climate change?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will we know?<span style="color: #00b050;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>So we have<span style="color: #00b050;"> </span>no reporting and only the poor have to go to war
(because there are no other jobs because of outsourcing).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And soon, if the Times has its way, no
environmental reporting as the world tilts toward the escalating cycle of
biblical storms.<span style="color: #00b050;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>When you think about that you have to ask: A free press?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A democracy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I like to think that the poem addresses some of these issues, and that
poetry can move us physically and emotionally to feel the desperateness of our
situation in ways that an article, report, statistics, or a rant never will—it
delivers that wedding of beauty and violence that exists beyond the syntax of
reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few times in this interview
I’ve posed the question, what are we here for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t want the answer to be self-annihilation, taking down armies of
other innocent species with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
something worth acting against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Are there any
prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they?
Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your
poetry?</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: I don’t know
how it’s influenced my poetry, other than giving me additional models for
saying things well and true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read a
lot of nature/science writers from John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Wendell Berry
to Bernd Heinrich, Hal Borland, and E. O. Wilson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And love nature guides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there’s social commentary, Charles
Dickens, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Woody Guthrie, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph
Campbell, Emerson—or should he go in with the nature writers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And where does Michael Pollan go, food
writing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s as much science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>M.F.K. Fischer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, and great writers who are great reporters
and talkers: Studs Terkel, Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And David Howarth, if only for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1066</i>, which is extraordinary but what
genre, history, history with fictional structure, historical fiction?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not big on literary criticism or theory,
but Brodsky’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homage to Robert Frost</i>
includes a painstaking explication of “Home Burial” that you could cry
reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And William Stafford’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deep Down in My Heart</i> about his time in
CO camps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More ‘witnesses,’ Primo Levi,
Elie Wiesel, Pete Seeger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like all
the unsung poets in journals, all the unsung article writers in a million
magazines that help us know and understand what life is like in other skins and
other places on this planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George
Carlin had a great line about how the planet would survive our ecological
crisis, where we are the petard hoisters: “The planet’s going to shake us off
like a dog with a bad case of fleas.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, he’d stick out one leg sideways and shake it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: What do you
like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Richard Levine</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">: It’s all related
to writing poetry, because that’s part of how I find myself, even at 65.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that I’m retired I have time to do more
things, and I find that, I do best and enjoy myself most when I do what I did
as a kid: read, play music, draw, run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Activism takes up time in spurts, but it’s almost daily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I keep a pretty ambitious food garden in
summer, which I call a pot garden, because everything I grow there has to go in
one pot to make pizza and pasta sauces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, of course, lots of poems are grown there, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also trying to introduce sustainable
argo-forestry practices in a woodland I have upstate—I avoid the word “own,”
because trees make the word small and foolish (outside of a court of law).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Michael T. Young</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks for your time and thoughtful responses,
Richard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s close with your favorite
poem from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tide of a Hundred Mountains</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Disturbing The
Peace</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">1.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“We
were talking about Afghanistan, too,” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">one
of the young women at the bar said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They
knew facts, news, analysis, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">some
important names and dates; </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">history
– we knew what we lived.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">They
weren’t even born when we fought</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">in
Vietnam.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Do
you want to know what war is about?” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jake
asked the talkative one.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t
say it, Jake,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hand added</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">insistence
on his arm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Did
you ever kill anyone?” he asked her.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">She
did not know where to look.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“That’s
what war is about, sweetie!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not fucking</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">politics!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You help with the killing and the killing </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">helps
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, you go home!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Case closed!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Shut
up, Jake!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t
shut me up, Richard!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m warning you, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">don’t
shut me up!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We
were sitting at one end, and along</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
bar people looked up, not at Jake and me, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">but
at shouting stereotypes, at headlines: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Viet Vets In
Drunken Brawl: </span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></span><span class="title"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">BANG!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BANG!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>BANG!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jake
raised a hand to the bartender, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
shook my hand to wave him off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Who
the fuck are you!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jake slurred,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">leaning
in too close, no less loud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Did
you ever kill anyone?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“You
know, Jake,” I said, “but I’ll send </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">you
my resume, again.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t
fuck with me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m warning you, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">don’t
fuck with me!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Back
us all up, here, Steve,” he shouted,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">pushing
a fist of cash forward, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
turning back to the women.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Did
you ever wake up in a rice paddy</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
kill a fifteen-year-old kid?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ever
have to do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Let’s
go out and smoke, Jake.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">He
looked at me knowing I didn’t</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fighting did not find words,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">but spoke in us like the name</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of something we both wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He placed </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">coaster over the rim of his glass
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">so
the bartender would know he’d be back<span class="title">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="title"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I pulled on my coat and walked out, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jake and eyes following.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Here
I will ask for the privacy you’d extend </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
lovers, because a complicated intimacy</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is
at the heart of what passed between us</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">out
there; decades and allegiances carried to </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
laid upon that altar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I ask, too,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for
the forgiveness reserved for those</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">who
deserve but cannot forgive themselves</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">or
relieve the burden of carrying</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">more
than their own time.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">3.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There
is a feral loneliness you carry </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from
war to your grave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That isolation </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is
why Jake and I were outside the Inn, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">forty
years after.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">4.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
am just an old soldier, like all the others</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">going
back to Odysseus, his story being</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
enlistment of all those before and after,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">all
of us forever bound to brothers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">If
we stood on each others’ shoulders,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
reach beyond the screams of red flares, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the
moon could roll down our rolled up sleeves </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
light fields of fire for a young sentry fighting</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">anywhere
to stay awake in the dark far </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">from
a home he’ll never return to, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">even
if he comes back.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">5.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Jake
and I were not alone on the outside </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of
the Brooklyn Inn, late, on that cold winter night. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Divisions
from the expanding Afghan war </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
from battles we had fought and survived </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">roiled
awake and moved out with us, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">securing
the losses we had carried </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
stand here, under a streetlamp that can </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">no
more bring to light the pain of witness, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">than
bare the roots under stubborn curbside trees, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">stripped
to winter bones and dormancy, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
always, especially at night, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">alive
with their own shadows.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">6.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Though
there are no flares – only flare-ups – </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to
mark this spot for a medevac, I tell you this:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">a brother is down here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have only my piss</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">poor triage to go by: but I’d say no one
is coming</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">for us anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just us out here, just us.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span class="title"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“C’mon
in, Jake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll buy the next round.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">7.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Inside,
in silence, Jake finished the beer he’d left </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
with no more than a nod walked out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
round I’d bought him sat sweating, even </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">after
the young women took their leave, smiling </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">shyly
and averting their eyes as they went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">it
was just Steve and me, the jukebox jazz, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and
the barroom full of people </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">with
their own stories to tell, a few, no doubt, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">fueled
by drink, going beyond what can be said</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
without disturbing the peace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
<br />
As an activist against fracking, Richard Levine also wrote "The Talkin' Frackin' Blues." Take a listen: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QCrTfxOBRo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QCrTfxOBRo</a><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tide-Hundred-Mountains-Richard-Levine/dp/1892471698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360554069&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Tide+of+a+hundred+mountains" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9rqBtkxVYs/URhoKKSvUmI/AAAAAAAAAKU/VYGkiRbp-tI/s320/A+Tide+of+a+Hundread+Mountains2.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to order<br />
A Tide of a Hundred Mountains<br />
From Amazon.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span> </div>
Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-26437850406887647972013-02-10T19:45:00.001-08:002013-02-10T19:45:26.748-08:00Review of A Tide of a Hundred Mountains<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tide-Hundred-Mountains-Richard-Levine/dp/1892471698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360554069&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Tide+of+a+hundred+mountains" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q-cUC0errYk/URhgIl-IPbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/1Md9epLg6SU/s320/A+Tide+of+a+Hundread+Mountains2.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to purchase <br />
A Tide of a Hundred Mountains <br />
on Amazon.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Tide of a Hundred
Mountains. Richard Levine.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
Treadwell, NY: Bright Hill Press, June 1, 2012. 64 pages,
ISBN: 978-1892471697<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Many poets strive to marry aesthetic demands with a social
conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a difficult marriage
that many are only occasionally successful at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Richard Levine is consistently successful at this difficult
balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is true of his earlier
work as with his current collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Tide of a Hundred Mountains</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This collection takes on the problem of how our desires
betray us and often also betray the object of our desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the wake of that problem, the collection
tries to find a way to reconcile us to those we love in spite of that
betrayal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
The collection opens with a short, beautiful poem, called
“Snowball.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>The boy making a snowball<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>does not know his life<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>will one day be like this.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>In his hands, turning,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>compressing, turning,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>compacting, hefting,<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>until his fingers grow so cold<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>fingering objects of desire<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>he cannot feel what he holds.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
And thus the issue central to the collection is
established.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It surfaces again in
multiple poems and in numerous shapes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For instance, it is the background in the amazing poem “In a Blue Wood,”
an ekphrastic poem based on a painting by Van Gogh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After observing the painting, how the couple
in it “walk toward light,” the speaker begins speculating about them, <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>The couple cannot think of any
good <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>ever coming from anger, so they
are more happy<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span>than
not.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
A little farther on, it says<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>. . . perhaps they
are only now on their way to the <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .</span></span>place<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>where they will
become lovers.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But it is, as I said, speculation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poem concludes,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>Of course, we
can’t know any of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, even<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .</span></span></span></span></span>Van
Gogh<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>didn’t know
anything about them: so many unseen <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .</span></span></span></span></span>possibilities
<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>lived in a blue
wood, so like ours.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The distance between Van Gogh and the subjects is as great
as the distance between Van Gogh and us as viewers of the painting years in the
future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All we cannot know is contained
in the potential desire, for if we, like Van Gogh, did more than push beyond
the merely observable and given, beyond, say, the fact that they “walk toward
the light,” the act would strip the moment down to the raw nerve that is our
loneliness. But that’s what the speculation throws us back on: the attempt to
be together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The speaker says of his own
speculations, <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>That could be true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I want it to be <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>true of me, of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like us, they may have worn<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .</span></span></span></span></span></span>paths<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . .</span>to the most forest-deep secrets in
each other’s lives.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
What does he want to be true?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That “they are more happy than not.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The next poem in the collection is about a couple arguing
and the disconnection within the larger frame of common responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“At It” concludes,<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span></span>We drown and accuse,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span></span>moored to some proof<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span></span>that it was the other who failed<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span></span>to make the bed we made
together.<br />
<br />
It is this shared responsibility that begins to grow in the
collection and, whether it is our shared roots in the earth, our shared social
context, or our shared time in this life, there is a common community below the
discords that implies a need for forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An example is the poem “Disturbing the Peace,” which confronts the
difficult issue of the disparity between those who have fought in war and those
who have not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through its pains and
affirmation of the intimate ties between those who share the violent experience
of war, the poem concludes, <br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span>Then,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span>it was Steve and me, the jukebox
jazz,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>and the barroom full of people<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>with their own stories to tell,
a few, no doubt,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>fueled by drink, going beyond
what can be said<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>without disturbing the peace.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The poem affirms the commonality of a privacy too deep for
common revelation and it is this, in fact, that binds us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It recalls Proust’s insight that the personal
is universal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this kind of tie, this
commonality is what the poems seek at their core again and again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of my favorite poems, “In Place in
Mud,” it concludes,<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>And when that time rises, like
a moon<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>trawling a tide over a beach, <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>what songs will the shells you
leave<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>teach seekers from generations
and stars<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>beyond to sing amid
the retreating spume?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Our presence echoes into the future; what will be the lesson
your presence leaves to future generations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a question about the bed we make together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Happily these poems are as aesthetically pleasing as they
are thematically interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Levine is
keen to pick up assonance and he is playful and even joyful in his use of
internal rhyme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the lines above from
“In Place in Mud,” not only is the internal rhyme of beach/teach evident but
the prevailing assonance of the long “e” glides through many of the lines while
being quietly held together by the remote kinship of moon and spume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, more overtly, his music in “In a Blue
Wood,” shines where <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</span></span></span></span></span></span>The horizon<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>at the couple’s back, between the
trees, is black.<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>They walk toward light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crowds of waist-high<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"> . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>flowers,<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>on thick-leaved stalks, sing in
stout slurries of pink and<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="color: #ffffcc;">. . . . . . . . . . . . </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>white.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Levine is a jazzman at heart and the kind of rhythmic
fluctuations and surprises found in jazz are found in Levine’s poems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like jazz, they are deeply felt and
powerfully articulated, surprising and moving at the same time, while probing
the deepest parts of our humanity.Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-41110887508531848102012-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:002012-11-28T08:30:45.282-08:00The Chasm<br />
Thomas Mann said, “A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” The truth of this is rooted in a keen awareness that it isn’t easy to simply say what one means. In fact, it is arguably impossible because there isn’t a one to one relationship between words and reality. There is a frightening chasm between what we say or write and what is. Nietzsche said it simply, “all language is metaphor.” But what is so frightening is that the chasm dividing reality from language can be the cause of everything from simple misunderstandings to declarations of war. Yet it also sizzles with a vitality that gives birth to every poet, is the pregnant potential of all meaning, for it contains all that in the human imagination, in the human psyche, is real but hasn’t been reduced to a single word or phrase. It is every reality we can only hint at. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jO_BK8iFRws/ULUCCShi_tI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/7PYfNZisBDA/s1600/300px-Caspar_David_Friedrich_032_(The_wanderer_above_the_sea_of_fog).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jO_BK8iFRws/ULUCCShi_tI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/7PYfNZisBDA/s320/300px-Caspar_David_Friedrich_032_(The_wanderer_above_the_sea_of_fog).jpg" tea="true" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Wanderer Above the Sea Fog"<br />
by Caspar David Friedrich</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
Because of that chasm and its vitality, even the best writing doesn’t say what we mean so much as conjure in another mind an approximation of the reality that is in the writer’s head. Writing, in this way, resembles a kind of magic, a casting of a spell. In spite of its ambiguity, or rather because of it, poetry is the most honest kind of writing; it uses language as it is rather than as we want it to be. Poets take advantage of the inherently ambiguous quality of language to suggest, to conjure, to hint at things rather than simply state them. Emotional honesty requires a subtlety that simple statement often loses under the blade of Occam’s razor. This is also why poets are hesitant to explain their poems. What can be articulated in simple language, can be pinned with a simple meaning, is only what is already known, already explicable in previous terms. Explanation is, in a sense, a turning back from the chasm, while a poem is a stepping forward into it. The poet is building outward into the chasm between language and reality in the hope that he will extend our given landscape a few inches farther into it; shorten the distance between reality and language even if only by a single word or phrase, an image or tone. To then explain a poem is, in a sense, to chart that new extension according to the topography of the ground we have already mapped. It would be like drawing the terrain of the Rocky Mountains and then imposing a map of the Himalayas over it as a way of explaining it. </div>
<br />
This is not to say we can’t convey truth in language. Though we may never be able to bridge that chasm, we can, by our choice of words and syntax, move closer to or farther away from reality. William Faulkner said, “<span class="st">Facts and truth really don't have much to do with each other</span>.” This too has something to do with that chasm. In many ways, what we say and write has less to do with what is objectively real and more to do with what that reality means to us. It is the nature of perception, for perception is judgment. This is why poetry and art remain as relevant as Schrodinger’s cat. Though we can’t bridge the chasm permanently, all poetry is about bridging the chasm. It is about fostering sympathy by teaching us to make imaginative leaps beyond our daily routines, our mundane expectations, or common perceptions or judgments. In the same creative flash that leads the poet to break through his own clichés, the reader may follow and in a eureka moment be united with the mind of the poet and for that instant, we know what it is like to be together across space, time, and that terrible chasm, we know what it is like to take yesterday’s glasses off and see today as it is now. In the words of Wallace Stevens<br />
<br />
We make a dwelling in the evening air,<br />
In which being there together is enough.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-10750017099163167222012-10-12T10:25:00.000-07:002012-11-27T08:52:34.733-08:00Interview with Poet Dean Kostos<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f5nYxRIQZJ0/UHhG8hcepZI/AAAAAAAAAI0/FzMbfxSGd_8/s1600/Dean+Kostos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" nea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f5nYxRIQZJ0/UHhG8hcepZI/AAAAAAAAAI0/FzMbfxSGd_8/s320/Dean+Kostos.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Thank you, Dean, for accepting my invitation for an interview. I’m so happy to have a chance to discuss your poetry. <br />
<br />
Your latest collection, <em>Rivering</em>, takes its title from Joyce’s <em>Finnegans Wake</em>. I wondered if you could comment on how you feel your collection helps define or redefine that word? What does it mean in light of your new collection?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: You know, when poets discover that we may have a number of poems, approximating a collection, we look for themes and key words--some unifying principle. Well, I noticed bodies of water threading throughout the poems. So, I ransacked every lexicon I could to find the right word, but none seemed right. Then I was walking to work through the tunnel beneath Bryant Park and saw a lovely excerpt from <em>Finnegans Wake</em> (inscribed in mosaic), with a word Joyce had coined, "rivering." I experienced it as both a noun and a verb. It did what a poem must do: It enacted its reality. The word seemed to course like a river; it was alive.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Many of the poems in <em>Rivering</em> address issues of memory or history? The poem “Reliquary Room” says, “I bask in the past” and ends with the line “one self among rows of others.” What do you see as the relationship between memory and history and the relationship between self-identity and both of those? <br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: As I think you know, I am not a morose person. However, I do think about death. I guess we all do. Deaths define our personal histories and insist that we come to terms with our own mortality and what it is we hope to leave when we die. In addition, that poem focuses on two people. One is my maternal grandmother, with whom I was very close. My love of the surreal comes from her. She used to tell me folk tales from her Greek village, replete with talking almond trees and jealous roses. The other person is my father, who suffered for many years with Parkinson's disease. Even though our relationship had been problematic, he taught me to respect precision in language. He was a lawyer. Sadly, the disease robbed him of the ability to talk.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: You have said you like a little surrealism in poems and your poems offer twists on perceptions such as “the sun is not a ball of barbed wire, but a bleeding tangle of nerves.” Who do you feel are your most significant influences in this regard? Also, what, for you, is the significance of surrealism in poetry, what’s its function?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: The surreal poem is, among other things, image-driven. I believe that's part of the allure, but even before I ever read Surrealist poetry, I was writing it. In one of the first workshops I attended, I brought in a poem about shaving and gathering the whiskers and molding them into a vase. Aside from tracing my surrealist roots back to my grandmother, there was my love of the Beatles: "[W]earing the face she keeps in a jar by the door." Along with Hopkins, the Beatles were my first poetry love. The language of surrealism showed me a way to untangle and explore a difficult emotional life.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Many of the poems in <em>Rivering </em>deal with historical silences, or unwritten histories or memories. Was there any intentional connection between this and the cover art you chose which depicts a Native-American Indian? If so, what were those connections? How do they relate to the collections themes?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: I grew up in South Jersey, where the Lenape tribe had lived. I was obsessed by them and used to write stories as the persona Red Feather. That name was magical to me. Of course, the world is full of histories of conquests and invasions where the earlier inhabitants are seen as undesirable. My father's parents were Greek refugees from Asia Minor where Greeks had lived since the time of Homer. Human history is tragic. Hopefully, in studying it, we can become more compassionate toward others. <br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: A number of poems in <em>Rivering </em>are ekphrastic and even seem to play a redemptive role. Do you see art as redemptive and if so in what way is it redemptive? <br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: Hugely. As a suicidal teen, who spent two years in a mental hospital for my various attempts, it was art, in all its permutations, which became the most real thing to hold onto. It was a vessel into which I could endlessly pour my hurt and grief, finding my emotions transformed. It was an act of alchemy and love. It is one more reason to support the arts in the public schools.<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_1106880014"></span> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rivering-Dean-Kostos/dp/193313237X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350059890&sr=1-1&keywords=rivering+by+dean+kostos" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" nea="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rKnYsufO5DI/UHhHODu4BMI/AAAAAAAAAI8/HEc-T4XNK_M/s320/Rivering_cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click image to go to Amazon <br />
and purchase <em>Rivering</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_1106880015"></span> <br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The poem “Dwarf Pushing Pram” says of the figure “Forsaken, she retreats into being needed.” And the poem “Introducing John L. Sullivan” says of the trainer, “Whatever he wants, he finds intimacy in being useful and accepts his role.” Is usefulness a kind of compensation for the silences or denials the poems disclose? If so, how do you see this played out in our society?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: You're very perceptive. I hadn't noticed the similarity between those lines until a friend recently pointed them out. On a more personal level, they refer to times when I fell in love and then the relationship ended, because the other person ended it. Realizing that the object of my affection would now only exist as a friend, I decided to make myself into a very devoted friend—a desire to remain connected.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: In “The Stones of the City,” we read “Dense as complicity, we buttress skyscrapers.” To what extent does our complicity in our world make it harder to redress the silences of history and the oppression of the present?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: This title is taken from one of the many prompts that Ted Hughes wrote for Sylvia Plath, but for which she never wrote poems. I am a political person, but not a political poet. But here, I am making a political statement. Any number of people—workers of various stripes—who are seen as disposable and of little worth are, ironically, the ones whose labor creates the foundation for the edifice of our society. As an adjunct professor, I empathize with that plight. It is a plight shared by many.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The arc of the book seemed to go from confronting historical silences to the freedom to spiritually create a new self. Did you see this as the general arc of the book? If so, to what extent do you see the confrontation with the past as a spiritual exercise? What characterizes that confrontation as a spiritual exercise and not merely a historical one?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: I have always been mesmerized by history, personal and global. But the arc of the book owes a great deal to advice given to me by my friend, the poet Nicholas Samaras. He suggested that I structure the collection with a novelistic arc: introduction, rising action with conflict, crisis/climax, falling action, resolution. And yes, in the confrontation with hurts and wounds, there is a trajectory toward a more authentic self. It's almost like what Michelangelo said of <em>The David</em>, that he was already in the block of marble; Michelangelo simply needed to chip away everything that wasn't <em>The David</em>. I see our lives as a process of chipping away until we reach a more authentic self.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Do you have a favorite poem in this collection? Which one is it and what is significant about it for you? <br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: It's hard to choose. It would either be "Garden" or “Nostalgia for Now.” "Garden" articulates the outsider status of the poet (perhaps of all artists). For many poets, there was an early sense of not belonging, not fitting in. Precisely that perspective places one at an oblique angle to the world. It allows one to see society through a fiery bevel. <br />
<br />
"Garden" also plays off of my interest in etymology and religious imagery. For example, the word “stigmata” is the plural of “stigma,” which in Greek literally means "stain." It also clearly has religious connotations, and, more literally, is the central portion of a flower. I like words and images that are overdetermined, allowing for multiple simultaneous meanings. After all, it's a poem about transformations, and it's an elegy. It allows me to write to Daniel Simko, who died before I ever had the chance to know him. His only book, <em>The Arrival</em>, was published posthumously. My stanzas provide windows through which I attempt to make contact with Simko. The "ash" that begins and ends the elegy is a painful remainder of one's physical frailty. Ash is a potent symbol in Hinduism, Christianity and even in Aeschylus' <em>Agamemnon</em>. I would like to point out, however, that the poem is also redemptive, for it begins with brightness and ends with "suns," each of us growing our own. <br />
<br />
"Nostalgia for Now" is possibly one of my least linguistically dense poems. A lyric poem, it exists outside of time, enacting vignettes that explore an experience I don't fully understand. The poem makes no attempt to "understand" the phenomenon of recognizing people I have never met before. More than that, I have that emotional tug that one feels upon seeing an old friend, but these people are unknown to me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Are there any prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they? Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your poetry?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: Absolutely: <em>Pedro Paramo</em>, by Juan Rulfo; <em>Einstein's Dreams</em>, by Alan Lightman; and <em>Nadja</em>, by Andre Breton. Interestingly, each of those novels concerns regret and the loss of time and options. Each of those novels obsessed me, providing a thick, intoxicating atmosphere to live in. I reread each one several times. And, like any great work of art, each rereading yielded more layers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: What do you like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?<br />
<br />
<strong>Dean Kostos</strong>: I love to get away to a place with lots of trees. Bucks County is where I usually go. It's close to New York, but it's sylvan. It also has the Bucks County Playhouse, where I just saw a revival of Neil Simon's 1963 play <em>Barefoot in the Park</em>. In addition to seeing plays and musicals and frequenting shops that sell homemade chocolates, I like to walk along the river and feed the ducks.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Let’s close with one of your favorite poems from the collection, “Nostalgia for Now.”<br />
<br />
<br />
Sometimes I see people<br />
and feel as if I’ve missed them<br />
even though I may<br />
never have met them before.<br />
<br />
Say: the way a woman wears<br />
a plum-colored scarf over an old leather jacket<br />
inspires It’s so good to see her again,<br />
but I have never seen her before.<br />
<br />
Or: when I spot a young, unshaven<br />
man for the first time—trundling<br />
an encased cello down the street<br />
on its wobbling wheel—<br />
<br />
it’s as though I were peering<br />
through memory with great nostalgia:<br />
this moment in September, this wind,<br />
this peculiar green tinge of light.<br />
<br />
<br />
Find more information about Dean Kostos or his books at his website: <a href="http://deankostos.com/" target="_blank">http://deankostos.com/</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-21383806932137413352012-07-13T09:31:00.000-07:002012-07-17T18:39:24.987-07:00Interview with Poet David Joel Friedman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-63oxXS6sBkU/T_8sS40kB-I/AAAAAAAAAIo/F6LZKDk2s4U/s1600/David+Friedman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-63oxXS6sBkU/T_8sS40kB-I/AAAAAAAAAIo/F6LZKDk2s4U/s320/David+Friedman.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<strong><br /></strong><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strong></strong></div>
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Thank you, David, for this chance to talk about your poetry. <br />
<br />
You seem to write mostly if not exclusively in prose poetry. Were you inspired to write prose poems by someone you admire or did it seem the natural vehicle for your imagination? How did you start down that road?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman: </strong>For many years I wrote linguistically interesting but rather private verse. I was in a rut, and all my poems sounded the same. A friend challenged me to write a personification. It worked. I wrote a prose poem, and I have stayed with that form ever since. It has been liberating. It gives me flexibility to use alliteration and cadence and other music-making devices while achieving more accessible meaning. I also realized that some of the best poetry I ever read was prose poetry: occasionally in Shakespeare; in <em>The Marriage of Heaven and Hell</em>.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Your poems seem to move along, often propelled by wordplay and satire. Do you find that in composing you are led by the wordplay, or do you find yourself starting at first with an idea or thought about something?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman</strong>: I rarely begin with an idea or thought. Wordplay and language are most important. When I read a poem, I read the writing first, later the meaning. Thus I focus on the quality of the writing. Anyone can dish out meaning (or meaninglessness) or tell a story in verse. I like to think my poems give pleasures only poetry can give: the joys of language, music, emotional impact.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: You use the character of the green bear a lot in your poetry. What do you see the green bear as representing or symbolizing?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman</strong>: The green bear (all lower-case) is a character I invented and brought to life to take on the burden of some of my poems. He is not a symbol. I suppose it is significant to say that the bear’s color suggests his specialness as well as an apartness or alienation. Finally, bears are sort of lovable, and there are not a lot of talking green ones out there.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The poem, “Time Poem” says, “If I conclude that I am awake, how can I get where I am going without fresh obsessions and delusions?” I had a sense that the movement of time is a personal thing, not merely a measure of change by a watch or atomic clock. Is there something to this and how do you see time and our personal relationship to it?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman</strong>: I think this poem is as much about the fear of multiplicity and about the yearning for perfection as about anything else. It is also, as you say, about the movement of time as a personal thing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-National-Poetry-David-Friedman/dp/0252072928/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342195449&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Welcome+david+friedman#_" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img $ca="true" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xnNoIsY8rKA/T_8Yl1n4NwI/AAAAAAAAAIc/Bh16-dW_4xg/s1600/Welcome.jpg" /></a></div>
<em>The Welcome</em>. <em>David Joel Friedman.</em><br />
<br />
<br />
Winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series, chosen by Stephen Dunn<br />
<br />
Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, March 6, 2006. 96 pages, ISBN: 978-0252072925<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(click the image to be taken to where you can order <em>The Welcome</em>)<br />
<strong><br /></strong><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: There seem to be a few key poems in the collection <em>The Welcome</em> that connect identity, history and time: poems like “The Past,” “Time Poem,” and “Seasons” to name a few obvious ones. What do you see as the vital connection among these elements: identity, history and time? Is there any and if so what characterizes it?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> I would have to be a philosopher to answer your question. But all three are in the mix and impact on each other. Regarding History: I believe it is important to try to connect with history, especially one’s own history. Someone in my poem says that the green bear would do well to close the gap between himself and his forefathers. This is very difficult and problematic.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young: </strong>The collection also seems to explore questions of identity as in poems like “Missing Person” or “Who I Am.” They seem to suggest a slippery quality to the self, that it is not easily graspable or even wants to be graspable. As “Who I Am” says, “I am mythic and protean.” Do you feel the self is somewhat indistinct or not as definite a shape as we often take for granted or do you feel differently? How do you feel your personal thoughts on what constitute a self played into the collection? <br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> I do believe the subject of the self is slippery, like the subject of time. I think you read my work well in this regard. The question perhaps relates to the notions of being in time or outside of it; and of being both Everyman and not Everyman. So the green bear is not the same as the author. I like to think of the self as a kind of work in progress. I love Keats's idea that the world is the vale of soul-making..<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> There seems to be a need to connect with the earth within the poems as in the poem “Bird of Paradise.” The green bear figure comes in again where he is “not on any proper map” and has mixed feelings about this situation. But a bird of paradise sympathizes with him, claims to be homeless as well and guides him with the words, “Now I go by the winds, by the aromas of forests, by the strength of cataracts.” Then the green bear is assured in his place. Is this rootedness in earth and trust in his connection to the earth something you feel we have lost and need to return to? What characterizes its vitality? What do you feel would be a consequence of ignoring it?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman: </strong>I believe in the importance of rootedness. But I also believe it is not the only solution to alienation. I hope the poem speaks for itself on this. We ignore nature to our peril, and we value what is "down to earth." It's scary not to be on a map (and sad, especially when there are so many places with beautiful names). The green bear stands ambiguously alone: on his own feet and lonely. To stand alone is uncomfortable and brave. Independence is good and risky. Otherwise we would never leave home. It's good to try your wings. It's also good to use what you have and to be resourceful. So this poem seems to be "about" many things. Another is the idea that anonymity may have its virtues. Perhaps this poem is about ambiguity.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> Do you have a favorite poem in this collection? Which one is it and what is significant about it for you? <br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> The title poem, “The Welcome,” has had a lot of play, and it is, I suppose, a crowd-pleaser. But I’m not ashamed of that.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> Are there any prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they? Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your poetry?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> <em>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</em> and <em>Sons and Lovers</em> inspired and confirmed my desire to be a writer, an artist. I love both books.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> I had the pleasure of giving a reading with you recently. Do you enjoy giving readings and do you feel they help listeners enter the work in any way?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> Although I enjoy poetry readings, I believe it is easier to hear the real and subtle and complex music of a lyric poem and to apprehend its intellectual or humanistic content by reading it silently on the page.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> What do you like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?<br />
<br />
<strong>David Friedman:</strong> I like classic films, meeting with close friends including my brother, Indian food, and sitting on a Village street watching the world go by.<br />
<br />
<strong>Michael T. Young:</strong> David, thank you for taking the time for this interview. Let’s close with your favorite poem from your collection. <br />
<br />
The Welcome<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . .</span> Do you wish to immigrate to my heart? Where are your<br />
papers? What are your purposes?<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . .</span> Are you lost? Are you broken? Come to the chamber of<br />
my heart for safety. Remember the old country. I was not<br />
there. I was waiting for you here.<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . .</span> Do you wish to be naturalized in my arms? Let me instruct<br />
you in the new tongue. Tread softly; Death too first makes<br />
inquiry, then shows the way.<br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">. . .</span> Come, pledge allegiance to my tattered proud flag. Here,<br />
and here only, the streets are paved with gold.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-87858379083677918722012-05-16T18:33:00.034-07:002012-05-17T10:54:38.323-07:00Interview with Poet Renée Ashley<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UL_c0muTvlo/T7TvLLMqCeI/AAAAAAAAAIE/K-fT6_K-GPc/s1600/ashley_renee2.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 189px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5743478400067701218" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UL_c0muTvlo/T7TvLLMqCeI/AAAAAAAAAIE/K-fT6_K-GPc/s200/ashley_renee2.jpg" /></a><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Thank you, Renée, for accepting my invitation for an interview. It’s a real pleasure to have the opportunity.<br /><br />Your last collection, <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em>, was it conceived and written as a collection from the start or was each poem written individually and then collected into a coherent book? I’m particularly curious about this because of both the linguistic daring and the cohesion of the collection. Could you comment on how you achieved this?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: It’s interesting that you ask…That is how I write my books: by the book. I usually begin with a title and I’m obsessing about some thematic or craft issue and that becomes the engine that drives the manuscript through to completion. <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em> is really a chapbook, though, and the poems are culled from two unpublished full-length manuscripts: <em>The View from the Body</em> and <em>Because I Am the Shore I Want To Be the Sea</em>. I had a suspicion that those last two manuscripts weren’t as different from one another as my previous books were from each other… That’s so interesting! <em>Because I Am the Shore</em>… is primarily prose poems now. In the larger arc of my work, then, these last two are truly transitional manuscripts. That’s sort of cool! I haven’t done that before—and I certainly didn’t do it consciously this time. I can see such clear distinctions between the earlier books. <em>Salt</em>, the first, is very narrative and lyric, grounded, I’d say, wholly mainstream (except for one prose poem); I was learning what a poem is back then. <em>The Various Reasons of Light</em> is still mainstream, but it was my effort to learn to ground abstract thought. I had these heady-floaty goings-on in my mind and needed to anchor them to the ground. In <em>The Revisionist’s Dream</em> I went back to my Comparative Literature roots and played a bit with Homer and Ovid, trying to take on some of those ideas as my own. Some, quite obviously, remained theirs. My style was still conservative I think. <em>Basic Heart</em>, however, was written after many years of … unrest; I think of it as my nervous breakdown book—which is a bit misleading but close enough to the truth that I won’t back off from it—and that work seems to have manifested itself in a sort of embodied turmoil. That’s the shorthand I use anyway. Perceptions and syntax were shattered. So, the poems in <em>Heart</em> could be called more experimental, I guess, looking at them from the outside. Though writing them felt more like <em>fuck it</em> than <em>experimental</em>. Making them felt like enactment or at least an effort to enact. I wanted the poems to <em>be</em> states of mind rather than to be <em>about</em> states of mind. So, long way around, I guess, the poems in <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em> are poems of adaptation. I’m coming back to a more balanced breath now, I think. A better outlook. That’s not to say there isn’t that breakdown hangover hovering in the newer poems, but I don’t believe they’re as deeply distressed. Let’s just say they’re recovering. It’ll be interesting—to me at least!—to find out where these transition books are taking me. At the moment, I have no idea. I haven’t been working on the new poetry collection; I’ve been pulling together some essays for a book.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: In reading <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em>, I was struck by the unpredictability of the language. Each poem seemed to shift its linguistic stance so each poem was a readjustment, a reorientation. What was the intention of this?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Wow. Once again, I don’t really know! I never thought of them in those terms. Are they really that different from one another? When I write, my intention is always to make the best poem possible with whatever skills I have at the time—I’m after a seamless and sharp-edged poem, a poem that has … balls. Also, a poem that surprises me into a truth, and, if I’m very lucky, pushes a bit beyond the limits of my previous skill set. Of course, I’m not always successful, but that’s the ideal. And I bore easily—so boring myself seems wacky, right? To write a poem that’s crafted well but suffering from such control that it <em>bores</em> the writer as well as the reader? I don’t think so. There’s enough of that stuff out there already; the world doesn’t need any more. But that you, as a reader, had to readjust is possibly good news. If I gave you even footing and just went la-la-la poem to poem through the book, all on the same note or tenor, you’d get bored too. It’d be soporific, right? Something has to rise up and struggle, knock my pins out from under me—and yours from under you—or what’s the point? And I don’t mean that as shock for shock’s sake. I have no interest in that. But more the shock of some discovery—linguistic or life-explaining—made during the act of writing.<br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: “Nothing” seems to become a presence in the collection, so that phrases containing the word “nothing” or the phrase “no thing” take on multiple meanings. At one point in my own reading I thought of the <em>Tao Te Ching</em> where the void gives birth to the one and the one to the ten thousand things. What do you see as the significance of “nothing” in the context of this collection?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: I’m afraid my belief system, if you can call it that—I’m a resentful atheist—gives me a lot of <em>nothing</em> to think about. I would love to be a believer. I’m just not. So I’m constantly banging into some existential door or other which swings back after the initial impact and smacks me a second time with another <em>nothing</em>. I’m not even an optimistic atheist. But, on the positive side, <em>nothing</em> may be the one absolute that I can comprehend. I certainly can’t comprehend <em>infinite</em>. Nor can I get a grasp on <em>forever</em> which of course is party to <em>death</em>. When I was eight, I drowned in a motel swimming pool. I’m pretty sure I drowned and came back. I’ve never lost that experience of <em>nothingness</em>. It’s what I believe death is. Of course, too, there’s my cognitive dissonance of knowing that, once, I saw a ghost and, two other times, things that did not appear in human form but were definitely somethings belonging to the otherly. I confuse even myself, Michael. I’m sorry. But there it is. Contradictions and all. <em>I contain multitudes</em>.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: I especially like the poem “Oh Yes Tomorrow Expect the Ordinary.” It seems to say that the ordinary is a kind of nonbeing out of which we create ourselves. It reminded me of something the philosopher Unamuno said, “To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.” Do you find this to be true? If so, what do you think helps us to rise out of that common nonbeing into a true identity?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Unamuno’s theory is interesting, and I suppose that’s one way to look at it, but in my experience it’s backwards. In habit I know I <em>am</em>, I have time and therefore opportunity to assess the state of <em>me</em>, to see just how variant I’m being within that matrix. When I’m in a state of panic or experiencing an unusually sharpened awareness at some godawful horror or newness it’s as though my molecules come unglued, fly apart, and are spun off, each separately, but all in a single burst, into the ether and I <em>become</em> panic or alertness rather than who I believe myself to be, the me I know when my reptile brain isn’t blowing me up and scattering me out into the solar system. I do <em>get</em> what Unamuno’s saying, I understand the trope, and I can see that in the abstract it can be true, and that some folks feel it <em>must be</em> true. I know people who feel that way. But to me it feels like a literary statement rather than a phenomenological one. Abstraction is a sort of generalization and my experience—as I <em>experience</em> it—isn’t in the least general or abstract. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be argumentative; I’m trying to work it out. But I just don’t feel Unamuno-ish. I don’t believe <em>the ordinary</em> is some vast tureen of soup in which we are denuded of our individuality. Ordinariness is just funny! It cracks me up. We’re such a bunch of lunkheads! We occupy Quiddity Central. Think about it—this is an over-made argument but I still subscribe: our parents, most anyway, tell us we’re <em>special</em>, our early teachers tell us we’re each <em>special in our own way</em>, and the parameters of <em>special</em> keep growing smaller and smaller and thinner and weaker. I think it’s hooey. We work so hard to separate ourselves from the crowd—but we <em>are</em> the crowd. Good grief. Emergence theory, etc. Hell, if you listen to those voices in bulk, being special <em>is</em> ordinary. I just don’t understand the hooha about it. We ought to be investigating the ordinary if we want to find out about ourselves! What was the old cartoon strip that said, “We have found the enemy and he is us”? <em>Pogo</em>! It was <em>Pogo</em>! Well, same goes for the ordinary: We <em>are</em> it. But you have to understand, and in this may reside the difference between Unamuno and me: I have no adventurer in me at all. I’m a coward. I play everything safe. I keep my world small. I follow the rules as they are dictated to me by authority. I’m really, shall I say, <em>infinitely</em> timid, infinitely ordinary. I find comfort in habit. Habit of the body, habit of the place, habit allows me to function in an almost autonomic mode; it allows my head to do the serious wandering. However, that head’s such a tightly sealed vessel that I do, periodically, get claustrophobic. But escaping to some degree—exercise (which I detest), a short trip (if I can drive), a longer trip over large bodies of water (shoot me), or a change of focus of some sort—lets my head off the hook. I have to deal with the traversing and the new place or thing, figure it out, make my way; I have to focus on something <em>outside</em> my head. I don’t know… Is my monkey mind a “true identity”? Perhaps I’m simply not advanced enough to be able to consider something like <em>true identity</em>, I’m so busy grappling with the apparent one. It’s entirely likely I have no idea what <em>true identity</em> might be. Or maybe it’s like all the American poetries: there’s a whole slew of true identities for each of us. I just don’t know.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The collection also seems to suggest that our efforts toward creating an identity are never clean, that the chaotic mess we rise from is part of us, as in the line “No one’s endearment//is tidy.” Or in the poem “Simple” where it says,<br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">. . .</span>The whole white sky descends a grain<br />at a time – I with it and the threshold dis-<br /><br />appearing. That we can find ourselves<br />in this.<br /><br />Do you find this true? If so, how do you think that untidiness influences what we make of ourselves?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Absolutely true! Hail the human midden! First of all, there’s nothing tidy about language because no matter how precise we are we can never know if our listener/reader understands it <em>exactly</em> as we meant it. It’s that sealed vessel again. It’s our own private bell jar. <em>The Alexandria Quartet</em> changed my life at a very young age. The <em>Roshomon</em> effect. Literal point of view. Futility. And there’s an Einstein thing, right? about depending on the observer’s position in relation to the moving train, the train’s moving at different speeds? That always baffled the hell out of me until I drew the parallel between that and the language problem. So, is there really a <em>right</em> answer? Slickery, as I see it. And on top of that, supporting or perhaps sponsoring the idea of untidiness, I’m a slob. I don’t think I used to be a slob—I remember telling a friend when I was in my twenties, “If you can’t find it you might as well not own it!” Very smug in an unpretty, uncompromising way. That was a lifetime ago. (And I was way too old to be such a prig.) Now I can’t find a thing: the filing I haven’t filed for the last decade, my prescription, my watch, my keys, one of the books I need for class, my other shoe, my good black pants—and that’s just last week. My walls are literally covered with paper and pictures, art and scraps, my office door is layers-deep with cartoons and quips and a great bumper sticker my best friend, the insanely good narrative poet Catherine Doty, gave me (which I keep digging out and taping to the top layer again): <em>I’m not myself today. Maybe I’m you</em>. And my desk! Oy. But it’s all a mirror of what’s going on in my head. Sometimes I get all the crap momentarily cleared away and my thinking clears up, my posture gets better, my priorities clearer, my strategizing becomes more orderly, etc. It’s bliss—for a very short while until entropy strong-arms me again. I know there are people who are not slobs and whose thinking is precise and whose articulations are beyond exact, but even before I became a slob I wasn’t one of those. My friend and colleague Harvey Hix (H.L. Hix) is one of the exact ones. He is fastidious in every way imaginable. He’s always fresh-out-of-the-box brand-new-looking and articulating with the utmost clarity. But of course I can’t get inside his head; there could be a trash heap in there that would unstarch me—but he has clearly found a method of orderliness. I find him miraculous. But whatever he’s got, I don’t have it. It seems that in this second half of my life I’m centrifugal. So with that and the way I see people interact and my observations of the physical, outside-of-my-head world and what we do to it, hell, yes we’re a mess! Things flying outward every which way. <em>Untidy</em> is the least of it. <em>I have found the untidy and it is us</em>. At best, I think, we as a species are approximate, though there are exceptions, certainly, like Harvey and you, Michael—your demeanor and presentation when we met and your method and articulation in this interview were and are divinely clean, crisp, logical, and tightly ordered—who seem to have gotten some dispensation for this. But overall we’re a sloppy tribe and most often our attentions are perfunctory and/or wrong-headed. Bottom line? As I said, I’m not an optimist.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Dogs seem to appear in your poems frequently. Outside perhaps a love of dogs, what significance do they have for you in your poetry? What do they symbolize for you?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Dogs ground me. There’s nothing approximate about a dog except, maybe, his aim. They contend with what’s in front of them. They’re immediate. And they do not have the kind of language that strikes me as … slippery. And, of course, they’re dependent. They need us. I have no children and have no literal family except my husband and my one-hundred-and-one-year-old mother who lives a continent away. Dogs let me love them. And they’re perfect ballast; they hold a poem to the earth.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: You seem like a poet that is deeply stimulated by ideas, by philosophy. Do you read philosophy? Do you have a particular branch of philosophy or group of philosophers that you like and that inspire you?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Oh, I wish I could read philosophy! I’ve never taken a philosophy class and I’ve tried to read some ultra-simple stuff a couple of times, but, well, let me put it this way: there seem to be no dogs in it. It appears harrowingly difficult as well as abstract. My mind wanders off. I can’t hold all the increments of an argument in my head at one time. It’s probably too orderly for me. My monkey mind won’t let me linger. But two of my favorite poets/writers have degrees in philosophy: Kathleen Graber and the aforementioned H.L. Hix. My attraction to their work probably comes from the fact that they render their ideas concretely rather than articulating them blatantly. (And they both have dogs.) I think you have to be way smarter than I am to read philosophy with any success. I’m one of those <em>Oh, look! Ooooh, shiny!</em> people. Or like in the movie <em>Up!</em> when the dogs yell <em>Squirrel!!!</em> in the midst of their serious business (shouldn’t <em>seriosity</em> be a word?) and go berserk, their reptile brains snatching up their minds and bodies like … well, snatchers. I’m distracted at the drop of the proverbial hat. I lose my train of thought often when I’m speaking, as well as those keys and pants I mentioned before. And my coffee cup. I’m always losing my coffee cup. With my coffee in it. And I probably have twenty pair of reading glasses and never have a pair at hand either. Along with half a dozen open cans of Diet Coke sprinkled around the house. Here’s the gist: it’s the order/chaos thing. I seem to fall on the side of chaos. Too chaotic to be able to grasp philosophy per se. But writing, you see, allows me to render something that’s swirling inside me and put it in some sort of order on the outside of me—and along a different avenue of speaking than philosophy takes. It’s such a relief to see something you feel out there, for it to be still and sharp. It takes a load off, it really does.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Do you have a favorite poem in this collection? Which one is it and what is significant about it for you?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: I do have a couple of favorites, though I must add that they’re emotional favorites. I think the title poem is hilarious! <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em>. Nobody ever laughs, so I lamely try to explain it to people, and my friends think I’m horrible when I bust myself up because I think I’m so funny (it <em>is shameful</em>)—but I do knock myself out on that one. “The verbs of desiring” is a phrase used to describe the subjunctive—and the poem is a poem of desiring and ends on the subjunctive. But even when I explain it nobody cracks up—they laugh, but they’re laughing <em>at</em> me, the woman standing there whose cheeks hurt from cracking up at her own joke, rather than laughing at the play in the poem. And I get it. It’s OK. I love that weird sort of disjunct. It just makes the whole thing even funnier. I like “Mostly There Is Mostly I Do” too. I’m mother-phobic in many ways. And “An Art Like Any Other,” which is a prose poem and, though I haven’t checked the dates, may be one of the first of the prose poems that ended up being in <em>Because I Am the Shore I Want To Be the Sea</em>. I’d been wanting to write prose poems for a very long time before that one found me.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: You’re an editor at <em>The Literary Review</em>. What do you see as the state of contemporary American poetry? Do you find it vital or sterile? Are there any young poets you find especially exciting to read and to watch out for in the coming years?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Oh, I don’t think I could even guess at the state of poetry from TLR submissions! The submissions vary, of course, from fabulous to ultra-way-too-premature-what-could-they-have-been-thinking. I don’t think of “contemporary American poetry” as a single thing—it’s many varied things and some of those things are vital and some sterile, and a mind-numbing percentage exists in between. We have so many different poetries! And I think my taste is pretty catholic as far as styles/schools/aesthetics go. Probably less broad regarding agendas. If the agenda is more prominent than the art I’m not going to be interested. I’m interested in poems, not propaganda. I do want a poem to let me in, and I want it to have teeth. I want it to surprise me with language and/or elegance and/or image or angle of approach …. I want a sort of tensile strength in it. The poem, for me, has to rise up off the page, has to be bigger than the poet, has to have some sort of torque and fire. I don’t necessarily have to <em>like</em> a poem to admire it though. But to come across, in the slush pile, some vital, crisp, surprising work by a writer I’m not familiar with is so exciting! If I start naming names, I’ll leave someone out and feel terrible … but Weston Cutter is one that comes to mind immediately. And Steve Heighton, a Canadian writer—though I <em>should</em> have known his work. He’s widely published in several genres in Canada. Let’s see… Lisa Ortiz, Scott Withiam, Mariana Toscas. Those names were all new to me. And, the folks I am familiar with … well, let me just say I think we publish absolutely, excruciatingly, extravagantly good poems. So the state of American poetry? There are so many fantastic poets working now! I buy their books the way the dogs in <em>Up!</em> chase and bark at squirrels. It’s a good time for poetry. A good state to have real estate in even if it’s only the tiniest of pied-à-terres.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Are there any prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they? Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your poetry?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Of course everything I’ve ever read has in one way or another influenced me and therefore my work as a poet and writer. I can only work through what I am. I’m the product of everything I’ve experienced including what I’ve read. Certainly John Briggs’s <em>Fire</em> <em>in the Crucible</em> had a big effect on me. He articulated for me the idea of <em>themata</em>, the themes a writer will work in over and over during the trajectory that is her life’s work. To acknowledge my obsessions as a part of art-process—even though I’m sometimes surprised by them—has been an enormous help. When I was in grad school, my professors were Jungians, and much of what we read and pondered and listened to (though I walked out of class the day Dr. Wiseman played Wagner’s Tristan—it nearly pulled my heart up and out through my throat!). Oh, and The <em>Magic Mountain</em> and <em>Buddenbrooks</em>! Joyce’s <em>Ulysses</em>. I still have the little bar of lemon soap that Dr. Bratset gave me! I did gain a strong sense of pattern and archetype, and though I do think <em>pattern</em> I rarely consciously think <em>archetype</em> except in critical mode. And as I said earlier, Durrell’s <em>Alexandria Quartet</em> changed the way I see language, but I was very young when I read that. The lesson stuck though. I tried to read <em>Justine</em> again recently and couldn’t get through it. It seemed so … purple. I was devastated—I’d lost access to the source of something terribly important in my life. I’ll try again someday. Certainly David Foster Wallace. And I’m reading Gaddis’s <em>The Recognitions</em> right now and it’s tying in so much with the poetics of information that I’ve been thinking about since some colleague’s gave a workshop on it last year. I read a lot on creativity and creative process; I rarely remember facts of brain science—and I never remember statistics—but I do come away with a sense of having had something familiar articulated or sourced for me and that’s heartening and strengthening. I read novels, memoirs, nonfiction. <em>Don Quixote</em>! <em>Madam Bovary</em>! And of course verse: Ovid and Homer. My poor mind boggles at everything I’m not acknowledging… How could any of it not influence me?<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: What do you like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?<br /><br /><strong>Renée Ashley</strong>: Watch TV, alas. I watch way too much TV. <em>NCIS</em>, <em>Bones</em>, <em>Rizzoli & Isles</em>. The <em>Big Bang Theory</em>! British mysteries. And I’m a cartoon addict: lots of noise and bright colors moving … I’m there. Though I’m burned out on <em>Spongebob Squarepants</em>. He just irritates me now. I still like <em>Phineas and Ferb</em> and <em>Aaaaaah!! Real Monsters</em>. <em>Fraggle Rock</em> was genius, absolute genius. I’ve got every episode. I loved <em>The A-Team</em>, the TV series, not the movie (which was fine but faux). Howling Mad Murdock! Wembly Fraggle, oh my. Jim Henson was a god. Is still a god. And Elmo. Oh I love Elmo! Though I never watched <em>Sesame Street</em>; it had way too many humans. I have to admit I even was fascinated by the <em>Teletubbies</em> and they were really weird. I had a friend who wouldn’t eat tomatoes because she said they hadn’t made up their mind whether they were a fruit or a vegetable. The teletubbies were like that—what the hell were they? Somewhat unformed and seductive and possibly menacing—underground hideouts and Big Brothery loudspeakers! I couldn’t take my eyes off them. However I absolutely hated that real baby that gurgled in the sun. That was nasty. Creepy beyond just normal creepy. Really, seriously icky. My job is teaching writing, I edit the writing of others, my art is writing. What <em>isn’t </em>linked to the work? I do read a lot: poetry, criticism, creative nonfiction, novels, essays… But reading is so closely related to writing they’re almost the same thing, another form of the same thing anyway. I do have an opera subscription with a friend, though—does that count? Sorry… I, too, sometimes wish I were more interesting.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: On the contrary, Renée. You are quite interesting and I truly thank you for a wonderful interview. Let’s close with one of your favorite poems the collection.<br /><br />The Verbs of Desiring<br /><br /><br />How tired the self is of the self, its earth twirling in the air and<br />not-air and I know a woman who ate only bread until<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">…………………………......................………………………………</span>she died<br />of bread. Oh the where-is-she-now. Which is not a question.<br />Which is a noun of circumstance.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">…………………………………...............</span>And <em>disquietude</em>: lovely<br />word. And <em>hairsbreadth</em>. <em>Stupor mundi</em>. <em>Kettle-of-fish-that-<br />turned-your-heart</em>.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">………….........…………</span>You are returning from an alphabet ran-<br />sacked by thirst, by the gamut of implication neatly sung:<br />a tongue that speaks<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">…………….........……….</span>body. A punctuated earth. You who are<br />resolute of hungry brutes and fooled by the beggar’s bowl of<br />moon, tide of scat, of pellet and flop<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">………………………………............………</span>and the body’s dead-<br />end is an assured apostrophe.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">………………………….............……</span>There are more way to mean<br />than you can make note of.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">……………………………</span>Look! Something is pretty in the sky<br />– it might just be the sky – though installation’s been askant.<br />Or what it sits upon is opposed to the level eye.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">……………….....................…………………………………</span>A panoply of<br />possibilities –<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">…………......…..</span>all those bears pirouetting in your penthouse!<br />Oh if it or they were only.<br /><span style="color:#ffffcc;">………………………............….</span>Or if you. And, or if I.<br /><br /><br />Find more information about Renée Ashley or her books at her website: <a href="http://reneeashleyatwork.com/">http://reneeashleyatwork.com/</a>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-41162507408731707052012-05-16T18:25:00.011-07:002012-05-17T05:27:25.480-07:00Review of The Verbs of Desiring<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Verbs-Desiring-Renee-Ashley/dp/0981780253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337218256&sr=8-1"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 253px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5743308057365606338" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CAxzvF16TZE/T7RUP7Lqb8I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/e12j6m7jLQM/s400/Verbs%2Bof%2BDesiring.jpg" /></a><br /><em>The Verbs of Desiring. Renée Ashley.<br /></em>Fort Collins, CO: New American Press, January 14, 2010. 42 pages, ISBN: 978-0-9817802-5-2<br /><br />(click the image to be taken to where you can order <em>The Verbs of Desiring</em>)<br /><br /><br /><br /><em>The Verbs of Desiring</em> is Renée Ashley’s sixth collection of poems. It won the 2009 New American Press chapbook contest. This is a collection that stretches in multiple directions at once. It reminded me of other poets like Edgar Bowers and George Oppen who not only address their topic but create a language that embodies the complexities they find in the world.<br /><br />The opening poem, which is the title poem, declares, “How tired the self is of the self, its earth twirling in the air and/not-air.” It is an appropriate opening to a collection that not only explores desire, but finds the self blurred in a simultaneous becoming and unbecoming state. That is, identity is a verb and not a noun. We tend to think of the self as a fixed object, something that means one and only one thing in our head but “There are more ways to mean/than you can make note of.” So there are “A panoply/of possibilities.” Even the absurdity of “all those bears pirouetting in your penthouse!” But it is all transition, nothing actually is, everything fluctuates as potential. So the poem concludes, “Oh if it or they were only./Or if you. And, or if I.” It is a magnificent linguistic concentration of all that wishes to be by playing on the fact that “were” is both a form of the verb “be” and is the subjunctive mood.<br /><br />Ashley allows for some humorous consequences in exploring how “this is becomes unbecoming.” For instance, one poem opens “I cannot put my mother in the freezer and neither can I store her in the attic.” This is not literal, of course, because the poem is about thinking or reflection as the title is “I Have a Theory About Reflection.” The double-entendre clearly falls on “reflection,” because it is about the atavistic rise of our parents or ancestors in how we think. So Ashley declares of her mother:<br /><br />“I am a match and every time we speak – and sometimes when we do not – she strikes me Even in the bend of a spoon I can see her reaching”<br /><br />In every place and in every way the primordial soup out of which the creation rose is still very much with us, every place you find “the single/imperfect discourse of an unfinished world.”<br /><br />Sometimes Ashley will twist a familiar phrase as in “thrown to the away” rather than “thrown away.” There are parentheticals as in, “She’s not ready to swap (she’s lying) the slender skill of being alive” or “Here/is the hand that knows subtraction. (Cut it off.).” Or a poem will have no punctuation. These are not simply acrobatics, mere dazzling displays but rather efforts toward a kind of fluidity, simultaneity, permeability in how we often, in our desires, contain paradoxes, assertions and their denials. There may be moments these unusual shifts confuse, but working through them to the kernel of her work is rewarding, for Ashley is not just pulling us along in a display of language but she is giving us a language of the phenomenological, and I mean that in the philosophical sense that Husserl put forth. That is, we are looking at consciousness and the structures that appear in it. Thus the poem “Bodies in Increments Bodies in Wholes” concludes “observation dilutes images It must I can do nothing more than this We are the indefinite article.” Here the lack of punctuation heightens the connection between observer, observed and the act of observing.<br /><br />The nice clean boundaries we like to define our world by become porous, with bits of us mingling with bits of the things around us as we look on the world. This is a poetry that is simultaneously in tune with the physics of our time and the Buddhist doctrine of the Visuddhimagga. The former in more recent times defines atoms as mathematical probabilities in time and space and even says that we literally share atoms with the things and people around us. And the Visuddhimagga says,<br /><br />Suffering alone exists, none who suffer;<br />The deed there is, but no doer thereof;<br />Nirvana is, but no one seeking it;<br />The Path there is, but none who travel it."<br /><br />In such a world of dancing atoms and permeable selves, the movement of the universe in concert is the only reality. It is no wonder that the last poem, “Wine Not Water Fish Not Frogs” concludes itself and the collection with this wisdom, “I’ve/learned not to find truth in a world. I’m trying to go on.”<br /><br />Notice this says “a world” not “the world.” The world or any world is the creation of our mind, our desire and all worlds are passing away because the dance doesn’t stop. As the poem prior to this asserts, “You are building the mountain you fall from.” The only way to live is not to construct a world but simply “to go on.”<br /><br />This is a collection for those who find wrestling with complexities and subtleties a pleasure, the kind of challenge that is fun. It is full of intelligence and wisdom, music and quirky revelation. It is a kind of dance. Let yourself glide across the top of these poems, rapid as a stone skipping along a surface of water, a philosophically insightful surface of water. Dance and mingle with the images and ideas, enter and emerge and you will find after that plunge, you feel reminded of so much it seems you once knew long ago.Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-92156316601525323282012-04-02T22:00:00.000-07:002012-04-03T19:03:37.064-07:00Local Time by Stephen DunnI first read Stephen Dunn’s <em>Different Hours</em> and then his <em>Selected Poems 1974 - 1994</em>. Since then, I’ve gone back to read other collections in full. One such collection is <em>Local Time</em>. Reading poems in the context of their original collection it is interesting to see the grouping and the general development the poet creates.<br /><br />In the first section Dunn uses the body as that which imposes distances between us, especially between men and women. In “Letter Home” a woman says,<br /><br />Shall we admit<br />that because of our bodies<br />your story can never be mine,<br />mine never yours?”<br /><br />This is the disclosure in the first section: the story we tell, the philosophy we adopt, is imposed by the body. There are vague moments its boundaries blur, as in the half waking state at dawn in the poem “Halves,” or there can be commiseration over the body’s “little ailments and aches.” But physiology determines philosophy. The poem, “Under the Black Oaks,” in the concluding section, reasserts this by opening,<br /><br />Because the mind will defend anything<br />it has found the body doing.<br /><br />It is a central theme of the collection.<br /><br />The middle section shows how we struggle to stretch out from the body. It’s called “Stories” and shows how the mind tries to control or invent its psyche independently of biological necessities. For instance, the opening poem is called “Parable of the Fictionist” and opens saying<br /><br />He wanted to own his own past,<br />be able to manage it more than it managed him.<br /><br />But the contradiction of this control of the past is that it makes it a kind of lonely stasis, a palace of disillusionment, which is only escaped by the imposition of something beyond control. This poem concludes,<br /><br />he sometimes longed<br />for what he’d dare not alter,<br />or couldn’t, something immutable<br />or so lovely he might be changed<br />by it, nameless but with a name<br />he feared waits until you’re worthy,<br />then chooses you.<br /><br />That is the current of this whole section: the stories we tell about ourselves compete with the stories imposed on us by others, by biology, by accident and the section gradually moves toward accepting the stories imposed on us, of embracing them, as in the final poem, “The Return,” where the voices of the dead come back but instead of needing to assert the self against them, the speaker can<br /><br />say father and be small<br />and mean it again.<br /><br />My favorite section is the final section where the sense of what is mystical or spiritual is identifiable in small terms, in “local time.” But Dunn also penetrates into the absences we endure, how he says of the soul that it’s something he most notices when it’s gone. I particularly love “Under the Black Oaks.” It’s one of my favorite Dunn poems. My mind hears echoes with Frost’s poem “Come In,” with that poem’s defiance, though Dunn’s poem doesn’t confront death, but the need to justify action. In a way, there is something Nietzschean about this poem and the whole last section. That is, it asserts the mind’s reasons as forms of physiological self-defense. The disappointment in the poem “Completion,” the acquiescence leading to embrace in “Living with Hornets” — in all of these there is an “amor fati.” However, all of them also reveal the danger of the outside world pitted against the safety of the enclosed private world, though that private world is also full of disillusionment. The poems say that risk is necessary for joy and creativity. The final image in the title poem shows a dog in a house aware of some lurking danger outside while birds, said to be no less foolish or wise, return to the lawn and begin to sing. The implication is that it is better to be outside singing with the birds in the midst of danger than inside with the dog whimpering over it. And this is better not because of some philosophical posturing but because that is the way to live joyfully. It is, at best biological necessity, at worst, simply accident.<br /><br />There is an irony in the title of the collection in that the small world of local time collapses in on itself, becomes so self-protective it is contaminated with disappointment, hesitation, and fear, the kind of resentments that linger in marital silences. He conjures this very pain in a poem where the couple cuts down the top of a tree for better TV reception because watching sports or an hour-long show is their escape from each other, their way of finding transcendence or the expected conclusion.<br /><br />It is this struggle between inner and outer worlds, negotiating and navigating the dangers in each that defines the movements of the collection as a whole. It is the implied amor fati that supplies its dignity and power. As in all his work, these poems show Dunn's ability to simultaneously embrace and defy. Here as in his other collections he has the quality of a good Edward Hopper painting.Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1562891883024621712.post-90853283436480483232012-03-16T07:36:00.016-07:002012-03-16T12:42:45.797-07:00Interview with Diane Lockward<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mtdj3HkLAI4/T2NRPUgVJhI/AAAAAAAAAG4/TnnOmQq5XlE/s1600/Diane%2BLockward.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 273px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5720505275334862354" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mtdj3HkLAI4/T2NRPUgVJhI/AAAAAAAAAG4/TnnOmQq5XlE/s320/Diane%2BLockward.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Thank you, Diane, for accepting my invitation for an interview. I’ve admired your work for a long time and am glad to have a chance to discuss it with you.<br /><br />Something that struck me about <em>Temptation</em> <em>by Water</em> and your previous collection, <em>What Feeds Us,</em> is how very well organized the collections are. The poems work individually, of course, but then there is a very strong sense of themes developing as the collections progress. I wondered if you needed to rework poems or write new ones to get this kind of cohesion or if it comes together naturally for you as you gather individual poems you’ve written. What is your technique for assembling a collection?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: The process has varied. For my first two books I pulled together 50-60 poems that I thought were book-worthy. I read the poems repeatedly, looking for an overriding idea, some kind of umbrella under which the poems could fit. Once I had that, I looked for a constellation of related motifs, weeded out some poems, and mapped out a game plan. I took notes on a yellow legal pad, made piles of poems which became sections, and laid them out on the floor to check movement from one poem to the next and one section to the next. Of course, my plan changed multiple times.<br /><br />For <em>Temptation by Water</em> I had the controlling idea early on. Then I wrote poems towards that idea. This latter method was, of course, much more efficient. Whether that will happen for the next book remains to be seen. The organization of a book of poetry is, I think, immensely challenging but exciting. It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle. As for revising poems to make them fit into the book, I have made very minor changes for that reason, for example, a title change or a word change. If I felt that one poem was too similar to its predecessor, I found a different placement for it.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: In <em>Temptation by Water</em> there is a quiet motherly presence, as in the poems “My Mother Turns Her Back,” the ending of “If Only Humpty Dumpty Had Been a Cookie” and “It Runs This Deep.” I wondered what you saw as the significance of this presence in the collection. What is its role?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: These poems have to do with brokenness, I think. I’m saying “I think” because I don’t analyze these things in my own work the way a critic does. I sometimes do that kind of analysis with another poet’s work, but not with my own. However, now that you’ve pointed this out, I think you’re onto something. I didn’t plan that a mother would appear and reappear, but there she is. When I wrote the poems, they each stood alone; now they do seem part of a pattern. I’m sure that during the organization of the collection I must have noticed the presence of the mother and scattered her throughout the sections. But I still haven’t figured out the significance. Probably means I’m messed up in some serious way.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Your poem “Spying on My New Neighbors” shows a young couple abandoning their gardening to go off for a little fun in the bedroom. It concludes by comparing their sexual activity to plants nurtured, flowering and growing and that consequently, “long tender roots shoot down, strong enough for any storm.” It suggests that their sexual passion for each other plants emotional roots that will help them weather future difficulties. What do you see as the relationship between sexual passion and emotional attachment and endurance?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: This poem fits in with the mother idea you referred to. There’s something lovely about the innocence of the unrestrained passion of the young couple. Witnessing their kissing, the speaker is reminded of her own younger self. The making out and the love-making scenes are joyful, but I couldn’t help feeling that the speaker sees what the couple does not, that is, what their future will be, and it’s not all roses. I felt that poem come alive in the line break “nothing bad has happened / yet.” Now there’s a snake in the garden, sorrow ahead. Perhaps the roots the husband and wife are shooting down now will be strong enough to support that sorrow, which I suspect will have something to do with their boy.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The poem “You Offer Lychee to Your American Friends,” says, “Learn to love what is decadent, / what grows in other gardens.” In a collection of poems that is often about the double-edged sword of desire, this statement is very interesting. What do you see as the importance of this kind of adventurousness, of learning to love what is decadent and grows in other gardens?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: This poem resulted from an article I wrote for Red Room, an online site for authors. It was a piece about my obsession with food, specifically, fruit. One of the other authors on the site, Belle Yang, wrote me a note about her fondness for lychee and her American friends’ refusal to eat it. They wanted chocolate which she disdained. “Who doesn’t love chocolate?” I thought incredulously. So the poem came out of that conversation. It’s one of several that makes reference to gardens. Perhaps chocolate is another version of the snake? Certainly, I believe it’s important to be adventurous, to tackle the snake, but I do that much more in my poetry than I do in my real life.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Related to this, the poem “Implosion” speaks of the “destruction of what’s not needed” and compares it to “the way a heart melts,” “the collapse inside.” Do you think the heart sometimes needs some emotional spring cleaning, a kind of demolition of outdated feelings? If so, how does this relate to the emotional roots put down as suggested by the poem “Spying on My New Neighbors”?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: I really don’t have a theory about the heart. I was pursuing a metaphor after watching a building being imploded on a TV news story. It just seemed to me a good expression of how a heart falls apart sometimes, not noisily but quietly, a kind of inward melting. From there, it was appealing to exploit that metaphor—the body as an empty building once the heart’s gone. There’s no saving this building, no light in this poem as there is in “Spying on My New Neighbors.”<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: I find your poems very seductive, even erotic. One of my favorites is “Orchids” from the collection <em>What Feeds Us</em>. But even in <em>Temptation by Water</em>, there is “Love Song with Plum,” “The Very Smell of Him,” and, of course, “Spying on My New Neighbors.” Much of this eroticism centers on food or flowers. Do you find the sensuality of food and gardening to naturally relate to sexuality? What, if any, do you see as the connection?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: Yes, yes, and yes. Food and flowers are irresistibly sexy. We touch, smell, taste. Our senses come alive. Both food and flowers are so rich with sensuous and sensual possibilities. I’m not the first to find this connection intoxicating. Think of Georgia O’Keefe’s sexual flowers. Think of the movie <em>Tom Jones</em> with its amazing eating scene in a country inn, the voracious eating an obvious prelude to sex. I saw that movie in 1963 and it had a lasting impact on me.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: The poem “Prunis Persica” is a kind of homage to the peach and seduction and ends saying “face flushed with indulgence of peach, / blushed all winter in memory of peach.” And the poem “The Desolation of Wood” ends saying “Wood houses a past and rots at the heart.” What do you see as the importance of memory and the past in the collection? How does it relate to desire and the heart?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: The pleasure for me in writing “Prunis Persica” was the wordplay. I wanted words as luscious as the peach. My hard work was primarily directed towards revising the language. The last line came out of nowhere, one of those lines that surprises you when you write it and leaves you thinking, “Where’d that come from?” I wasn’t thinking about the importance of memory but about how much I’d be missing peaches in winter. A number of the poems in this book look into the past; memory is a rich source for most poets, but I have no penetrating theory about it or its connection to desire and the heart. I’m sure there is a connection, but I’m not clever enough to articulate it. One of the exciting things about writing poetry is that we are free to write about subjects we don’t fully understand.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: One of my favorite poems in the collection is “Capturing the Image.” I love the movement from inner world to outer world, how the speaker, not trusting her own heart, turns to fix on beauty outside in the natural world and finds a kind of cleansing in this. What do you see as the importance of beauty and our ability to appreciate it? Does it have a cleansing or renewing effect?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: That one began during a poetry retreat I took in Ocean Grove, NJ. My room overlooked the ocean. One morning I woke up very early and looked out the window. The sky was a gorgeous pink. I wanted to capture that, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. As I wrote about that, the literal moved to the metaphorical. I thought about <em>Astrophel and Stella</em> and the Renaissance notion that the beloved’s face was imprinted on the heart and that came into the poem, as did Othello’s foul cistern when his heart was consumed by jealousy. Certainly, beauty is important to poetry, to my poetry, to this poem, though I’ll tell you that I’m more attracted to the foul cistern than I am to beauty and renewal.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Which poem in this collection is your favorite? What in particular about it is meaningful to you?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: I’m not sure I have a single favorite but among my favorites is “A Murmuration of Starlings.” I like the form of it—American Sentences, an invention of Allen Ginsberg. I liked the challenge of achieving the 17-syllable sentences. I also like the turn this poem takes. I’m not much of a social or political commentator in my poetry, but something of that snuck its way into the end of the poem. I like the departure I took in the poem.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Are there any prose works that have noticeably influenced your work as a poet? What are they? Can you say in what way you feel this work or works influenced your poetry?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: I have always been a reader. I think that my poetry has probably been affected in some way by everything I’ve read—from Nancy Drew mysteries to <em>Madame Bovary</em>. As a high school English teacher, I used to regularly read aloud passages from novels such as <em>Heart of Darkness</em>. As I read Conrad’s words, I could feel their beautiful, horrible music. I remember one student who told me that she hadn’t liked that novel until she heard me read those passages aloud. I remember, too, reading a particular sentence and then commenting on its various syntactical feats. I concluded with “I love this sentence!” Imagine my puzzlement when my class burst into laughter! I asked what they were laughing about. One student spoke up and said she’d never heard anyone get so enthusiastic over a sentence.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: What do you like to do that has nothing to do with poetry or writing?<br /><br /><strong>Diane Lockward</strong>: Everything I think of seems to in some way relate to poetry. I like to bake, especially desserts, but food is grist for my metaphor mill. I like to walk, but it’s on my walks that I often find the word or line that eluded me back at the house. I love computer work, but much of the work relates to my poetry, e.g., making a video of a poem, doing my monthly poetry newsletter, blogging at my poetry blog, sending out submissions, and so on.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Michael T. Young</strong>: Thank you, Diane. Let’s close with one of your poems, your favorite from the collection.<br /><br />A Murmuration of Starlings<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc9933;">. . . . . . </span>It was raining dead birds</em>.<br /><span style="color:#cc9933;">. . . . . . . . . . . . .</span>—Mayor Brian Levine, <em>The Star-Ledger</em>, 1/27/09<br /><br />Starlings dropped from the sky,<br />mid-flight, like balloons suddenly deflated.<br /><br />No time to spread their wings and glide on air,<br />and, synchronized, to soar and dive.<br /><br />No time to close their wings, to wrap<br />themselves in shrouds of feathers, and sleep.<br /><br />They fell like water balloons tossed blindly<br />from dormitory windows.<br /><br />They fell like rocks dumped from the unlatched<br />rear end of a construction truck.<br /><br />They fell like bombs, like stars, like fallen angels,<br />they fell like dead starlings.<br /><br />Hundreds plummeted from the sky<br />on cars, porches, and snow-covered lawns.<br /><br />They’d taken the poisoned bait<br />and, headfirst, dreamed one last time of England.<br /><br />Birds who’d once disturbed a king’s sleep<br />with cries of <em>Mortimer</em>, <em>Mortimer</em>.<br /><br /><em>Memento mori</em>, forcing us to contemplate<br />unexpected death.<br /><br />Do we not already think of the fallen,<br />earth’s fields littered with corpses?<br /><br />Dark vision made real,<br />their glistening bodies, silent now and still.<br /><br />Birds who’d sung their own song<br />and wooed their mates with lavender and thistle.<br /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p>Find more information about Diane Lockward or her books at her website or blog:Diane Lockward’s website: <a href="http://www.dianelockward.com/">http://www.dianelockward.com/</a><br />Diane Lockward’s blog: <a href="http://www.dianelockward.blogspot.com/">http://www.dianelockward.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>Michael T. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11989610716056926730noreply@blogger.com0