Yes-Yes

Poetry and Dadaism (from an article by Charles Simic--link above)

"The elements of poetry are letters, syllables, words, sentences," Kurt Schwitters wrote. Poetry, he insisted, arises from the playing off of these elements against one another. He also confessed to preferring nonsense to sense because it had always been neglected in the making of art. Tzara explained in a 1920 manifesto how such poems were to be made:

Take a newspaper.
Take a pair of scissors.
Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.
Cut out the article.
Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.
Shake it gently.
Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.
Copy conscientiously.
The poem will be like you.
And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar
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Dada's genius was that it refused to define itself and become an art movement in an era of proliferating avant-gardes. All that its artists had in common were a few ideas about going beyond pictorial conventions, freeing art of its history in order to discover it elsewhere, as well as a sense of humor. That made all the difference-what Harold Rosenberg called "comical questioning of appearances."[10] One only has to watch films like René Clair and Francis Picabia's Entr'acte, which are part of the MoMA show, to realize that their patron saint was that other mad twentieth-century inventor of visual gags, Buster Keaton. The joy of seeing this exhibition is the discovery of little-known works of art, which once were not supposed to be art, but which now look marvelously ingenious, well-made, and even beautiful."
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Here's my cutup of the instructions above smashed with a short poem I wrote about the symbol for infinity--I like one line very much.


The understanding of the vulgar
words that make up this article
will put out the article, then cut
it out, cut out all of them, take
out scraps, one after another of
them in a bag. Shake it gently
then be like you. And here you
are, a writer! Scissors choose
the article's long infinity, (that
the lazy eight, snoozing on its
side) original and endowed with
sensibility, charming beyond an
order in which they left.You are
planning to make all poems of
cut bag. Copy conscientiously
and your poem will overtake the
newspaper! Snip snip snip snip
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It's all prestidigitation anyway--

"The artist creates through choice, distribution and dematerialization of the materials."


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I've considered the BAP controversy, and I wouldn't publish Harvey's work. Of course, he would have too much class to allow it in the first place, even if it really was my favorite poem of the year. Scruples, people, scruples.

News You Can't Use and an SOS

The pound sign (#) is called anoctothorpe.

Doesn't that sound like a potion in a medicine show? Step right up, ladies and gentleman, and get your anocthorpe...it'll cure what ails you. (Anyone who thinks the medicine show is defucnt needs only to watch the annoyingly loud Oxy-Clean spokesman)

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A new 3-page poem has jumped onto the page. It's not very good but it is very different. Different is good, right? Right is different, good?

Lynn Emanuel's poetry is perplexing me right now. Anyone with any tips, please let me know. I am confounded by her returning like a boomerang to the same metaphors, images, even titles...I really like her but derned if I can say why yet.

School Days, School Daze

Today I present one of my favorite lesson plans ever: T.S. Eliot takes on Etheridge Knight, in the Rockem-Sockem Robot/Celebrity Death Match of Prufrock versus Hard Rock. It's going to be GOOD. Seriously, the discussion should be awesome.

From one of my students: "Tips for Ms. Parker's MFA Program"

Salient Features:
* No "good" poem can get by without a reference to razors.
* Reference Persephone (who was kidnapped by Hades and forced to live half of every year in the underworld), Orpheus (a poet who tried to rescue his wife from Hades), Eurydice (the wife of Orpheus), Tantalus (doomed to forever sit in pool of water with grapes hanging overhead but not be able to touch them), the Cimmerii (people who lived in eternal darkness), or other ancient Greek/Roman tragic stories. These make your poem seem almost like real poetry!
* Diction is what can make or break your poem. Use words that sound goth -- ephemeral, vorpal, evanescent, phlegmatic, atramentous, etc. It doesn't even matter if you use them correctly, as long as your audience doesn't know the difference.
* Blood is never red. It can be crimson, cerise -- even erubescent -- but never red. Also, instead of "bloody," try "ensanguined."
* Throw in some random Latin. "Memento mori" (literally, "remember mortality," but commonly used as "remember you must die") is a big hit, as are "nox" (night), "clavicula" (key), and "caligo" (gloom or mental darkness). It doesn't matter if you actually know Latin...just use some random phrases and mock anyone who questions you.

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Can you see why I love this class?

I have a real, real writer. What am I going to do? I hope some good--how to edit?

This and That

My dozen or so readers (LOL--am I not optimistic?) may have noticed my absence. I've started my semester of teaching Introduction to Creative Writing (poetry class) at a local university. I have 10 witty and attentive students. I only hope I can keep the pace at a lively level. The first workshop is next week, and I am excited to see their work. Three of the poems are far above beginning level--I am pretty sure there are 3 poets in the class. We've been discussing imagery, the line, and breath, and every one of the students used imagery in their poems. Their line breaks often showed smart choices, and none of them, not a single one of them, was late with the assignment. That's a first for me as a teacher. THEY LISTEN! THEY TALK! I've had so much fun that I cannot believe I'm being paid.

Note for all you other neophyte adjuncts out there: Nancy Willard's poetry is extremely teachable. She is the Billboard with a Bullet artist.

Another PS--One of my students told me she watched In Her Shoes for the poetry.