tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16066770928868630652024-03-13T04:35:52.446-07:00Advice for WritersThis blog provides advice to writers on their literary work.
See the end of this post for links on these topics: How can you get the full benefit of workshops? How can you work best with your mentor? What, when, and how should you publish?Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-47210597080090902012024-03-02T07:45:00.000-08:002024-03-02T10:22:51.565-08:00Interview with Poet Patricia Spears Jones: The Beloved Community<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>Poet <a href="https://psjones.com/" target="_blank">Patricia Spears Jones</a> published her collection </i><a href="https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/the-beloved-community/" target="_blank">The Beloved Community</a><i> in 2023. Here she speaks about the book and her path as a writer. </i></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-47ab92f3-7fff-6cdf-53b1-cb78e0b525c6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoniSunDmB4pv2XLN1BwVMzmxMy9PipdIon7YViOm_Ouu1YCJ8DJwEdh9mHB6VtT_MG9mMJmNBEdqNaQmMEBxoAOehClXQpheQtIRv_5_0UUgPR1b9b-s23bXLzNsN_PmySujsycrJbPGVQ7jdGy8qCOrMunlGyP-cUUZQVqqlJj9dlaij6eWG3EoVWGU/s1419/Patricia%20Spears%20Jones3.2rz_credit%20Marcia%20E%20Wilson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1419" data-original-width="944" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoniSunDmB4pv2XLN1BwVMzmxMy9PipdIon7YViOm_Ouu1YCJ8DJwEdh9mHB6VtT_MG9mMJmNBEdqNaQmMEBxoAOehClXQpheQtIRv_5_0UUgPR1b9b-s23bXLzNsN_PmySujsycrJbPGVQ7jdGy8qCOrMunlGyP-cUUZQVqqlJj9dlaij6eWG3EoVWGU/s320/Patricia%20Spears%20Jones3.2rz_credit%20Marcia%20E%20Wilson.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patricia Spears Jones, <i>photo by Marcia E. Wilson</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack Rogow: <b>Many of your poems are sparked by chance encounters in an urban area, often New York City. What types of encounters are most likely to generate a poem for you?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Patricia Spears Jones: </b>The encounters could be a</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> phrase overheard on the sidewalk, the weather, a gallery exhibition, a movie scene, another poet’s work, the scent of the subway or a perfume counter, the taste of whiskey, music—especially live performances, a garment’s color and cut. Basically, even with my diva cane! I am a </span><i style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">flaneuse</i><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, as the poet <a href="https://poets.org/poet/scott-hightower" target="_blank">Scott Hightower </a>once described me. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. There are several elegies in <i>The Beloved Community</i>: for Black Panther leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton" target="_blank">Fred Hampton</a>, for Aretha Franklin, for pianist <a href="https://geriallen.com/" target="_blank">Geri Allen</a>, and others. How does a poet make the loss of an individual life resonate for readers?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think that one of the great gifts that poets give is to make the loss of an individual resonate—whether they are historic figures, or celebrities, as listed in your question, or a family member or friend. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thulani-davis" target="_blank">Thulani Davis</a> said that poets sing people into this world and sing them out. Sometimes it takes very long to do so—I’ve been thinking about the life and very much the death of Fred Hampton since I was in my teens. His death is mentioned in an early poem of mine. “Glad All Over,” but I wasn’t able to write the poem about him in <i>The Beloved Community</i> until 2021. So finding that language took like 50 years. As for the Gerri Allen lyric, that was almost sent—I had recently seen her play in a lovely park in Sugar Hill, Harlem, and a year later she passed and I could still see her playing the piano. Each of these poems can only provide a trace of what I was feeling when I wrote them. The hardest was the one for Aretha because I was out of the U.S. when she passed, but it gave me the opportunity to see her globally. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are also poems in the collection that are a kind of elegy for persons and the place—the persons are <a href="https://www.maboumines.org/lee-breuer/" target="_blank">Lee Breuer</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Cannon_(writer)#:~:text=Steve%20Cannon%20(April%2010%2C%201935,New%20York%20City%20in%201962.&text=New%20Orleans%2C%20Louisiana%2C%20U.S." target="_blank">Steve Cannon</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Weiner" target="_blank">Hannah Weiner</a>—and the place, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Village,_Manhattan" target="_blank">East Village</a> of the 1970s. Lee and the people at Mabou Mines got me to New York City, Steve Cannon introduced me to the “third whirl” poetics, as he called it from his perch on East Third Street, he lived in an actual house! And Hannah Weiner was sort of the older cool poet who seemed to have the strangest and vibrant life—I am sure she was mad, but mad for poetry. She saw WORDS and, in a way, gave all of us permission to delve ever so intensely into WORDS. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHeBBfdJ_AoFsaJ7dunHTKjdwlUSSxsGfBnVzZ5L4cylIGbY_Ji7kEiZqUutwe4U04gLHg5_OaNpoQT1bTzKgnnwpdgczAPrsVn-YhrKFVeDhtj2wqcy5siea9B-SjdoDlEJig3YsDqfWyFkNQTy3tj-xwu2w5_Lp3yB5yN_3NbB_O4EiDDhm2myTEVo/s2700/COVER_Beloved%20Community_Patricia%20Spears%20Jones.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHeBBfdJ_AoFsaJ7dunHTKjdwlUSSxsGfBnVzZ5L4cylIGbY_Ji7kEiZqUutwe4U04gLHg5_OaNpoQT1bTzKgnnwpdgczAPrsVn-YhrKFVeDhtj2wqcy5siea9B-SjdoDlEJig3YsDqfWyFkNQTy3tj-xwu2w5_Lp3yB5yN_3NbB_O4EiDDhm2myTEVo/s320/COVER_Beloved%20Community_Patricia%20Spears%20Jones.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><b style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Q. The title poem is in a sense an elegy for someone the speaker did not know, the attendant or a customer in a laundromat. The poet just happens to be in the laundromat when another customer sees a flyer for a memorial and realizes someone has died. What inspired you to write about an anonymous person the speaker of the poem seemingly never met or heard of before that incident?</b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was inspired by the encounter and the sense of community that the laundromat and indeed any of the laundromats in Brooklyn have. They are places you go to regularly and if you have a routine you see some of the same people maybe twice a month or weekly. People are often talkative or secretive—it’s amazing what some folks don’t want you to see in a laundromat. The workers are often immigrants, English may be their second or third language, sometimes family members join them to clean up. All the while people are washing their clothes. And the workers often post fliers for neighborhood events, so seeing one for a memorial service was a jolt. It is strange I only saw that woman in question just that time, but accidental intimacy happens in neighborhoods where you must go outside your home to do even the most mundane thing, like wash your clothes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. One thing that’s always struck me about your poems is how you can move from what seems almost like a superficial level to such a deep one with just a few words. I’m thinking about the poem “First and last nights in Virginia, January and May 2020,” where you describe shopping in a chain drugstore. Suddenly the last three syllables of the poem turn it into a political manifesto. How do you switch from what seems like an everyday description to something much more significant in only a few words?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's all in the build-up and I also want to collapse that time in as sharp a way as possible. The year 2020 was just so grim and the sham response from the business community (we need workers to go back to work even as workers were dying) and President Trump worsened the atmosphere. And one of the great things about poetry is when you want to really say it you do it with as few words as possible and each one matters.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. You’ve recently received well-deserved recognitions, including being named New York State Poet and the inaugural Lucille Clifton Poetry Chair at <a href="https://communityofwriters.org/" target="_blank">the Community of Writers</a>; and winning the Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers. For many decades, though, you worked without receiving major honors, surprising for an author as accomplished as you. What kept you going all those years when your work was not widely recognized?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I made a serious decision in 1990 to complete my MFA from Vermont College and keep pushing my work because I knew that I had something to say as a poet and I am quite stubborn and proud. For my MFA I was advised by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lynda-hull" target="_blank">Lynda Hull</a> and M<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mark-doty" target="_blank">ark Doty</a>, and briefly by the late <a href="https://www.sarabandebooks.org/titles-1996-1997/dark-blonde-belle-waring" target="_blank">Belle Waring</a>, and finally <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-rivard" target="_blank">David Rivard</a>. I read like 200-300 poetry collections, literary criticism, philosophy, history, etc. And from that I knew that what I was saying and how I was saying it could and should be part of the discourse. As stated, I am quite proud. While my work appeared to be ignored by the various versions of the poetry establishment, I have always had patrons and champions who have found my work to be important and necessary. I am glad they did. It has not been easy and there are days when I wished I had received all this 10 years ago when I was healthier, but better late than never. The <a href="https://www.pw.org/about-us/jackson_poetry_prize" target="_blank">Jackson Poetry Prize</a> was a total surprise, but earlier in 1996 when I received an award from the <a href="https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/" target="_blank">Foundation for Contemporary Arts </a>(FCA) I knew that maybe just maybe my poetics was finding readers and a place in what is often called the avant-garde. I do not think of myself as that, but I got to thank <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Johns" target="_blank">Jasper Johns</a> for the FCA funds which allowed me to: a) buy a computer, and b) take a trip to Paris. I don’t usually name drop, but you know what, if I want to I can and that is another way of saying writers, musicians, artists, journalists whom I respect and admire offered me their respect and admiration—that kept me going. And keeps me going.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>Patricia Spears Jones’ poetry collection </i><a href="https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/the-beloved-community/" target="_blank">The Beloved Community</a><i> is published by Copper Canyon Press. Her other books include </i>A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems<i>. She has taught creative writing at Hollins University, Adelphi University, Hunter College, and Barnard College. Jones leads poetry workshops for The Workroom, Hugo House, the Community of Writers, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Gemini Ink, and Brooklyn Poets. She organizes the American Poets Congress and is a Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Black Earth Institute.</i></span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p><p style="font-size: medium;"></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-24197416432146323392024-01-07T11:27:00.000-08:002024-01-07T12:14:01.284-08:00Contemporary Poetry in China: An Interview with Ma Yongbo<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This post is an interview with <b><a href="https://paper-republic.org/pers/ma-yongbo/" target="_blank">Ma Yongbo</a></b>, a Chinese poet, translator, editor, and scholar. Ma has authored or translated more than 70 books. He is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Literature at Nanjing University. His translations from English include works by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-ashbery" target="_blank">John Ashbery</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson" target="_blank">Emily Dickinson</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/may-sarton" target="_blank">May Sarton</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walt-whitman" target="_blank">Walt Whitman</a>, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-carlos-williams" target="_blank">William Carlos Williams</a>, and others.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwN4bi8NN39JmmB0h4vpOJZVtOPitpf773doDD8pUNVKrRkrtpzMK84t4Hv_s1XpQZgfDLNr9jQ2UEv6rhfjC3iqyzc_Z7vQdnNWYyhkW9DbLhhpdUHXRM60f5klS5I9tIGg7UKnKZ6tpsk6-6AXyb-I-1rgo-vOqWKKd_7q5XznHJo4HWEsiqJuSvNj0/s3216/%E9%A9%AC%E6%B0%B8%E6%B3%A22016%E5%A4%8F.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3216" data-original-width="2136" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwN4bi8NN39JmmB0h4vpOJZVtOPitpf773doDD8pUNVKrRkrtpzMK84t4Hv_s1XpQZgfDLNr9jQ2UEv6rhfjC3iqyzc_Z7vQdnNWYyhkW9DbLhhpdUHXRM60f5klS5I9tIGg7UKnKZ6tpsk6-6AXyb-I-1rgo-vOqWKKd_7q5XznHJo4HWEsiqJuSvNj0/s320/%E9%A9%AC%E6%B0%B8%E6%B3%A22016%E5%A4%8F.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poet Ma Yongbo</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack Rogow: I understand there are a great many poets in China. Why is writing poetry so popular there?</b></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1e330f21-7fff-a891-9324-2071dd5eed74"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Ma Yongbo:</b> Before the internet became popular in China around 1999, poetry was considered an art for a select few. With the freedom of the internet for writing and publishing, the population of poets exploded. People of all ages and backgrounds delved into poetry, turning it into a mass movement with diverse voices.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 2021, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released a report showing that China had over 500 million people engaged in online literature. Poets transitioned from penning verses in study chambers to composing on computers, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Poetry has become ubiquitous, from websites, forums, blogs, and microblogs to social media platforms like WeChat, Weibo, MeiPian, and Little Red Book.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.zgshige.com/" target="_blank">The Chinese Poetry Network</a> publishes 10,000 poems monthly, with 170,000 registered poets. The platform has reached 500,000 visits per day, and an average of 3,000 poems are submitted each day.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On WeChat, almost every poet has their own public account, essentially editing their own online magazine. Every aspect of life can be turned into poetry. An extreme example is "Enter Key" poetry, randomly breaking up prose into lines of poetry. It is challenging to determine what is and isn't poetry.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or take the website Xiaohongshu (https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore?m_source=pinpai). There are over two million poetry posts on this platform, contributed by nearly 900,000 creators. Over 25 million people read poetry-related content on that platform each week.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Traditional print publications also play a significant role, with over 50,000 poems published annually in officially circulated newspapers and magazines, more than in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_Tang_Poems#:~:text=Complete%20Tang%20Poems%20(or%20Quan,and%20published%20under%20his%20name." target="_blank">The Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty</a>. There are more than 250 publicly circulated literary journals, and it's challenging to count the number of newspapers featuring poems.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Each year, the number of poetry collections published by national mainstream publishers exceeds 1,200 books, more than the number published during the entire period of modern Chinese literature before 1949.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are also unofficial, avant-garde networks of Chinese poetry, including self-published works read within a literary circle. Especially in the pre-internet era, these publications thrived as the primary means for exchanging the work of various literary movements and groups. While the number of self-published journals has decreased with the convenience of online platforms, there are still uncountable publications of this type. About 10,000 self-published journals have appeared since 1978, and the number of self-published poetry collections exceeds 10,000.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Poetry events are frequent nationwide, with an average of no less than three events daily, including seminars, readings, sharing sessions, and launches, varying in form, scale, audience, and levels of sophistication.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjecE8BPUMCvNtW_ncyiFoKCLW_hq8FRHmPwxKcVrNnkXjiASbseHM8nS1VY5OJwTWjigm69FpOpVApkpL-IRbvkzOw6bfCXyK3Sj82hU2-RACRL_T74GTnC3Q4Kx3GAJ-Gm5OhEagK-GJ4KrbiGzh11VeqYFhAF2u-lkQrRmm17t4TEWtkkhFx8Ux_Hxs/s5616/20230910%E5%90%88%E5%BD%B11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3744" data-original-width="5616" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjecE8BPUMCvNtW_ncyiFoKCLW_hq8FRHmPwxKcVrNnkXjiASbseHM8nS1VY5OJwTWjigm69FpOpVApkpL-IRbvkzOw6bfCXyK3Sj82hU2-RACRL_T74GTnC3Q4Kx3GAJ-Gm5OhEagK-GJ4KrbiGzh11VeqYFhAF2u-lkQrRmm17t4TEWtkkhFx8Ux_Hxs/s320/20230910%E5%90%88%E5%BD%B11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poetry reading in China</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are a plethora of poetry awards, with prizes named after famous authors and poets such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo, Bian Zhilin, Chang Yao, Ai Qing, and Haizi, to name a few. The poetry scene is highly active, but in essence, it’s thriving without flourishing. The quality of poetry has sharply declined, with a multitude of pseudo-poetry and amateurish poetry inundating the internet, overshadowing poetry written in a more professional vein.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The work that has garnered widespread attention in recent years is poetry related to hot topics. Labels like “Migrant Worker Poet,” “Express Delivery Poet,” and “Suicide Poet” are constantly emerging, attracting the majority of readers and making genuine poets feel isolated. Online writers often express dissatisfaction with the existing social order. Most poets prefer short and quick lines and poems, catering to online platforms. Many poets focus on expressing themselves without delving into the artistic aspects of poetry, at most borrowing some techniques from classical poetry. They show little interest in the latest developments in Chinese and world poetry, resulting in a false “authenticity” that I find amateurish. Avant-garde and experimental poetry has severely shrunk, and no one is paying attention.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. With so many published poets, how do you and other poets in China decide which poets to read, review, and talk about?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As Borges said, poetry is always for the “infinite few.” Poetry that gains public attention because of social phenomena, often linked to current events, may not endure. Which poets enter our field of vision is sometimes accidental and sometimes a matter of “fate.” I often read not the award-winning or popular poets, but rather those who are quietly unknown or from the lower strata of society. Due to limited energy, I naturally pay more attention to the poems of friends—I’m familiar with their work. I’m particularly interested in writing styles and tendencies different than mine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. Are there particular themes or topics that contemporary poets in China write about?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Classical poetry mainly focused on universal themes such as pastoral scenes, homesickness, farewells, the sorrows of spring and autumn, and border defense. Contemporary Chinese free verse has inherited these themes, but places greater emphasis on individual experiences and reflections on the collective destiny of humanity. It pays more attention to personal emotions, in contrast to <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/t-s-eliot" target="_blank">T.S. Eliot</a>’s depersonalization.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Classical Chinese poetry is a product of agrarian civilization, while current vernacular poetry is a product of modernity. Industrial themes and urban imagery are key subjects for modern poetry. The barren state of modern civilizations in both the East and the West is also something contemporary Chinese poetry has to confront, an aspect absent in classical poetry. In the Tang and Song dynasties, humans and nature coexisted harmoniously, but now we humans have become the adversaries of nature.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chinese poetry has always focused on reality, following the tradition of <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tu-fu" target="_blank">Du Fu</a>. Contemporary Chinese poetry is no longer a deciphering of political slogans, nor is it an appendage to propaganda. It has genuinely entered the unique inner world of the poet, expressing the poet's personal thoughts and feelings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What is more crucial is that Chinese poetry has shifted its emphasis from merely conveying content to valuing language itself. For instance, poets in the past often used the sunflower as a symbol of power worship. Nowadays, poets hope to restore the sunflower to being the sunflower itself. This change is related to the influence of phenomenology of <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/" target="_blank">Martin Heidegger</a> and <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/husserl/" target="_blank">Edmund Husserl</a>.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another significant development since the 1990s is “themeless” poetry. Contemporary Chinese poetry has freed itself from "thematic writing.” From the traditional expression of emotions to the expression of experiences inspired by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke" target="_blank">Rainer Maria Rilke</a> and Eliot, and then to the expression of the “experience of experience” inspired by Ashbery, contemporary Chinese poetry has shown a trend toward “themelessness.” Poetry now creates concrete details, novelistic narratives, and dramatic situations and scenes. It even explores the generative process of poetry itself.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. Do all the poets write in Mandarin Chinese, or do some write in local dialects, such as Cantonese?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most poets write in standard Chinese (Mandarin), with occasional influences from regional dialects. Poets who use dialects are rare and mostly limited to ethnic minorities. I haven't come across poets exclusively using Cantonese, as most Chinese people use Mandarin, and few understand Cantonese. Dialects are more closely associated with other forms of artistic expressions such as films, folk songs, and dance, where there might be readings of poetry in dialects. Even if the audience doesn't understand, it adds an artistic element.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many ethnic languages are rapidly disappearing, and poetry might be an effective way to preserve them. The efforts of Native American poets in the United States, for example, are valuable in this regard. Similarly, African American poetry often has connections to jazz, creating significant cultural value.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. How does a writer get published in a literary magazine in China?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Currently, the circulation of official literary magazines has declined sharply, with some provincial publications printing only a few hundred copies, and they lack significant influence. Few people actually read the official journals. People generally just casually flip through the poems of friends they know. Poets don’t pay much attention to each other; they often form small circles, reading and even praising each other.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Magazines now mostly accept online submissions. However, due to the sheer number of people writing poetry, possibly millions, editorial inboxes are flooded. With limited staff, editors can't possibly go through all the submissions. To get published, you often need to submit directly to an editor you know. In China, getting published is not about quality; it's about interpersonal relationships. That’s a serious and troublesome issue.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Poets don’t pay much attention to official magazines now because publishing in social media and non-official publications serves the same purpose and reaches a broader audience. Poets value non-official colleagues’ publications more because these are self-funded, and organizers are more serious about selecting works. Good poetry is found among the people. Due to political reasons, publication principles, and editorial aesthetics, it's difficult for good poems to be published in official journals. Poets who don’t enter the editors’ social circles have practically no chance to publish; they can only communicate on social media platforms.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Editors make necessary modifications to manuscripts, mainly regarding political concerns. Experimental and avant-garde poetry have no space in China and can only survive at the grassroots. Poems criticizing reality have little chance of being published, and satirical poetry as a genre is extinct in China. Poems published officially are generally safe and uncontroversial.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Renowned poets and emerging poets may get opportunities to publish their work. How these opportunities arise remains a mystery. Chinese society relies heavily on personal connections; without them, progress is challenging. Success based solely on the quality of one's work is extremely rare and nearly impossible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. How does a writer get a book of poetry published in China? How many copies do most poetry books sell in China?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Publishing a poetry collection is a task more challenging than reaching the heavens. Only a handful of popular poets receive remuneration from publishing houses and get their works published. How they attain their popularity is a mystery. Another way to publish a poetry collection is by being a poet sponsored by various levels of writers' associations.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In contemporary China, there are essentially two types of poets who have the chance to publish collections. One is the popular poet relying on market appeal, and the other is the poet favored by the authorities, relying on official financial support. The poets caught in between face a dilemma. Because they delve into the depths of the human spirit, their work is unlikely to have a large readership.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There's another category of poets who can publish collections: wealthy poets who can afford to buy an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN" target="_blank">ISBN (International Standard Book Number)</a>. For a book with 200,000 characters, the author needs to pay the publisher 100,000 RMB. Genuine poets are often financially strained, making it difficult for them to come up with that kind of money. It is normal for poets to be poor because, as <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-bly" target="_blank">Robert Bly </a>said, it's good to be poor and listen to the sound of the wind.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">China currently lacks a poet who is universally recognized. If there is one, it might be <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/bei-dao" target="_blank">Bei Dao</a>. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrkimcBXQavcxpKrqSTnx-rvfA64lV_wQHAylfw1zO80qiBUhCGy-KGygkPZfwgJpwZM4qFfvCTFgjygQUfcizM4-FhdMiD4R8KSwpWMe9uHFRX_AoE2t3K1VF6ggEdkOcSxznCj2EmBt4-tMToqSEIDnYaQxxrR2FKlPeJMNI1tX3gNbF0ubDH7nFRM/s1000/bei%20dao.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1000" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrkimcBXQavcxpKrqSTnx-rvfA64lV_wQHAylfw1zO80qiBUhCGy-KGygkPZfwgJpwZM4qFfvCTFgjygQUfcizM4-FhdMiD4R8KSwpWMe9uHFRX_AoE2t3K1VF6ggEdkOcSxznCj2EmBt4-tMToqSEIDnYaQxxrR2FKlPeJMNI1tX3gNbF0ubDH7nFRM/s320/bei%20dao.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poet Bei Dao</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some poets gain fame merely because they have more public exposure opportunities; they align themselves with power and capital. The greatest poets are currently underground. Very few readers are aware of their existence. They cannot be popular or widely known, and they have minimal opportunities for publication. Fortunately, with social media and private publication, good poetry still has a chance to be read.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most poets can only afford to self-publish their collections, limiting them to private circulation, such as giving copies to friends or donating to libraries. Very few poetry collections make it to bookstores, and even fewer enter major online retailers like Dangdang and JD. Generally, poetry collections have few buyers, with a few hundred copies being a significant breakthrough. If a published collection can sell two to three thousand copies, the publishing house can break even. My collection, </span><i style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Travels in Words</i><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, published by Huacheng Press, had two printings and sold more than eight thousand copies, rare among serious poets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. Are poetry books reviewed in other publications, such as newspapers or poetry magazines?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In academic journals and literary publications, you find reviews, and some newspapers’ book review columns also review poetry. However, poetry remains the most marginalized genre in the literary world. In universities, whether in Chinese or foreign language departments, scholars researching poetry are on the fringe, receiving little attention. Publishing research papers on poetry is challenging. University faculty members seeking promotions and fulfilling so-called research workloads need to publish papers in “high-level” journals. Consequently, the number of university professors researching poetry is decreasing; there are only a few hundred in the entire country.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. Are many international poets published in China? Who are the most popular international poets?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Translated poetry collections are relatively easier to publish than original poetry in Chinese, although it is still challenging for marketing reasons. There is an old saying in China, “A visiting monk can recite the scriptures well,” meaning there is curiosity about the exotic. In recent years, quite a few collections of work by foreign poets have appeared in China, especially Nobel Prize winners, and publishers vie for their works. Additionally, winners of prestigious awards such as the U.S. National Book Award, the Critics’ Circle Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize may also find opportunities in China. Poets who have previously received acclaim in Chinese, known for various reasons, have an easier time getting translated and published. Other poets face difficulties publishing collections, even if their poetic quality surpasses that of Nobel laureates and other awardees. This is primarily for marketing reasons.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My interest in American poetry began during my university English classes. I translated several poems by African American poets and received praise from my teacher. In the early 1990s, I began systematically translating contemporary American poetry, especially postmodern poetry. I compared American poetry with Chinese poetry, hoping to find commonalities and differences. I believed that Chinese poetry and American poetry are mirrors reflecting each other. Unresolved poetic issues in Chinese poetry may find solutions in American poetry, similar to how Ezra Pound found inspiration from classical Chinese poetry.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I spent thirty years introducing John Ashbery to China, and his influence has been significant, possibly making him the most famous American poet in China over the past two decades. Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton have also gained substantial recognition in Chinese. Rilke had a considerable reputation in the 1990s, but he is rarely mentioned now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chinese readers prefer poets like Tagore, perhaps the most popular in Chinese. Readers of avant-garde and experimental poetry are few, but personally I believe these writers are more valuable. They allow Chinese poets to understand trends and developments in world poetry. Without these reference points, Chinese poetry lacks nourishment. Since we have already severed ties with classical poetry, Chinese poetry is still growing under the influence of international poetry. It has been challenging to break free from this influence, and Chinese writing has struggled to establish its own poetics.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With contemporary Chinese poets, we often strongly sense the influence of international writers. For example, the impact of confessional poetry on women’s writing, the influence of Russian Silver Age poetry, and Auden's influence on academic poetry are easily recognizable. It will take a long time for Chinese poetry to truly find its own path with national characteristics and build a native poetics free from European traditional influence, the way William Carlos Williams did in North America,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Q. Who are the most widely read English-language poets in China? Are poetry readers in China aware of the very diverse range of writers here in the United States?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The most well-known English-language poets are still Byron and Shelley, regardless of how many English poets have been introduced in recent years, such as Eliot and Pound. This is related to the deficiencies in aesthetic education, as the textbooks in middle school still follow the old curricula. Unfortunately, Whitman is less popular than Byron and Shelley,.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Professional poets are well aware of the diversity of American poetry. They are familiar with various schools of contemporary American poetry, such as confessional poetry, the New York School, the New Surrealism, Deep Image, the Black Mountain School, the Beat Generation, etc. However, ordinary readers are not likely to be familiar with these, and at most, they may know Whitman and Dickinson, or perhaps Frost. Less accessible poets are rarely explored, for example, Wallace Stevens.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">International poets hoping to publish poetry collections in Chinese face enormous challenges. Especially in recent years, if a book doesn't sell more than three thousand copies, publishers incur losses, and they might refuse to publish, even if the intrinsic value of the poet's work is high. There are often unclear reasons behind the emergence of translated poetry collections— it's hit-or-miss. Authoritative translators may have some chance of convincing editors to take the risk of publishing a particular international poet's collection.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In China, poetry seems to have no hope or future and can only serve as a source of self-entertainment. The description of China as a "poetic nation" is far from the truth; in fact, the Chinese people are now overly pragmatic, completely losing the spiritual pursuits seen in the Tang and Song dynasties. As a result, poetry remains a niche and marginal art form. Despite the influence of the internet, leading to millions of people engaging in text-based writing, poetry is still the pursuit of a minority. Other media are more popular, allowing poetry to become the lonely guardian of language and the soul—an isolated watchman—and this is perfectly normal and a good thing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-33465689159364717972023-12-03T13:57:00.000-08:002023-12-12T13:43:12.410-08:00Ambiguity vs. Confusion in Poetry<p>Poets are notorious for using ambiguous language. Some ambiguity can be extremely resonant, and it can add complexity. But some lack of clarity is just confusing and puts off the reader. What is the difference between ambiguity that expands language to include multiple possible meanings, and lack of clarity that is just plain obscure? </p><p>Since we’re talking about ambiguity, it’s not surprising that the line between ambiguity and confusion is blurred. A couple of examples can help distinguish between these two types of ambiguity. I’m going to use an early and a later poem by the writer <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jorie-graham" target="_blank">Jorie Graham</a> as examples of these two different kinds of ambiguity.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXc_FF3aIzzF4XJsU4Rp5BrpE7rGYEKuE1r6Q0MBKIH6bdj_YMzKu-WebR8ud6NhHyZ8LLahJ2hmh-jCO7ESbuV9ICaYPkIOI4SdKSOJGPA3DuQGehAbg-Mgo6FlGRuVbmrdDeLr8c6sQ0U2hwrb58ESpu2CxTTxdLNRo7obW4J2ep6sQn67pqe2VFQU4/s289/JorieGraham_NewBioImage_Credit-DidierMorel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="286" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXc_FF3aIzzF4XJsU4Rp5BrpE7rGYEKuE1r6Q0MBKIH6bdj_YMzKu-WebR8ud6NhHyZ8LLahJ2hmh-jCO7ESbuV9ICaYPkIOI4SdKSOJGPA3DuQGehAbg-Mgo6FlGRuVbmrdDeLr8c6sQ0U2hwrb58ESpu2CxTTxdLNRo7obW4J2ep6sQn67pqe2VFQU4/s1600/JorieGraham_NewBioImage_Credit-DidierMorel.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poet Jorie Graham</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The first example is from Jorie Graham’s early book <i><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691014050/erosion" target="_blank">Erosion</a></i>, published in 1983. One poem I admire in that collection is <a href="https://voetica.com/poem/6432" target="_blank">“Scirocco,”</a> named after a hot wind that blows from the Sahara Desert to southern Europe. The poem takes place in the apartment in Rome, Italy, that the poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Keats" target="_blank">John Keats</a> lived in around 1821, not long before he died at age 26. Describing the view from Keats’ residence, Graham writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Outside his window</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>you can hear the scirocco</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">working </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the invisible.</span></div></blockquote><p>Now, I have no idea what it means to be “working / the invisible,” but that’s a beautiful phrase with many echoes. It could mean the literal sound of a wind that moves air or foliage we can’t see, or possibly the activity of a spiritual reality beyond the experience of our senses. The wording is ambiguous but in an extremely evocative way. Graham goes on from there:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Every dry leaf of ivy</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Is fingered,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">refingered. Who is</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the nervous spirit</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">of this world</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>that must go over and over</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">what it already knows,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>what is it</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">so hot and dry</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>that’s looking through us,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">by us,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>for its answer?</span></div></blockquote><p>Again, a lot of the language Graham uses here is not crystal clear. That includes “the nervous spirit” that is “fingering” the ivy (I love the verb “fingering”!). But just the addition of the adjective “nervous” before the noun “spirit” gives us an original and vivid description of a restless wind, and also a seeking, transcendent presence. The lack of clarity in this passage is extremely purposeful and useful, because it sets up the idea that there is a spooky reality even more evanescent than a hot wind, one that links human experience to the things of this world. That spirit is not only “looking through us,” it is looking “by us, / for its answer.”</p><p>In Jorie Graham’s entire poem, “Scirocco,” ambiguity paradoxically serves a very specific purpose. The purpose is to suggest there is a metaphysical link between human consciousness and the things of the world, an expansion of a theme in <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke" target="_blank">Rainer Maria Rilke</a>’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duino_Elegies" target="_blank">Duino Elegies</a></i>.</p><p>Contrast that with a poem from later in Jorie Graham’s career, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54783/the-visible-world" target="_blank">“The Visible World,”</a> from her book <i><a href="https://www.joriegraham.com/materialism" target="_blank">Materialism</a></i>, published a decade later in 1993. The poem begins</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">I dig my hands into the absolute. The surface</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>breaks</div><div style="text-align: left;">into shingled, grassed clusters; lifts.</div><div style="text-align: left;">If I press, pick-in with fingers, pluck,</div><div style="text-align: left;">I can unfold the loam. It is tender. It is a tender</div><div style="text-align: left;">maneuver, hands making and unmaking promises.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Diggers, forgetters… A series of successive instances…</div><div style="text-align: left;">Frames of reference moving…</div></blockquote><p>Say what? The ambiguities come so fast and furious here, I have a hard time even knowing where we are, and what I’m supposed to be visualizing or feeling. Starting with the opening sentence, “I dig my hands into the absolute,” I’m unsure if this is an actual, physical reality or a metaphorical realm. As soon as I start thinking there is something I can grab onto, such as hands digging in the soil, the poet pulls the ground out from under me and has the hands “making and unmaking promises.” What promises? I don’t feel the poem ever answers that question. Yes, indeed, there are “Frames of reference moving”, But not much else I can relate to, only “A series of successive instances…”</p><p>To me, this latter poem is an example of confusion, rather than useful ambiguity. It could very well be that I’m too impatient and too literal, that I’m missing the whole point of how Jorie Graham’s style developed. Still, I can’t decode possible, alternate readings that vibrate with meaning. This poem consists only of fragments for me, and the poet has not included enough matching edges to make me want to fit the pieces together. </p><p>If I had to define the difference between ambiguity and confusion in poetry, it would be this: ambiguity allows for multiple understandings that each resonate deeply with meaning. Confusion leads the reader down multiple burrows that don’t connect in meaningful ways.</p><div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></div>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-69224632110492065612023-11-14T19:20:00.000-08:002023-11-15T14:28:55.302-08:00Disarming the Reader by Admitting Your Flaws: Nazim Hikmet’s “Falling Leaves”<p><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Readers are rightly suspicious of cliché language in literature. They don’t want to be taken for fools who’ve never read the famous lines. They’ve already seen the usual techniques that writers use to pull our heartstrings. But let’s face it—pulling our heartstrings is one of the best things that a writer can do. So how does a writer evoke deep emotion without alerting the reader’s sensitive antennae for corny language?</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f488d03d-7fff-e9c8-eb73-677aeb154d89"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, one way to use cliché language and imagery is to start by flat out admitting to your reader that you’re doing just that. You concede to your reader that they are sophisticated and aware of the tricks that writers pull out of their hats to produce emotions. </span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A writer who is extremely good at this is the Turkish poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nazim-Hikmet" target="_blank">Nazim Hikmet</a> (1902–1963). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzbwFMj1aQtCAAtb_Rnkjyd35ww5b76JDMl9NQuWXj3oZIHP2TXg-FPOYHWgFIm9blTBF7R5fMwpjWQmm_RMkHyFTDDJk4MoNRe3cEQQNy8oWzF9DFYiWX484axoZDGMHK4PezeP5A-7PRyhantL5rNkqR4k-AXhf8rC3_DHSVeRg4oLXL2ZjfBCqGOMM/s480/nazim-hikmet-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="480" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzbwFMj1aQtCAAtb_Rnkjyd35ww5b76JDMl9NQuWXj3oZIHP2TXg-FPOYHWgFIm9blTBF7R5fMwpjWQmm_RMkHyFTDDJk4MoNRe3cEQQNy8oWzF9DFYiWX484axoZDGMHK4PezeP5A-7PRyhantL5rNkqR4k-AXhf8rC3_DHSVeRg4oLXL2ZjfBCqGOMM/s320/nazim-hikmet-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nazim Hikmet</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The breezy, colloquial tone of Nazim Hikmet’s poems could easily fool a reader into thinking that his poems do not involve a lot of craft. The opposite is the case. One of Nazim Hikmet’s favorite devices is to disarm the reader by confessing that he is using the standard gimmicks that artists and writers employ. Once he wins the reader’s trust by admitting that he’s using hackneyed diction, he throws in that kitschy imagery anyway, and he gets the reader to react to that deep emotion before they even knew what’s hitting them.
</span><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A great example is Nazim Hikmet’s classic poem, “Falling Leaves”:</span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Falling Leaves</b></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve read about falling leaves in fifty thousand poems novels</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and so on</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">watched leaves falling in fifty thousand movies</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">seen leaves fall fifty thousand times</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">fall drift and rot</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">felt their dead <i>shush shush</i> fifty thousand times</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">underfoot in my hands on my fingertips</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">but I’m still touched by falling leaves</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially those falling on boulevards</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially chestnut leaves</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and if kids are around</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">if it’s sunny</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and I’ve got good news for friendship</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially if my heart doesn’t ache</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and I believe my love loves me</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially if it’s a day I feel good about people</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m touched by falling leaves</span></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially those falling on boulevards</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially chestnut leaves.</span></p></span></blockquote><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>6th September, 1961</i></span></p></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>Leipzig</i></span></p></span></blockquote><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">from <i><a href="https://www.perseabooks.com/poems-of-nazim-hikmet" target="_blank">Poems of Nazim Hikmet</a></i>, translated by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/randy-blasing" target="_blank">Randy Blasing</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutlu_Konuk_Blasing" target="_blank">Mutlu Konuk</a>, Persea Books</span></p></span></blockquote><span><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nazim Hikmet starts by saying that there is nothing more trite than falling leaves. He admits that the image is so familiar, it’s used in the most sentimental genres, novels and movies. He lulls the reader by repeating over and over the words “falling leaves,” making it clear that he is aware of how completely stale and sentimental that image is. He even exaggerates by saying he’s seen the image “fifty thousand” times, giving the reader a chance to think, “Oh, falling leaves are not as corny as all that!” Nazim Hikmet even brings in a whole slew of other cliché images: kids playing, chestnut trees, boulevards, and true love, piling on the schmaltz like layer after layer of leaves.</span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So how does this poem get right to our hearts, even though it’s “as corny as Kansas in August”? After telling you he’s sick of corn, Nazim Hikmet sneaks it back in. He not only gives us the falling leaves again, but also the chestnut trees, the boulevard, and the true love, before we have a chance to realize how he’s snuck up on us and pulled our heartstrings in spite of our emotional defenses.</span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But there is a part of this poem that is not all sunshine and flowers: </span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially if my heart doesn’t ache</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and I believe my love loves me</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially if it’s a day I feel good about people</span></p></span></blockquote><span><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There’s a terribly poignant note here, the implication that on many days, the speaker’s heart <i>does</i> ache, he’s not sure his love <i>does</i> love him, and he <i>doesn’t</i> always feel good about people. That undertone of melancholy gives the poem a tinge of the bittersweet that makes the poem’s happiness a little sharper. </span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By tipping his hand and showing the reader what he is about to present, Nazim Hikmet ironically makes the reader more vulnerable to that content. A writer could potentially do that with any emotion that might otherwise be trite, from tragedy to comedy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-60247922111175448482023-10-12T09:36:00.010-07:002023-10-12T23:51:39.217-07:00Composing the Emotional Flow of a Performance or Reading<p><b>What Is Emotional Flow? </b></p><p>For a play, opera, or literary reading, the emotional flow is the thread of moods that the audience experiences as they absorb the performance. </p><p>Audiences begin with a natural reluctance to connect with a show or reading, something we skeptical humans bring to any live event. Emotional connection with the performers can change that.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuqT7uJXhTZbXoXfHagItSGLhMtrh1UuWz8Fnu6nAAj8Uu7vDSVJ8tCKywCRtzuQ7gATDmh26iGbNwqHQVuT-WCr2FMzCb6GXOKHVnR36MU9gHm4p-HQWzFO70lZRy4bZxnnlvBxjBQwMLtOSbAP73L71oFJWQCK_tWfscG456wlf2gKHmJ7COTnEZ0TU/s4000/Zack.Green.Apple.Photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2664" data-original-width="4000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuqT7uJXhTZbXoXfHagItSGLhMtrh1UuWz8Fnu6nAAj8Uu7vDSVJ8tCKywCRtzuQ7gATDmh26iGbNwqHQVuT-WCr2FMzCb6GXOKHVnR36MU9gHm4p-HQWzFO70lZRy4bZxnnlvBxjBQwMLtOSbAP73L71oFJWQCK_tWfscG456wlf2gKHmJ7COTnEZ0TU/s320/Zack.Green.Apple.Photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zack Rogow giving a poetry reading.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>When there is humor on stage or in a reading, the attendees laugh, relax, and let go of that natural reticence. On the other hand, when there is pathos in a performance, the audience also connects, but in a very different way. Identifying with the pain of a character or a reader can be a very personal, internal moment. </p><p>What is tricky for the writer of a play, an opera libretto, or a literary reading, is to know how best to thread together the various emotions that a performance stimulates in an audience. Not all combinations work, as I’ve discovered the hard way.</p><p><b>Start Heavy, Go Light—This Doesn’t Usually Work</b></p><p>Earlier in my literary career, I used to do poetry readings that combined stories of sharp tragedy with boisterous comedy. The tragedy sometimes involved the loss of a parent—very heavy content. My first instinct was to put the tragedy first, and then lighten things up with silliness. I followed my tragic, confessional writings with jokey poems, partly to reassure the audience that I was alright, even after exposing a personal trauma. My punchline humor was also a sort of bravado, a way of sidestepping the depths of emotion I’d just unveiled. I don’t think this emotional flow worked. The humor undercut the pathos and left the audience scratching their heads about whether they should be laughing or sympathizing with my pain.</p><p>I didn’t discover how badly I was threading the emotions in my poetry readings until I saw a student of mine imitate the heavy-to-light dynamic in his own reading. When I saw how flat and evasive the humor felt after a moment of stabbing pathos, it struck me that I was composing the emotional flow of a performance all wrong. </p><p><b>Start Light, Go Heavy</b></p><p>It was only by trial and error that I tried the reverse strategy—starting light and ending heavy. I tried this out in a collaboration with actor <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorri-holt-3828b2b/" target="_blank">Lorri Holt</a>. Lorri and I developed together the play called <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4E4MFQQlE" target="_blank">Colette Uncensored</a></i>, about the life of<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Colette" target="_blank"> the French writer Colette</a>. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcoTe3BVnkJiBqCjIkpNGFF0WdOaycNy6sntFxAf2ozRY5rD-iLtJg3YYn53sFbfgQoyXDcTLbukxQIEZAoWhClO2P_G_GZXHt_h1veREWIv_C4XGveaxOoSUMDzgib2MzQYIbn4HgSpYYi4gB9_Q5iI7IheqyuEdTgYLD4EXcdzysfNUhyOiEFog4Kw/s640/Lorri.as.Colette.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcoTe3BVnkJiBqCjIkpNGFF0WdOaycNy6sntFxAf2ozRY5rD-iLtJg3YYn53sFbfgQoyXDcTLbukxQIEZAoWhClO2P_G_GZXHt_h1veREWIv_C4XGveaxOoSUMDzgib2MzQYIbn4HgSpYYi4gB9_Q5iI7IheqyuEdTgYLD4EXcdzysfNUhyOiEFog4Kw/s320/Lorri.as.Colette.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lorri Holt as the writer Colette in <i>Colette Uncensored</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The story of Colette’s life naturally lent itself to the light-to-heavy emotional pathway, because Colette’s earlier years were like a French bedroom farce. Later on, when Colette’s family was swept up in the rise of fascism in the 1930s and 40s, her life became deadly serious. Colette’s husband then was Jewish and was arrested by the Gestapo, and her daughter got involved in the resistance to the Nazi occupation of France. When Lorri and I tried putting the humor in the early part of the play, and made the second half much more serious, the audience seemed to go with that current much more naturally. The initial humor gave the audience a chance to connect to the performance. Once the attendees had warmed up to the show, they were wide open to feeling the pathos in the second half. </p><p><b>Alternate Light and Heavy</b></p><p>After seeing the light-to-heavy path work well in a performance, I assumed that was the only successful way to combine humor and pathos on stage or in a reading. Recently I saw a performance of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioachino_Rossini" target="_blank">Gioachino Rossini</a>’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_buffa" target="_blank">opera buffa</a></i>, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_scala_di_seta" target="_blank">La Scala di Seta (The Silken Ladder)</a></i>. You can’t find a more outrageous comedy. The emotions run from slapstick to ridiculous. The feelings of the characters are so exaggerated, their crushes are so obviously unrequited, their amorous hopes are so clownish, that the audience is invited only to chuckle. And yet…Rossini and the librettist Giuseppe Maria<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Maria_Foppa" target="_blank"> Foppa</a> insert moments in this opera where a character confesses a hidden passion in the most poignant way. The zany servant Germano confesses his love in the aria, “Amore dolcemente tu prima accendi il core,” (“How sweetly, love, you first light this heart on fire”) and your own heart just melts. </p><p>How does Rossini succeed in placing these moments of extreme romantic passion in a farce? Well, music helps. Strike up the violins, and anything is possible. But I believe that can also be done in a literary work. It ain’t easy, though. I’m still working on it.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-26079569574330078432023-08-01T16:14:00.010-07:002023-08-01T16:34:40.582-07:00 Writing Historical Biography: An Interview with Rebecca Boggs Roberts<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This post is an interview with <a href="https://rebeccaroberts.org/" target="_blank">Rebecca Boggs Roberts</a>, author of the eye-opening and highly enjoyable biography, <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/696995/untold-power-by-rebecca-boggs-roberts/" target="_blank">Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson.</a></i></span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYAtLt4Gwr4hcDv7Az2nLI8eKn6diEZJ4mo1Ao-RelZtPWr5m0wLmVCE9XYgb2Xtlhb1XT37-2rVmF7grQuHzFrmfcgVz9x2bP0ASAz8IbtP05pXhdYQBmLrYBVb2awtBQytOyKJpy0JkMphyXeR7byBTkedrfeC9XID_aw90uMKNpcQ78Kb1j2dBxl0/s450/Becca.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYAtLt4Gwr4hcDv7Az2nLI8eKn6diEZJ4mo1Ao-RelZtPWr5m0wLmVCE9XYgb2Xtlhb1XT37-2rVmF7grQuHzFrmfcgVz9x2bP0ASAz8IbtP05pXhdYQBmLrYBVb2awtBQytOyKJpy0JkMphyXeR7byBTkedrfeC9XID_aw90uMKNpcQ78Kb1j2dBxl0/s320/Becca.jpeg" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca Boggs Roberts</td></tr></tbody></table><b style="font-size: 11pt;">Zack Rogow: </b><i style="font-size: 11pt;">What was the greatest challenge you faced in writing a biography of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/first-families/edith-bolling-galt-wilson/" target="_blank">Edith Bolling Wilson</a>?</i></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-bf1195b3-7fff-84d7-c2c7-54e4a4c471af"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Rebecca Boggs Roberts: </b>There were two big, related challenges. One was the challenge common to many writers who want to tell women’s stories: no one paid much attention to Edith before she married the President in 1915. For much of her life, the only primary source I had was Edith’s own memoir. But that memoir, while delightful, is, at times, demonstrably untrue. So the second challenge is that Edith was an unreliable narrator of her own story.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR: </b><i>You begin the book not at the start of Edith Bolling Wilson’s life, but with a dramatic moment in 1919 after President Wilson’s stroke, when his wife successfully concealed her husband’s incapacity from leaders of the U.S. Congress. What made you chose that moment to begin the biography?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR:</b> It’s a completely bonkers scene: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_President%27s_Men" target="_blank">All the President’s Men</a></i> meets <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_at_Bernie%27s" target="_blank">Weekend at Bernie’s</a></i>. If I couldn’t grab readers’ attention with that episode, it was hopeless. I wanted readers to finish that scene and think, “How did things get to that point? What the heck was going on?” and desperately want to read the rest of it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik6U6B5Wcv704hC56qRhIphllf1xaVRKa1tAlaxv2wFX89KhL6Jv6LoaZRYeVgZRp3d8Adx2MBSbSQvZfjnYTTQsRg0Cpp9JKmjTrhmYZpT5PhkAaY-OnmMTM1HDKOOcGdijtfOkvhoW47aiZUlKW4HreMQ3md_XPY-GOQuMJ82j_TE_tIQVfGHMWAi64/s450/Untold%20Power%20cover%20image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik6U6B5Wcv704hC56qRhIphllf1xaVRKa1tAlaxv2wFX89KhL6Jv6LoaZRYeVgZRp3d8Adx2MBSbSQvZfjnYTTQsRg0Cpp9JKmjTrhmYZpT5PhkAaY-OnmMTM1HDKOOcGdijtfOkvhoW47aiZUlKW4HreMQ3md_XPY-GOQuMJ82j_TE_tIQVfGHMWAi64/s320/Untold%20Power%20cover%20image.jpeg" width="212" /></a></div><b style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ZR: </b><i style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are used to reading about New York society in the Gilded Age, and the world of the Boston Brahmins. Edith Bolling Wilson came of age and flourished in Washington DC, which had its own distinctive social scene. What made DC society different, and how did that benefit or hinder Edith?</i><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i> </i></span><b style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">RBR: </b><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gilded Age Washington was absolutely booming with new money and new plans. The city was less than a century old and the social arbiters often changed with administrations, so there was much more space for social mobility that there was in the confines of Mrs. Astor’s ballroom. Think of Countess Olenska in Edith Wharton’s novel </span><i style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Innocence" target="_blank">The Age of Innocence</a></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Countess Olenska relocates to DC because New York is too conventional. Edith Bolling Wilson didn’t have the Countess’ resources, but she had the same instinct for self-invention.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR:</b> <i>There’s an intriguing passage in the book’s introduction where you say, “She [Edith Bolling Wilson] is not a hero; she is also not a villain. Very few people in American history are either, and I believe that our collective insistence on picking one category or the other for all of our most influential people has left us (at best) confused about how and through whom our history is made.” I agree with much of that statement, but how are we then to make judgments about the past that will improve our actions in the present, if we just see everyone as complex individuals? </i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR:</b> Is the alternative seeing everyone as stock characters? What can we possibly learn from that? Seeing someone as a complex individual does not preclude judging them. In fact, it gives you better information to make a more informed judgment. And if we require everyone who has had a positive impact on history to be a saint, we risk alienating all future potential agents of social change. Why try to change the word if you are convinced that you need to be a once-in-a-generation genius angel to do so? I think the fact that historical characters are flawed is liberating.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR: </b><i>One fascinating fact you discuss in your biography is that Edith Bolling Wilson was the first woman in Washington DC licensed to drive a car and an electric automobile. How did you find that out, and where did you get the details about her zipping around Washington in an electric car?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR: </b>The actual license survives at Edith’s birthplace museum in Wytheville, Virginia. Researching the history of electric cars was a delightful tangent. I found some original ads for them in early twentieth-century newspapers, clearly aimed at wealthy urban women, since “little electrics” were not as smelly or cumbersome as gas vehicles. Car makers advertised bud vases on the dash and a top speed of thirteen miles an hour. Edith became known for her car—several memoirs of the time by society women like Dolly Gann and Ellen Maury Slayton mention her zipping around town.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR: </b><i>When you’re doing historical research for a book like this one, you can easily go down “rabbit holes”—sidetracks only tangentially related to the main story. How do you know whether an interesting lead is a detour, or a direction that provides a new approach to the story?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR:</b> Every rabbit hole seems fascinating at the time (see the history of electric cars, above)! The act of falling down those holes and burrowing into obscure archives is totally addictive to research nerds like me. I particularly had to curb my enthusiasm for the history of Washington DC. Every time a specific location came up in Edith’s story, I wanted to know the entire history of the building, the neighborhood, and the inhabitants. You lose all critical distance after a while. If anyone wants to know more about the Dupont Circle area a hundred years ago, I stand ready to describe it block by block.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR:</b><i> The current political climate is very judgmental when it comes to figures in the past who do not measure up to our current standards of correctness. How did you handle the aspects of Edith’s life, and Woodrow Wilson’s career, that now seem unjust and wrongheaded?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">RBR: It’s really hard not to judge past actors through contemporary standards. For Woodrow Wilson, he was racist and sexist in his own time—he resegregated the Civil Service after it had integrated under previous administrations, and he continued to oppose women’s suffrage long after his peers supported it. So it’s not current standards of correctness that he fails to measure up to. Edith was also racist. The “darkie” jokes she told and Lost Cause mythology she used for the Civil War might have been more acceptable in her time, but you can’t argue that she wasn’t bigoted. My goal was to simply tell the truth, as far as I could verify it, and not try to either sugarcoat or demonize. I think readers are smart enough to judge for themselves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR: </b>Untold Power <i>also has untold humor. There are so many laugh-out-loud anecdotes, including the hilarious bit about the sheep that grazed the White House lawn during World War I to save energy and produce wool for the war effort. How did you mix in humor without diminishing the seriousness of the issues of Edith Bolling Wilson’s time?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR: </b>This is a corollary of the argument that historical figures are complex humans. Historical eras are complex times. Edith herself was very funny – I love her description of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Poincar%C3%A9" target="_blank">French President Raymond Poincaré</a> leading her into a diplomatic dinner in Paris and feeling “like a big liner with a tiny tug pushing her out from her moorings.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>ZR: </b><i>At the end of her life, what would Edith Bolling Wilson say was her greatest accomplishment or legacy? What would </i>you<i> say was her greatest accomplishment or legacy?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>RBR:</b> Unquestionably, she would say her greatest accomplishment, the work of her life, was protecting and curating the legacy of Woodrow Wilson. As we find ourselves revising that legacy in contemporary times, it continues to amaze me how much of his reputation as the Great Moral Visionary of Global Peace was a result of Edith’s myth-making.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I would say her greatest accomplishment is steering the nation through a crisis in leadership all the while pretending she was doing nothing of the kind. You don’t have to admire her actions to be impressed by her. And as part of that, her legacy must be to serve as an example of the kind of compromises ambitious women have made over time, and how they have operated outside the Hall of Fame model of history to enact social change. If any reader of <i>Untold Power</i> takes the opportunity to rethink who gets to make history and how, then that is no small feat.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-68111177437338600482023-07-22T17:19:00.014-07:002023-07-22T18:04:51.038-07:00How to Move on to the Next Creative Project<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whether you are a writer or you’re involved in another art, it can be difficult to make the transition from one major project to another. That is particularly the case when an artist has gotten some recognition for a series that took years to create. There is tremendous satisfaction in finishing a body of work, but that completion also poses a question: How can you now equal or improve on the originality and power of your last project?</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-33f416d9-7fff-b1b7-a67b-07ae452957e5"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And what if you’re not fully satisfied with your most recent works? What if time has now given you the distance to see the flaws or shortcomings of your previous creations? Now that you realize how high the bar is set, how can you trust yourself to do better in the future, if that’s the peak you reached last time?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All those self doubts can be paralyzing for an artist. How do you get past them?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One useful answer for these dilemmas </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is in the work of the French </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/utopian-socialism" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">utopian socialist</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Fourier" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Charles Fourier</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1772–1837).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwKW_mX0I-PJiipgpy2frgYd8JD4W2b_EPfjesgVnQbJSoHp54Ij01E3QCOPWC3aeTevgSVdZGeC6v_RtU3v0chiQ1o8W22PXk8adTfX8mJ4dCnzjUK8nbobFGIns1GbXy5bq0Rt6uBNCY5KUS6f81_2y03bOLsfWkJawaAxHAa1M3tkcS9W42u0KKBw/s1199/Fourier%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1199" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwKW_mX0I-PJiipgpy2frgYd8JD4W2b_EPfjesgVnQbJSoHp54Ij01E3QCOPWC3aeTevgSVdZGeC6v_RtU3v0chiQ1o8W22PXk8adTfX8mJ4dCnzjUK8nbobFGIns1GbXy5bq0Rt6uBNCY5KUS6f81_2y03bOLsfWkJawaAxHAa1M3tkcS9W42u0KKBw/s320/Fourier%202.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Fourier</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fourier believed that all humans have a </span><a href="https://www.libertarian-labyrinth.org/contrun/charles-fourier-on-the-papillon-or-butterfly-passion/" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">“butterfly passion,”</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> almost a physical craving for variation and change:
</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The alternating or butterfly [passion] is the need for regular variety, contrasting situations, change of scenery, spicy encounters, and novelties that give rise to fantasies, that stimulate both the senses and the soul….[The butterfly passion] is the agent of universal transition, the principle of liberty…”</span></p></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—Charles Fourier, <i><a href="https://ia800702.us.archive.org/14/items/TheTheoryOfTheFourMovementsByCharlesFourier/The%20Theory%20of%20the%20Four%20Movements%20by%20Charles%20Fourier.pdf" target="_blank">The Theory of the Four Movements</a></i></span></p></span></blockquote><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When you get stuck between projects, set loose your creative butterfly. Allow your thoughts to flit to every possible flowering of your imagination. Enjoy the process of generating different ideas that take on colors and shapes you’ve never before considered.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii7N8FTa9TZAv1q_lBpOpEmKReq9vwrT6rroVGklwYNGr4aDm3GXYQeg6tPs0Uh64IYPIlVHD-U8LRuR-nsKVSQX5qTrSqqAJQWCRfZiu8jCyKk62vwOCRLwW3s7d0SUqc8NOCx9G5_9-rpRCRuSArv2EiljaIK9RAUm1jUOlKLUfvur2pyLAKeNzDacU/s800/butterfly.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii7N8FTa9TZAv1q_lBpOpEmKReq9vwrT6rroVGklwYNGr4aDm3GXYQeg6tPs0Uh64IYPIlVHD-U8LRuR-nsKVSQX5qTrSqqAJQWCRfZiu8jCyKk62vwOCRLwW3s7d0SUqc8NOCx9G5_9-rpRCRuSArv2EiljaIK9RAUm1jUOlKLUfvur2pyLAKeNzDacU/s320/butterfly.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Starting a new project is like traveling to a country you’ve never visited. But don’t expect that it’s going to be thrilling while you’re still on the long line at the airport security checkpoint. Give that new idea time and space, so that it can surprise you, and lead you places you never planned to see.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you’re stuck after a big project, it can be extremely tempting to repeat what you’ve done in the past, particularly if you’ve gotten praise and acclaim for recent work. But there is nothing deadlier for art than repetition. You have to cut the ropes that dock you to past successes and failures and set sail, even if there is no land in sight yet. You’re actually in much better shape to complete your next project successfully, because you now have the knowledge you’ve carefully collected throughout your career in the arts.</span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p><p style="font-size: medium;"></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-22509036202163168832023-06-23T07:08:00.010-07:002023-06-24T06:16:59.437-07:00Killing Dumbledore: Why main characters have to resolve plots<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I couldn’t believe it when <a href="https://www.jkrowling.com/about/" target="_blank">J.K. Rowling</a> killed off the greatest wizard, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albus_Dumbledore" target="_blank">Albus Dumbledore</a>, at the end of book six, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince" target="_blank">Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</a></i>. Dumbledore was my favorite character in that series of books. He was not only the most skilled wizard, he was the perfect teacher for Harry Potter. Dumbledores was stern, a tough taskmaster, yet you knew that he had Harry’s best interests at heart and cared deeply for his pupil. Without Dumbledore’s abilities, how could the concluding book seven show Good triumphing over the forces of Evil, personified by Voldemort and his minions?</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyZa9dLztpfJG9yA1vK5_AlQn2jeASQP_-9n2DVHNv4XUGKbtJbeASAA9EOdNCnuKqIGeydFitZwh0fy3SsITImSu4YjvwCu38JmgfkUJRvwj7s5CNhHI6p19Dif9t0YlAfo5f-pT_5kFdS077Gay8PKwiUywyn6_72QfopSr-6cf-D-Rymkr-b7bKK4/s1200/MichaelGambon12.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1200" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyZa9dLztpfJG9yA1vK5_AlQn2jeASQP_-9n2DVHNv4XUGKbtJbeASAA9EOdNCnuKqIGeydFitZwh0fy3SsITImSu4YjvwCu38JmgfkUJRvwj7s5CNhHI6p19Dif9t0YlAfo5f-pT_5kFdS077Gay8PKwiUywyn6_72QfopSr-6cf-D-Rymkr-b7bKK4/s320/MichaelGambon12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Gambon as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But that is precisely why it was brilliant of J.K. Rowling to have Dumbledore succumb before the end of the Harry Potter series. She was not writing</span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Albus Dumbledore and the Deathly Hallows</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, she was writing </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows" target="_blank">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It was essential for Harry and his friends to solve the problem of the Death Eaters themselves. If Dumbledore had just stepped in, out-dueled Voldemort, and finished off the chief villain, there would have been no challenge, no plot. It’s vital for the main characters of a story to resolve the plot dilemma themselves.</span><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdBZZ42Hpl3lkY_17nD2mxudfBmaW3LRSF4hMtr0gRADglOSR4A8debAdG91HIsG3AriMYd_HX0tS9072_ARaW0lUvZa--dnsVsJdtuXYre6-xDzbIGJH8yuOCbEzHRNFr5OH4y7CC3WuuHlb8-mN6tBU-okRWt0DIez17kBl4_K-nsbHwTbZpX1ooyQ/s1200/JK%20Rowling.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdBZZ42Hpl3lkY_17nD2mxudfBmaW3LRSF4hMtr0gRADglOSR4A8debAdG91HIsG3AriMYd_HX0tS9072_ARaW0lUvZa--dnsVsJdtuXYre6-xDzbIGJH8yuOCbEzHRNFr5OH4y7CC3WuuHlb8-mN6tBU-okRWt0DIez17kBl4_K-nsbHwTbZpX1ooyQ/s320/JK%20Rowling.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.K. Rowling</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If the author chooses to have a <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina" target="_blank">deus ex machina</a></i> step in and pull strings from above to solve the problem in the narrative, the reader or viewer feels cheated. It’s as if two people were playing a chess match, and someone from the outside stepped in and gave Black a second queen. That’s simply not how the game is played. Whenever I’ve read or seen a plot where the main characters are extraneous to resolving their own issues, I feel deflated, and as if I’ve been cheated.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a340067d-7fff-5960-17b1-5b46ca9cce38"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When you’re writing a plot, you have to keep in mind who your main characters are. They are the ones who have to untangle the issues that the narrative is following, even if you have to shove off the stage the most interesting, charismatic, powerful, or witty character. This is particularly true in literature for children and young adults, where the kids have to resolve the difficulties, and not the adults.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In any case, a larger-than-life character such as Albus Dumbledore is not necessarily the one readers identify with as strongly as the protagonist, and not necessarily the one readers root for most ardently. The hero/heroine, more like us, with our flaws and fears, is the one who has to face down the antagonist in the end, in order for the drama to work its magic.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></p><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-12571965144178592932023-06-11T19:38:00.016-07:002023-06-12T14:22:03.467-07:00Why Ron DeSantis Is Wrong about Western Civilization<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2023/01/31/governor-desantis-elevates-civil-discourse-and-intellectual-freedom-in-higher-education/" target="_blank">January 2023 press release</a>, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for legislation to “ensure Florida’s public universities and colleges are grounded in the history and philosophy of Western Civilization…” Some of DeSantis’ ideas were then incorporated in to <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/266/BillText/er/HTML" target="_blank">Florida Senate Bill 266</a>, which passed the legislature and was signed into law by DeSantis in May 2023. What DeSantis’ views and the Florida law ignore is that a university education cannot be complete or true if the curriculum emphasizes only “Western Civilization.” </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVbX3CkQM_3xn64iIR7c_dJ9yJU_Qfr9PoVK7VO6UBP4dWkz4ZaYpPurLiqjbs6cQW9NWatuiPsrLkecA2eqKZks74k3SZ0VmmMXu1M5T9dn84FkEWAmYCvMuwW6DOlrL7KdI3ROJR2_ZRqt5_RWoxqhSrIRz0r8N1I_dhziLEGyfgqGcOLyXmMor/s1200/1200px-Foro_Romano_Musei_Capitolini_Roma.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="1200" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVbX3CkQM_3xn64iIR7c_dJ9yJU_Qfr9PoVK7VO6UBP4dWkz4ZaYpPurLiqjbs6cQW9NWatuiPsrLkecA2eqKZks74k3SZ0VmmMXu1M5T9dn84FkEWAmYCvMuwW6DOlrL7KdI3ROJR2_ZRqt5_RWoxqhSrIRz0r8N1I_dhziLEGyfgqGcOLyXmMor/w482-h197/1200px-Foro_Romano_Musei_Capitolini_Roma.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">To begin with, “Western Civilization” cannot be properly understood or appreciated in isolation from the rest of the world. Take one key facet of “Western Civilization”: Christianity. That religion began in the Middle East, and it developed primarily out of spiritual traditions outside the West, including Judaism. In fact, none of the world’s major religions started in Western Europe or the United States, so a university education “grounded in the history and philosophy of Western Civilization” leaves out most spiritual traditions, among so many other things. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take another example, this one from literature. What could be more quintessential about the literature of “Western Civilization” than the work of Shakespeare? The sonnet structure that Shakespeare used for most of his poems <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet#:~:text=The%20sonnet%20is%20believed%20to,beyond%20its%20region%20of%20origin." target="_blank">developed in Sicily</a> during the 13th century CE. It was highly <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26384122" target="_blank">influenced by the ghazal</a>, a poetic form created in neighboring Arab lands, a form that dates from the five centuries earlier than the sonnet. Not only that, rhymed poetry like the sonnet didn’t even exist in “Western Civilization” until the Middle Ages—Homer and Virgil didn’t write in rhyme. Western European poets borrowed rhyme from Arabic poetry, and from the verses of the Qu’ran, when Muslim civilization was flourishing in Spain. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t even get me started on Shakespeare and the ridiculous set of laws that conservatives have enacted or proposed to limit drag shows. Do the reactionaries advocating that censorship realize that <a href="https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/shakespeare-and-gender-the-womans-part#:~:text=In%20Shakespeare's%20day%2C%20female%20parts,as%20Hamlet%20and%20Julius%20Caesar." target="_blank">every female character in a Shakespeare play was performed in the Bard’s time by a man in drag</a>, from Juliet to Cordelia to Queen Gertrude? If you really want to talk about “Western Civilization,” you can’t possibly discuss it without talking about the importance of female impersonators. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another example: the democratic system in the United States, presumably a feature of “Western Civilization” that DeSantis believes in, was highly influenced by the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/native-america/blogs/native-voices/how-the-iroquois-great-law-of-peace-shaped-us-democracy/#:~:text=In%201988%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Senate,incorporated%20into%20the%20constitution%20itself.%22" target="_blank">organizing principles of the Iroquois Confederacy</a>, which date back to the 12th century. To explain American democracy without that context is misleading and untrue. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not only is it wrong intellectually to view “Western Civilization” in a vacuum, it is also extremely limiting for students. Why should students not learn about many of the world’s religions, philosophies, and cultures, and grow to appreciate the best in each tradition? If those in the West want to understand their own culture in three dimensions, one great way to do that is to step outside it and see it from the standpoint of other societies. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The current right-wing obsession with “Western Civilization” has little to do with education and truthfulness, and everything to do with race. By “Western Civilization,” politicians like DeSantis really mean White culture. The phrase “Western Civilization” serves as a dog-whistle to inform reactionary Caucasians that their interests and culture will be favored under a Republican administration. Not only that, the campaign of reactionaries in the United States and elsewhere to favor “Western Civilization” is scarily reminiscent of the Nazis banning culture that they considered “decadent,” namely any art not created by Aryans. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Republicans and their allies outside the United States are hawking a myth. “Western Civilization,” like all civilizations, has great strengths and weaknesses, but it cannot have meaning and depth without understanding it in the context of world culture. Why deprive students of the full spectrum of global history and philosophy? By expanding the latitudes and longitudes of our knowledge, we only deepen our understanding of all cultures. And <i>that</i> should be the goal of a university education.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-edf40f8e-7fff-a8d3-3e4d-47aced40176a"><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-4468b5f3-7fff-851b-bac5-60beeb513839"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-31748637018232131792023-04-09T15:49:00.025-07:002023-04-10T20:02:36.444-07:00Writing Poems from Childhood Memories: An Interview with Jeanne Wagner<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">This post is an interview with the writer <a href="http://www.jeannewagnerpoetry.net/" target="_blank">Jeanne Wagner</a>, who has created many powerful poems based on childhood memories. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuEarC35M5nz2d4yQEdBGJ2-1W-nbldvMAfBagxjVAZpTAnZTBLHH8uvUse8_CPcS3qYGIZmxDPIpRVcBV8X0qlvE2k6qpBwWUTrZfa-KScQLcwI2kWCeOHHn7rADM_UaD5HWOaGV6KTaLtepAun2MYt9Js2xQPjcHrBp7l_p4P8zz0GMDatrD98s/s217/jeanne3-light-gray-salon-picture-3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="217" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuEarC35M5nz2d4yQEdBGJ2-1W-nbldvMAfBagxjVAZpTAnZTBLHH8uvUse8_CPcS3qYGIZmxDPIpRVcBV8X0qlvE2k6qpBwWUTrZfa-KScQLcwI2kWCeOHHn7rADM_UaD5HWOaGV6KTaLtepAun2MYt9Js2xQPjcHrBp7l_p4P8zz0GMDatrD98s/s1600/jeanne3-light-gray-salon-picture-3.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeanne Wagner</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Jeanne Wagner’s poetry collections have great titles: </span><i style="font-family: times;">The Zen Piano-mover</i><span style="font-family: times;">, which won the NFSPS Poetry Prize; </span><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://sixteenrivers.org/authors/jeanne-wagner/" target="_blank">In the Body of Our Lives</a></i><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://sixteenrivers.org/authors/jeanne-wagner/" target="_blank">,</a> published by Sixteen Rivers Press; and most recently, </span><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://graysonbooks.com/everything-turns-into.html" target="_blank">Everything Turns Into Something Else</a></i><span style="font-family: times;">, published in 2020 as runner-up for the Grayson Book Prize. She is the winner of the 2021 Joy Harjo Award and the 2022 <a href="https://cloudbankbooks.com/contest-rules/" target="_blank">Cloudbank Poetry Prize</a>. Here is the poem by Jeanne that we discuss in this blog:</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Private History of Light</b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I was a shy girl who wanted</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">a soft light, a sieved light, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the penury of starlight strained</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">through an infinite sky.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I thought light should be holy,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">nestled in small red jars</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">we lit for a nickel to smell</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the sweet paraffin</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">softening beneath the flame.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I wanted a nun-light</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">that lived in the convent’s</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">honey-scented floor wax</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">so the sisters could apply</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the glint of their God</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">on their hands and knees.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Not those garish palettes</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">shouting from billboards and</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">TV screens their technicolor</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">desires. Not the bright</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">flit of cardinal wings</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">launching from the feeder.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Not yet, they all said, not yet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Certainly not those carnal</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">sunsets, red as pain.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5924a477-7fff-21b2-896c-15e89ab6e888"></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A woman’s color.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Zack Rogow: </b>What kind of experiences from your childhood seem to lend themselves to becoming poems? With a based on childhood, do you base it on one incident, or on a series of memories?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Jeanne Wagner: </b>Usually I base a poem on an isolated memory – my earliest memories are very intense and visual. In the case of “A Private History of Light,” I’ve based it on memories of lighting candles in church and of once sitting on the convent stairs, admiring the smooth, golden surface of the wood, the freshness and purity of it, which even then I saw as a kind of lovely artifice, like stained glass windows and choir music. Elements that contrasted with the life around me.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q:</b> In your poems, the imagery is from your childhood, but it feels so immediate. How do you take a private, personal memory and turn it into something a reader can experience directly?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JW:</b> Well, first I trust the memory’s sensuous capabilities, which make it survive. Also, I don’t believe that memories are random, but are created in a binary system of pleasure or pain that is automatically triggered to help us survive. I have to relive the memory, put it under my mental microscope and examine what made it so imperative that it has lasted a lifetime. Then there is usually some more contemporary image I want to pair it with. The motive for the poem. That’s the difficult part, fusing these two worlds without seeming labored and obvious.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b style="font-style: normal;">Q: </b>You’re skilled at using active and distinctive language that conveys motion. In “A Private History of Light,” I see the words <i>strained, nestled, softening, shouting, flit, launching</i>. How do you find the right word to make a description come alive?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JW: </b>Interesting that you pointed this out. I notice that most of those words are participles or adverbs. I do tend to use a lot of those, rather than adjectives. Adjectives are more static. It’s a way, I suppose, of instilling motion in a scene which is primarily visual.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q: </b>Would you say there’s an unspoken tension in this poem between two opposing world views or realms of experience: a softly lit religious retreat from the world, and a brightly lit realm of vitality that is also associated with pain? How did those two realms crystalize as the poem formed in your mind? Should a poem create a dialectic between conflicting world views?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JW: </b>When I started this poem, I had been trying to write a poem about the color red, my early experiences and reactions to it. I found myself choosing images from my parochial school background. My poems, especially my childhood poems, often center on the conflict between the sacramental, abstract principles of the Catholic church and the unbalanced, but vivid home life of my childhood. That dialectic is always very near the surface, because religion deals with the primary transitions of life: birth, marriage, death, and everyone’s favorite, sex. A poem doesn’t have to have a dialectic between two worlds, but poems do need a kind of tension or a turning point or an implicit analogy. Even narrative poems, if well done, will find themselves working against the world of ordinary expectations or reactions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q: </b>There is a surprising turn at the end of “A Private History of Light” where you describe red as the color of pain, “A woman’s color.” That mention of gender seems to come out of nowhere, and yet it fits the poem. At what point in your writing process did that become the ending of the poem, and how did you prepare the reader for it without tipping your hand?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-75a900de-7fff-e92f-f639-7da0ac2318c1"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JW: </b></span></span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">The writer <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/stephen-dunn" target="_blank">Stephen Dunn</a> once said that a poet should always know the ending before beginning the poem. Unfortunately, I don’t always live up to that.</span><b style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </b><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">But in this poem, the red worked as a final image for me because it is the color childbirth and menstruation. That came to me suddenly as the heart of the poem: the inherent wounds of women, which are internal and recurring. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatIaQNEF1cDUFz3P_UtIItBlNjWWTKNJx9I_TE1yaMQyq3D0efY04d5myKYMluDXFzHuBqkD1t4Tx09Ir7oir41M14333kMtSqRWdv_jVzVJniiuFNEkJC0e5E9nA6s5tRJUM-MTEtEy9CCIMJuD6bLCd9-NZVCtWLeZDCy2ePDlRpTNIVnVdoM7r/s357/everythingturns-frontcover-graysonsite_orig.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="238" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatIaQNEF1cDUFz3P_UtIItBlNjWWTKNJx9I_TE1yaMQyq3D0efY04d5myKYMluDXFzHuBqkD1t4Tx09Ir7oir41M14333kMtSqRWdv_jVzVJniiuFNEkJC0e5E9nA6s5tRJUM-MTEtEy9CCIMJuD6bLCd9-NZVCtWLeZDCy2ePDlRpTNIVnVdoM7r/s320/everythingturns-frontcover-graysonsite_orig.gif" width="213" /></a></div><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i><p></p><p></p><p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><br /></div>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-69143545366755141492023-03-25T13:22:00.012-07:002023-12-31T09:38:31.903-08:00Interview with Judith Thurman: Writing Profiles<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">This blog is an interview with <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/thurman-judith" target="_blank">Judith Thurman</a>, author of <i><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250857095/isakdinesen" target="_blank">Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller</a>,</i> winner of the National Book Award for Autobiography/Biography; and <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178688/secrets-of-the-flesh-by-judith-thurman/" target="_blank">Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette</a></i>. A staff writer at <i>The New Yorker</i>, she lives in New York City. Thurman discusses her most recent book, <i><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374607166/alefthandedwoman" target="_blank">A Left-Handed Woman</a></i>.</span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxMow81H5CzT2lG_DTwNU6nvb3Dv3si8_DbYSOcJxkfL8VN7lPIAGrEmJS_EPBt3h8sJSPstGXNBXFf4xPL39l_FZAAU5zurco3idhuMOkWi8LLTO1f1ULkDjWstNChykh02nj1GKSN_Xcd_hd1Sp4CAiWjFQEcAqpgZB0xbgW4IT56STJb9k2LXT/s2048/13THURMAN-1-bac6-superJumbo.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1639" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqxMow81H5CzT2lG_DTwNU6nvb3Dv3si8_DbYSOcJxkfL8VN7lPIAGrEmJS_EPBt3h8sJSPstGXNBXFf4xPL39l_FZAAU5zurco3idhuMOkWi8LLTO1f1ULkDjWstNChykh02nj1GKSN_Xcd_hd1Sp4CAiWjFQEcAqpgZB0xbgW4IT56STJb9k2LXT/s320/13THURMAN-1-bac6-superJumbo.webp" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judith Thurman</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack Rogow:</b><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Many of the essays in </span><i style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Left-Handed Woman</i><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are profiles of remarkable women, from nineteenth-century feminist </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Margaret Fuller</a><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amelia-Earhart" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Amelia Earhart</a><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to Cleopatra, to modernist ceramics designer </span><a href="https://www.evazeisel.com/bio" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Eva Zeisel.</a><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Is there a shared feature about their lives or work that stimulated you to write about all of them?</span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-40d83444-7fff-c3cf-7bcd-196b0c2f0115"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Judith Thurman: </b>They all share a passionate drive to distinguish and to express themselves. They all refused or at least resisted beholdenness to the various conventions and strictures that their societies imposed on women. They also possessed an unusual self-confidence in their gifts. The four subjects you mention were, in particular, unusually fearless characters. That fearlessness took different forms: moral, sexual, political, physical, creative.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X2hjpfWicoxySAcCGbXiZo_A2XObvEMTEgLA7-RJRgn2-_LNOibE5Zu3NPKZr7zQsSx3Z0hAjjuNT1kwOcjIrUdPnCpoeIc5FeeLVMi1H_MW2FhGxAsJvQD5hiLZ6dXxzWjNd2wes_6EmQFDMfGEHEnwKDjlThGSDQfpG8oqyw3lpozAWb93GGCy/s1000/81ASmghXO6L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5X2hjpfWicoxySAcCGbXiZo_A2XObvEMTEgLA7-RJRgn2-_LNOibE5Zu3NPKZr7zQsSx3Z0hAjjuNT1kwOcjIrUdPnCpoeIc5FeeLVMi1H_MW2FhGxAsJvQD5hiLZ6dXxzWjNd2wes_6EmQFDMfGEHEnwKDjlThGSDQfpG8oqyw3lpozAWb93GGCy/s320/81ASmghXO6L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-family: times;">Q.</b><span style="font-family: times;"> Your notion of feminism seems wide-ranging to me, encompassing women as varied as Simone de Beauvoir, and Helen Gurley Brown of </span><i style="font-family: times;">Cosmopolitan</i><span style="font-family: times;"> magazine. Would you be willing to say a few words about your own idea of feminism—what it includes and does not include?</span></span><p></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JT:</b> The Second Wave feminism of my generation, at least in America, had a puritanical streak that I always found limiting, not to say, provincial. Taking pleasure in fashion and décor, for example, or caring about one’s appearance, was considered a bit shameful, if not reactionary. On the other hand, girls were, and in many places, still are, oppressed by unattainable and demeaning standards of beauty. (Standards designed, for the most part, to attract the interest and cater to the desires of men.) So yes, the life and career of Helen Gurley Brown send a mixed message. But then so do the life and career of Simone de Beauvoir! Let’s get rid of feminist purity tests. A feminist is anyone of any gender who supports the dignity and empowerment of girls and women.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q.</b> In the profiles you write, you find surprising depth in topics that on the surface don’t seem to lend themselves to profundity. One of my favorite essays in the book, for example, is about a renowned personal shopper at the department store Bergdorf Goodman. How do you find substance in situations that many people might see as trivial?</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JT: </b>That question relates to your previous one. When I started writing about fashion for <i>The New Yorker</i>, I got a certain amount of flak from intellectual friends who told me I was wasting my time and talents on a frivolous subject. But every person on the planet who can get out of bed in the morning, then gets dressed. Clothing is a universal language, a highly coded one, that deserves the interest of a serious cultural and social critic.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>There is often a turn in your profiles where you sketch the subject’s childhood or backstory. What sorts of details or incidents do you look for in a personal history to provide context or gravitas for their later achievements?</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JT:</b> I don’t look for the details ahead of time. I just listen. And the details usually emerge, or even flag themselves by the intensity with which they’re recounted. As I write in the introduction to <i>A Left-Handed Woman</i>, my essential though tacit question for every subject is, “How did you become who you are?” You can never ask that outright, of course, but it’s the leitmotif that I listen for in a subject’s narrative of her life.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>How do you decide how much of Judith Thurman to include in a certain profile? When do you feel it’s right to make your own experience part of the profile of another person? To what extent do you withhold your own connection to your topic?</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>JT:</b> It’s not always or mostly a conscious decision. I don’t like writing about myself, or not explicitly. But there are no perfect human prisms: you are always filtering a subject’s story through your own experience (though you have to be careful about doing that, so you aren’t projecting). But sometimes, a personal anecdote is the launching pad for my first paragraph—a connection with the subject that eases me into the stream of the story. And sometimes a subject’s trajectory helps me to arrive at an understanding of some deep, hitherto unarticulated feeling of my own. I mention a few such moments in the introduction: moments of clarity about myself that are all the more precious for taking me by surprise. </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></span></p><p></p><p style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="font-family: times;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><br /></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-75492091070778432922023-02-08T09:46:00.015-08:002023-02-08T16:36:10.481-08:00Developing Your Literary Sense of Smell: Guest Blog by Nancy Lord<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>This is a guest blog by <a href="http://www.writernancylord.com/" target="_blank">Nancy Lord</a>, former Alaska State Writer Laureate and author of many books of fiction and nonfiction. Please see the end of the blog for her full bio.</i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlDBf6PIULCjdiufvuxU7lGxG6CfS0JH29atyH6_q1GV6aLi1QXZYCV4V7lBlJV_IMrsTYFW8cZQOy_dKCQhUrkf7tuBbRK5VyAzrW9P-C_7XTKvkgTMEBqEas0iXGmH69hkhmHTrtBAyl6oBOC_LNXzcHl87U_bFJFzPr6gNtlkIMmjwN7ZrAN_Y/s960/NancyLord.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlDBf6PIULCjdiufvuxU7lGxG6CfS0JH29atyH6_q1GV6aLi1QXZYCV4V7lBlJV_IMrsTYFW8cZQOy_dKCQhUrkf7tuBbRK5VyAzrW9P-C_7XTKvkgTMEBqEas0iXGmH69hkhmHTrtBAyl6oBOC_LNXzcHl87U_bFJFzPr6gNtlkIMmjwN7ZrAN_Y/s320/NancyLord.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nancy Lord</b> (photo: Stacy Studebaker)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Smell is the most fundamental of our senses, with a direct line to basic brain functions and the emotional memories associated with odors. Smell—or even just a memory of smell—triggers the release of oxytocin, associated with the ability to trust and form attachments. It’s a powerful and underused sense to include in our writing.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">In “A Natural History of the Senses,” </span><a href="https://www.dianeackerman.com/" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Diane Ackerman</a><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"> writes: “Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines, hidden under the weedy mass of many years and experiences. Hit a tripwire of smell, and memories explode all at once.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">I’m sure it’s the same for you, that certain smells take you right back to powerful childhood memories. It might be the smell of perfume your grandmother wore, coal smoke from your neighbor’s fire, or the wet fur of your beloved dog. For me, whenever I smell a freshwater lake I’m right back at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipesaukee">Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire</a>, where my family spent two weeks every summer when I was small. An instant picture of the boathouse and dock presents itself, along with the sound of lapping water, and then a whole surround of memories and strong, positive emotions. The smell of burning leaves brings me to the taste of baked apples (cored, with raisins and brown sugar added) that we used to wrap in foil and cook in the piles of raked leaves we burned along the curbs in the street where I grew up. I “feel” such smells in waves of nostalgia and emotion, as physical effects.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Try looking at a page of your writing and mark each sensory detail—of any sense—but put a bold box around any description of smell…. See if you use any of the senses. Pay special attention to whether you involve one or more smells. Do you see more opportunities to include smell and other sensory details?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">It’s been said that modern literature has been “deodorized,” especially in North American writing, just as we’ve eliminated or covered up so many natural odors in our modern lives. If you look at eighteenth and nineteenth century writings, you’ll find a lot more smells—especially of bodies, death, coal smoke, etc.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Each of us reacts differently to a smell, in life and on the page. The smell of a certain aftershave will mean one thing when it’s associated with a loving father and something else if associated with a child molester. In other words, you can’t count on a certain smell to create a common response in readers—although something like fresh bread smells are probably mouth-watering for all of us, and the smell of decayed flesh is probably stomach-turning.)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">So, here’s what’s happening in our brains when we smell. Smell is the oldest sense evolutionarily. It goes all the way back to creatures living in the sea that responded to chemicals in the water, even before sight, hearing, or touch. That’s why it’s called a rudimentary sense. Our brains started with smell. You can say that we think because we smell. Only smell has a direct line to our pre-cognitive brains.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">My friend <a href="https://jillmccabejohnson.com/index.html" target="_blank">Jill McCabe Johnson</a> has said it as well as anyone, in an essay in <i>Brevity</i>: “A writer’s references to the other senses help readers create an imagined facsimile, but with smell, readers just <i>know</i>. Not only can they experience an immediate, intimate understanding, but smell might actually help readers set aside their disbelief and bond with the characters, because smell—even the memory of smell—is believed to trigger oxytocin, and oxytocin has been associated with our ability to trust and form attachments.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Oxytocin is known as the bonding hormone and is what allows human mothers (and other mother animals) to recognize the smell of their own babies, to tell them apart from other babies.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">We’re more likely to remember details grounded in the senses than non-sensory details. Another interesting fact: because we encounter most new odors in our youth, smells often call up childhood memories. But we actually begin making associations between smell and emotion before we’re even born. Infants who were exposed in the womb to alcohol, cigarette smoke, or garlic will show a preference for those smells. To them, smells that might upset other babies seem normal or even comforting.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Brain science helps answer one more question for us: Why is it so hard to describe smells? It’s easy to sense and recognize them, but to put them into words? This is because, while the smell and memory centers are closely connected, the physiological links between the brain’s smell and language centers are, in Diane Ackerman’s words, “pitifully weak.” She’s written, “When we see something we can describe it in gushing detail, in a cascade of images... But who can map the features of a smell?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PAIeIXfZFZ-B5bW3BNQBP_PW8Yl9iqr9RMHt2mTdXpjZLjjr60zDvSlFrF9BsQORLmV3R6I8BYajRHjBJlJOfr4VTF6PRdLhC8w0I-AifyLM_rb906EnzCj4AId48WUO22if2jQB2NKcqKtrl5BvXommNCDkOy1wqbnPd1bB2xXPCfrHnCIgRpXO/s374/9375072.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PAIeIXfZFZ-B5bW3BNQBP_PW8Yl9iqr9RMHt2mTdXpjZLjjr60zDvSlFrF9BsQORLmV3R6I8BYajRHjBJlJOfr4VTF6PRdLhC8w0I-AifyLM_rb906EnzCj4AId48WUO22if2jQB2NKcqKtrl5BvXommNCDkOy1wqbnPd1bB2xXPCfrHnCIgRpXO/s320/9375072.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nancy Lord edited the collection <i>Made of Salmon</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Here are some useful words to describe smell: </span><i style="font-family: times;">acidy, acrid, antiseptic, aromatic, balmy, biting, bitter, briny, burnt, citrusy, comforting, corky, damp, dank, earthy, fishy, flowery, fragrant, fresh, fruity, gamy, gaseous, heavy, lemony, medicinal, metallic, mildewed, minty, moldy, musky, musty, odorless, peppery, perfumed, piney, pungent, putrid, reek, rose, rotten, savory, scented, sharp, sickly, skunky, smoky, sour, spicy, spoiled, stagnant, stench, stinking, sulphurous, sweaty, sweet, tart, vinegary, woody, yeasty.</i></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are examples of great writing about smell:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Diane Ackerman, <i>The Moon by Whalelight</i>: “Their guano smells like stale Wheat Thins…” “[The whale] surfaced on the other side and blew a fine mist, which poured over us, smelling sweet, like wet fur.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Nabokov" target="_blank">Vladimir Nabokov</a>, <i>Speak, Memory</i>: “Through the smells of the bog, I caught the subtle perfume of butterfly wings on my fingers, a perfume which varies with the species—vanilla, or lemon, or musk, or a musty, sweetish odor difficult to define.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Chatwin" target="_blank">Bruce Chatwin</a>, <i>In Patagonia</i>: “My grandmother lived in a red-brick house set.…Inside it smelled of church.” (p. 2) “The wind blew the smell of rain down the valley ahead of the rain itself, the smell of wet earth and aromatic plants.” (p. 63)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.tracykidder.com/" target="_blank">Tracy Kidder</a>, <i>Home Town</i>: “The town is waking up… From several alleys comes the smell of baking bread . . .” “. . . the old Calvin Theatre downtown, a place of sticky floors, redolent with ancient popcorn fumes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://riverwalking.com/" target="_blank">Kathleen Dean Moore</a>, <i>Holdfast</i>: “The smell [after a flash flood]. . . filled the gully to the brim. Heavy, dense, sweet—never has air been so sweet—it was the smell of cedars netted with the roots of sorrel, the piney dark smell of old stone churches at Christmastime.” (p. 54)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White" target="_blank">E. B. White:</a> “The Years of Wonder”: “. . . I viewed much of our future forty-ninth state through the porthole of the fireman’s mess, and the picture has a special smell—a blend of cabbage, garbage, steam, filth, fuel oil, engine oil, exhausted air, exhausted men. It is a smell you get nowhere but in a ship.” (Essays of E. B. White)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.sandracisneros.com/" target="_blank">Sandra Cisneros</a>, “The Monkey Garden”: “And everywhere the sleepy smell of rotting wood, damp earth, and dusty hollyhocks thick and perfumy like the blue-blond hair of the dead.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://hitchcockbs.com/" target="_blank">Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock</a>, <i>The Smell of Other People’s Houses</i>: “I’ve realized over time that houses with moms in them do tend to smell better. If I close my eyes, I can just barely remember my mother’s wildflowers in their whiskey bottles. The very distant scent of my parents lingers in my brain, as they laugh and twirl around the kitchen. Deer blood on my father’s hands tinges all my memories of them—their skin, their hair, their clothes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.jeanettewinterson.com/" target="_blank">Jeanette Winterson</a>, <i>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</i>: “The smell of the canvas (it always rains up north in the summer), and the smell of soup cooking for afterwards, and the smell of damp paper printed with the hymns—that’s what Jesus smells like.” (p. 71)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><a href="http://www.writernancylord.com/" target="_blank">Nancy Lord</a> is a former Alaska State Writer Laureate (2008-2010). She is the author of three short story collections; five books of literary nonfiction, including </i>Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale’s Truths <i>and </i>Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-changed North<i>; and <a href="https://www.westmarginpress.com/book-details/9781513260686/ph-a-novel/" target="_blank">the novel </a></i><a href="https://www.westmarginpress.com/book-details/9781513260686/ph-a-novel/" target="_blank">pH</a><i>. Nancy Lord also edited the anthology </i><a href="https://upcolorado.com/university-of-alaska-press/item/5918-made-of-salmon" target="_blank">Made of Salmon</a><i>. Her work focuses mainly on environmental and marine issues. She currently teaches science writing for Johns Hopkins University. Nancy Lord lives in Homer, Alaska, where she enjoys the smells of mudflats and tide pools. </i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFIKgxxvS5YCamfEFwBwczOBtgyiUd8dE_Uz3Un22YFzEjTcHlLBVDLyrOMiQ4dXtznk6UE3ZmsGuEnOC2sUBj9jwaShBrEoiu-3Qqs2_uqfs63fJDXsbRtQZNLPrW-HNi8uAl4Ly0JQfBxL2FZTXzBfUnDG-2gvk4wK6YJA315-hK2ul2qLcD5PR/s293/21192910_1444381798949521_6247584460097418022_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="193" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFIKgxxvS5YCamfEFwBwczOBtgyiUd8dE_Uz3Un22YFzEjTcHlLBVDLyrOMiQ4dXtznk6UE3ZmsGuEnOC2sUBj9jwaShBrEoiu-3Qqs2_uqfs63fJDXsbRtQZNLPrW-HNi8uAl4Ly0JQfBxL2FZTXzBfUnDG-2gvk4wK6YJA315-hK2ul2qLcD5PR/s1600/21192910_1444381798949521_6247584460097418022_n.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nancy Lord’s book include<a href="https://www.westmarginpress.com/book-details/9781513260686/ph-a-novel/" target="_blank"> the novel <i>pH</i></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></span></span><p></p><p style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="font-family: times;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-86066404101034642772023-01-13T19:19:00.010-08:002023-01-18T17:20:30.079-08:00Use Your Whole Personality in Your Writing<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">When I was a young writer, I went to hear a favorite poet read his work at a well-known reading venue in New York City. I was such a fan of that writer—I’d read all of his books, even his juvenilia published in tiny editions by small presses when he was just getting started. I looked on this poet as a terribly serious and important writer, and since then his reputation has continued to grow over a long and distinguished career.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKc2OPfRcgh7AyrUgKJ6sO4tDqg15MgzMdTNHRxbliXgVw2cR5poME4wH87NbsMw1uxih-vRC8OIjM7wn8qcZv6uBlbmhiEfYEHY-QfThxxAYIdIzwisxwRRhXLW5MgQOwwbNu9wewAlWnsT723wp04ppTBfnzCv1bQM1UCvi6oSxYcBvpSkc6zJZ/s3264/Donnell%20Library.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKc2OPfRcgh7AyrUgKJ6sO4tDqg15MgzMdTNHRxbliXgVw2cR5poME4wH87NbsMw1uxih-vRC8OIjM7wn8qcZv6uBlbmhiEfYEHY-QfThxxAYIdIzwisxwRRhXLW5MgQOwwbNu9wewAlWnsT723wp04ppTBfnzCv1bQM1UCvi6oSxYcBvpSkc6zJZ/s320/Donnell%20Library.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Donnell Library in New York City was at one time a major venue for poetry</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">What surprised me most about that poet’s reading that day was not the poems themselves, but the patter the poet spoke in introducing each poem. Invariably, the author introduced a poem with a humorous anecdote, terribly funny, and then read a deadly serious poem afterwards. Before hearing that poet in person, I had no clue he had a great sense of humor, a quality that absolutely won over that large audience.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">What was so odd to me was that the poet never included his sense of humor in his writing. Not once. And yet that trait, as much the poems themselves, captivated the audience that day.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">I promised myself when I heard that reading that I was going to try to include in my writing my full personality, including parts of it that might not be solemn, or that I might not think an audience would like. All of us are complicated beings, and unless we bring those complications to our writing, we’re going to miss opportunities to engage our readers in ways we could not predict.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Yes, literature is a serious art with a serious purpose, but it also requires breathing room for humor, for whimsy, for digressions that might not seem immediately part of the intent of a piece of writing. So use your whole personality in your writing. If you tend to be serious but you have a sense of humor, include that lighter side. If you always go for the punch line in your writing, allow more pathos to seep in. If your most widely used voice is sincere, use your sarcasm for a change. If you’re always satirical, let your empathy into your writing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Using your whole personality involves not just character traits, but your interests as well. If you happen to enjoy cooking seafood dinners, or watching soccer on TV, or walking around cemeteries, those sides of you are gold for writers. They are areas you care about that can help get your readers deeply involved because they really matter to you. Not only that, you’re an expert about them, or you at least know more on the topic than most people. That doesn’t mean you should spend your entire literary career writing about your collection of Madagascar stamps, but it does mean you can include a poem about your favorite Madagascar stamp, or you can write a mystery that hinges on a Madagascar stamp.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4cb9c4dd-7fff-9338-8692-a28a53041908"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">So, don’t think that only part of your personality qualifies as literary. Every patch of your soul should be part of your literary quilt.</span></span></p><p><i style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="font-family: times;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="font-family: times; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></div>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-69110208613994990432022-12-19T21:24:00.023-08:002023-02-08T16:48:10.738-08:00Writing Fiction about Real Historical Characters: Interview with Wesley Brown<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post features an interview with fiction writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Brown_(writer)" target="_blank">Wesley Brown</a> about his latest book, a dynamic novella about the jazz musician <a href="https://www.milesdavis.com/" target="_blank">Miles Davis</a>.</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> See the end of this blog for Wesley’s full bio.</i></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i></i></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigM5SSnkpaZnMsaR64ueETxIrguJXAMjHiR42XrMH8Lsz-c6DmdMipHGz3mUGVl1V8yigDrtTEIWPaRWo7FUpYMb_xIZTJcA7Jsl3X-fu9YRmnLCGj7iJjtQclo_p45p1FKvVvA7TtsEnRIpbOv8qTD8pQClpIdT4wxvxLYGv4gqMf_10C9ZhYdC7R/s5184/Wesley%20Brown%20author%20photo%20by%20Brian%20Cornelius.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigM5SSnkpaZnMsaR64ueETxIrguJXAMjHiR42XrMH8Lsz-c6DmdMipHGz3mUGVl1V8yigDrtTEIWPaRWo7FUpYMb_xIZTJcA7Jsl3X-fu9YRmnLCGj7iJjtQclo_p45p1FKvVvA7TtsEnRIpbOv8qTD8pQClpIdT4wxvxLYGv4gqMf_10C9ZhYdC7R/s320/Wesley%20Brown%20author%20photo%20by%20Brian%20Cornelius.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author Wesley Brown. Photo by Brian Cornelius</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Question: </b></span><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your new book, </span><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><a href="https://www.blankforms.org/publications/wesley-brown-blue-in-green" target="_blank">Blue in Green</a></i></span><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, takes place during one day in the life of Miles Davis and his wife, the dancer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Taylor_Davis" target="_blank">Frances Taylor</a>. How did you pick that particular time frame for the setting?</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Wesley Brown: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wanted to focus on <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2020/06/miles-davis-is-attacked-beaten-arrested-by-the-nypd-outside-birdland-eight-days-after-the-release-of-kind-of-blue-1959.html" target="_blank">the assault on Miles Davis by police</a> in front of the New York nightclub <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdland_(New_York_jazz_club)" target="_blank">Birdland </a>on the evening of August 25, 1959. Limiting the action within that time frame was indicative of the compression of Miles’s approach to playing.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The period of the novella, the late 1950s, was a sort of high point for jazz and popular culture in the USA, with such music greats as Miles, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk" target="_blank">Thelonious Monk</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane" target="_blank">John Coltrane</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans" target="_blank">Bill Evans</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday" target="_blank">Billie Holiday</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Horne" target="_blank">Lena Horne</a>, who all make cameo appearances in your book; and dancers like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Dunham" target="_blank">Katherine Dunham</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire" target="_blank">Fred Astaire</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyd_Charisse#Early_life" target="_blank">Cyd Charisse</a>, who also figure in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Blue in Green.</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> What about that period attracted you as a setting for the book?</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB:</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The late 1950s were a transitional moment in jazz. Miles had taken <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_jazz" target="_blank">the modal expression within jazz</a> as far as he could take and was about to move on to his next musical challenge. And this period ushered in the emergence of figures like John Coltrane and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornette_Coleman" target="_blank">Ornette Coleman</a>.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blankforms.org/publications/wesley-brown-blue-in-green" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2480" data-original-width="1654" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3NxFZl5dH_8OAC5hvDZrgWJHDFt9orD7YyYa51s8PNAlqOZk3ctbjMht_9irhokGHGCR1on2zbBsk5aDbRK95FcztoMuZlDAg-2f9_3XRu6QSY2_JsSiC0WTO34SCfbmJupxbLdUulUW4NOuY1ebUJuY5qfJE1O9N94MABM8M0oI30OvSsBZfDmA/s320/blue%20in%20green%20cover.jpg" width="213" /><br /></a><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">When you have a work of fiction with a very tight timeframe, like this one, what types of moments lend themselves to adding some backstory? For example, there are some fascinating stories in your book about the life of Miles’ wife, Frances Taylor, who was a renowned dancer in her own right. How did you decide where to insert material that takes place earlier in time?</span></div><p></p><p></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB:</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Since the novella focuses on memory, I was interested in the events triggered by Miles’ beating, which were related to his beginnings and the pivotal experiences in his evolution as a musician. It is much the same for Frances. The difference is that she looks back on the trajectory of her artistry as a dancer that she gave up to be with Miles.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What were the challenges of writing fiction about actual historical personages whose life stories are known to many readers?</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The challenges were not to focus on the facts of their careers that were well known or could be found in books, but to try and get in touch with their emotional lives which I could only discover through imagining them.
</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my favorite passages occurs when we are inside the thoughts of Miles Davis while his band is playing the song, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Were_a_Bell" target="_blank">“If I Were a Bell.” </a>How did you go about imagining what Miles Davis might have been experiencing while he was in the middle of playing a number?</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, I couldn’t know what Miles was actually experiencing by playing, “If I Were a Bell.” So, I attempted to use the lyrics of the song as a way to imagine how he might experience them. </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-M28rs-gcUboG3stDHMxT-00C0NuqTAM1ul6NDAkFB3U3UmWZ0NlQUhJfxgJ3t-GOXINnFyn2cAvB3cNRasAshAbz2AsdiPKUVpXxfo0Nl_9N5kIgL-HXZiJAVmHa-JVKJVcMH3yg_HrwF3irx1DTc6kP4p5kh27hIk9RxDTFxAkfBbukxxoGpkxH/s762/miles%20and%20frances.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="693" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-M28rs-gcUboG3stDHMxT-00C0NuqTAM1ul6NDAkFB3U3UmWZ0NlQUhJfxgJ3t-GOXINnFyn2cAvB3cNRasAshAbz2AsdiPKUVpXxfo0Nl_9N5kIgL-HXZiJAVmHa-JVKJVcMH3yg_HrwF3irx1DTc6kP4p5kh27hIk9RxDTFxAkfBbukxxoGpkxH/s320/miles%20and%20frances.jpeg" width="291" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frances Taylor and Miles Davis</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The novella also deals with the complex relationship between Miles Davis and his wife, Frances Taylor. How did you approach that material, given that it shows a side of Miles that is sometimes extremely negative?</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB:</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I knew about Miles’s violence against Frances from interviews and books. But again, I tried to get underneath what they didn’t reveal by imagining the effects of his emotional and physical abuse had on both of them.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a curious section in the book where Miles Davis sees the film </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/" target="_blank">Some Like It Hot</a></i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and he reflects on gender, thinking that Tony Curtis in drag is a sexier woman than Marilyn Monroe in the film (some of us might beg to differ about that!). Is that section meant to tell us something about Miles, or was that Wesley Brown riffing?</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>WB: </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the character of Miles says in that section, Monroe was a male fantasy of hyper, female sexuality that she enabled. I was riffing on that. But Miles was attracted to the androgyny of figures like Curtis and Elvis. One need only look at his gravitation toward Prince.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-712559a7-7fff-5630-8604-0ebbc00cfba9"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><b>Wesley Brown</b>’s previously published novels are </i>Darktown Strutters, Tragic Magic,<i style="font-weight: 400;"> and </i>Push Comes to Shove. <i style="font-weight: 400;">He also wrote the plays, </i>Boogie Woogie and Booker T,<i style="font-weight: 400;"> and </i>Life During Wartime<i style="font-weight: 400;">. Brown coedited the multicultural anthologies </i>Visions of America<i style="font-weight: 400;"> and </i>Imagining America <i style="font-weight: 400;">and edited </i>The Teachers & Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass<i style="font-weight: 400;">. With Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara, and Amiri Baraka, Wesley Brown co-wrote the screenplay for </i>W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p></span></div><p style="text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-74787105518646642842022-11-08T09:30:00.029-08:002023-01-27T09:27:43.995-08:00Writing Tips from Italy: Guest blog by Giulio Mozzi and Laura Pugno<div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A friend gave me a copy of <a href="https://www.sonzognoeditori.it/component/marsilio/scheda-libro/4540104/oracolo-manuale-per-poete-e-poeti" target="_blank">a wonderful manual for writers </a>by the Italian authors <a href="https://bottegadinarrazione.com/author/vaiolet/" target="_blank">Giulio Mozzi </a>and <a href="http://www.laurapugno.it/" target="_blank">Laura Pugno</a>. Their book is full of great ideas and prompts.<br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.sonzognoeditori.it/component/marsilio/scheda-libro/4540104/oracolo-manuale-per-poete-e-poeti" target="_blank"></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="659" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHWyQMiikcTNSK8jV9EHWHd3DoyXh_MBurGL97KNa6BIwQDcONOm5e-qGJThphjym3DL4kanBh8Ag6hZgl-L_C1-Yk_yBqtnu7M0JWXRUzYhy85kbyoF3D_NCo_zFgP7YTSKjLIlg4JAcH7miaaBBY3zZru2n5t-oj3rsHy1VR3cZ4YnrRDQqz4p0/s320/Cover%20of%20Oracolo.jpeg" width="211" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Link to: <a href="https://www.sonzognoeditori.it/component/marsilio/scheda-libro/4540104/oracolo-manuale-per-poete-e-poeti" target="_blank">Oracular Manual for Poets</a></td></tr></tbody></table></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Though the book is particularly for poets, I’ve translated three sections that I think are of interest to all writers. <i>Grazie</i>, Giulio and Laura for giving me permission to reprint these!</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCr53XVguYQLL3GgtEMRtZ_ozyklZeAuBLEckbdM1y7xzk_QMHR_6B2f-EWr6pphxMCf8p4ihYGLKJp79-SEYvofgAnrrsEO71MGcPZVCTywRr7N-j6T_l2Eri9_SMPWVzrOQ5liK_fCVUuG0lOHZ8fEnyRCCmpLrzQStRHslIpBjD6NQxNfupG6q/s1233/Laura%20Pugno%20con%20porta%201%20mega.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1233" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCr53XVguYQLL3GgtEMRtZ_ozyklZeAuBLEckbdM1y7xzk_QMHR_6B2f-EWr6pphxMCf8p4ihYGLKJp79-SEYvofgAnrrsEO71MGcPZVCTywRr7N-j6T_l2Eri9_SMPWVzrOQ5liK_fCVUuG0lOHZ8fEnyRCCmpLrzQStRHslIpBjD6NQxNfupG6q/s320/Laura%20Pugno%20con%20porta%201%20mega.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Co-author Laura Pugno</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-cd06f0d3-7fff-cb27-c669-7c1b83442400"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"></span></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5okmDjeEsf_w1hhXZBK5X0we5ZVjg61qvg6A79xirtUCc86ga4NWb7KcU7UNLp3_aPTADuwVjWRUYRalJiuAXXJ_rRnM5U15gpdJQbMjrMUwRIK0XuvZU69hWcv0-QzxkNZilQCCqySEKZDfTsZUvL1BbyLjGYqmA6cuwLdY0ZUhJLcBLDwn-Bo9/s1836/giulio%20mozzi.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1836" data-original-width="1836" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5okmDjeEsf_w1hhXZBK5X0we5ZVjg61qvg6A79xirtUCc86ga4NWb7KcU7UNLp3_aPTADuwVjWRUYRalJiuAXXJ_rRnM5U15gpdJQbMjrMUwRIK0XuvZU69hWcv0-QzxkNZilQCCqySEKZDfTsZUvL1BbyLjGYqmA6cuwLdY0ZUhJLcBLDwn-Bo9/s320/giulio%20mozzi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Co-author Giulio Mozzi</td></tr></tbody></table><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Do words have souls?</span></span></b><p></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: times; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">A poet considers every word and every thing as if it were alive. They might actually be alive. What do they want to say? </i></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A good poet is an animist who looks at things as if they were saturated with life, death, stories, and words. And in the same vein, a poet looks at every word they hear, read, say, or write as if it were a living being. Not only that: a good poet is a matchmaker who brings together words and things based on their affinities and preferences. To sum it up: a good poet is like that clever servant who pretends to do the bidding of things and words, but who in reality is the one in charge, the one who masters them, and bends them to meet a particular need in a piece of writing.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Who lives in your poems?</b></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The “us,” that unknown. How many homes can you make in it that you’ve never even thought about? Collective poetry, choral poetry. There’s a whole world out there: the others.</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> </i></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With your own voice, unique and private, you, as a poet, are the founder of a community. But how is it possible that poetry, which is such a lyrical and solitary form of expression, can create a community? Well, each of us is a person who belongs to humanity, so in each of us there’s something shared or held in common with others, maybe with a few others, maybe with many, or maybe even with everyone else. When you speak as a poet, with that shared something, you’re speaking the ”us.” Even when you use the “I.” Even when it seems you’re speaking completely impersonally. As the philosopher <a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocco_Ronchi" target="_blank">Rocco Ronchi</a> once said, “Communication…is not a form of transmission. At its root, communication means to create a common ground, to fasten together a community, even if it is a minority, and to give that community identity and recognizable traits. Communication is the creation of a sense of community.” Poetry does not communicate by transmission, it fosters commonality, founds a community. To quote the Polish poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/wisaawa-szymborska" target="_blank">Wislawa Szymborska</a>: “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Paul-Sartre" target="_blank">[Jean-Paul] Sartre </a>said one of the most horrific things ever uttered: ‘Hell is other people.’ (<i>«<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit" target="_blank">L’enfer, c’est les autres</a>.»</i>) What does that even mean, that hell is other people? In fact, I would say that other people are the true paradise. Doesn’t ‘other people’ include loved ones, neighbors—not just anybody? And I’m not only referring to lovers here, but also to relations, friends, the care of a neighbor, etc. Where would we be without others? Who would we be? Nothing. A hell.”</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Rearrange the poetry books on your shelves.</b></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Discover the books you forgot you had.</i></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you’re a new employee in a bookstore, the first day on the job you’re taught that you have to dust the books. Every day, when there aren’t many customers in the shop, you run a cloth over one, two, or three shelves and give them a good swipe. <a href="https://www.marsilioeditori.it/lista-autori/scheda-autore/2963/romano-montroni" target="_blank">Romano Montroni</a>, the founder of Italy’s Feltrinelli Bookstore chain, explained why, in his book <i><a href="https://www.laterza.it/scheda-libro/?isbn=9788842079842" target="_blank">Selling Souls: The Bookseller’s Profession</a></i>. Montroni said that this is useful for memorizing each book, the author, the title, and a couple of sentences from the back cover. Similarly, if you have a few shelves of poetry books at home (and I certainly hope you do!), take the time every once in a while (maybe once a month?) to rearrange your books. You might reorganize them by author, or maybe chronologically, or by the colors of their spines, or by their size, or by when you bought them, or according to which ones you like the most or the least. This will help you (you’ll see, it works!) to find forgotten books, to resume interrupted readings, to read again passages you haven’t looked at for ages, to discover that, just as you have changed over time, so have your books.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From<i> <a href="https://www.sonzognoeditori.it/component/marsilio/scheda-libro/4540104/oracolo-manuale-per-poete-e-poeti" target="_blank">Oracolo manuale per poete e poeti</a></i>, @2020 by Giulio Mozzi and Laura Pugno, published by Sonzogno di Marsiglio Editori. Reprinted by permission of the authors. Translation from the Italian © 2022 by Zack Rogow.</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-92091686591676095592022-11-02T14:45:00.016-07:002022-11-02T15:05:43.343-07:00Alison Luterman Guest Blog: How Long Does It Take to Finish a Work of Writing?<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a guest post from poet, essayist, and playwright <a href="https://www.alisonluterman.net/" target="_blank">Alison Luterman</a>. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5da53623-7fff-667f-00cc-2dceabfcff26"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was walking with a novelist friend in the woods the other day and she was telling me about how she’d had to tear apart the structure of her draft (which I’d read and loved), change the point-of-view of several characters, eliminate some extraneous material, and was now, basically, rewriting a very different book. I asked how she was feeling about it all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> “</span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, you know,” she shrugged. “At first I was pissed at my mentor for telling me my structure wasn’t working, and then when I accepted that she was right I was sad that I’d wasted so much time polishing that early draft, when I should not have been polishing it at all, I should have been restructuring it. Then I was overwhelmed with how much work I’d have to do to make this new draft work, and feeling doubtful if I could even pull it off. But now I’m into it, and one of the main characters is emerging as more twisted and interesting than he ever was before, and I’m enjoying getting to know him. This new book is going to have a very different tone than the draft you read. It’s going to be much darker. Actually, I'm loving working on it."</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did know. My dear friend <a href="http://leslieabsher.com/" target="_blank">Leslie Absher</a> just published her remarkable memoir <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spy-Daughter-Queer-Girl-Acceptance/dp/1957607025" target="_blank">Spy Daughter Queer Girl</a></i>, a book she worked on for more than sixteen years. The layers of living and feeling and research and growth really show in the story. Sure, she didn’t think it would take that long when she embarked on this project, but she stayed with it and she stayed with herself and her own changes and the work shows the benefit of that patience and care and earned wisdom.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAAzrxs0icQtVJHNqdaRZnvS1h03mqYoAn0-hTPZ0oj8-vaosJUH3ZNM4rc7GZzVVDvOZmsxfU7XV-Xc-Rq9T1aiFe0NYf9woOaZqK8xSB9xINke0i95sesyiOA0vhPMYtcdSpj2X0FJ5VA-3k2lH_fy19yv-L2aPsmaraPIP6TpDSnykUMFTWCHO/s1104/84fc26_0784c7fdad0d416c9362c3bcf064e206%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1104" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAAzrxs0icQtVJHNqdaRZnvS1h03mqYoAn0-hTPZ0oj8-vaosJUH3ZNM4rc7GZzVVDvOZmsxfU7XV-Xc-Rq9T1aiFe0NYf9woOaZqK8xSB9xINke0i95sesyiOA0vhPMYtcdSpj2X0FJ5VA-3k2lH_fy19yv-L2aPsmaraPIP6TpDSnykUMFTWCHO/s320/84fc26_0784c7fdad0d416c9362c3bcf064e206%20copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alison Luterman</td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve got students and writing clients who are concerned about this. They ask, How long does it take to get a book out? The answer, infuriating as it is, is “It takes as long as it takes.” Each of my books of poems has taken years longer than I thought it “should.” I always fondly imagine things are ready long before they are. I’ve sent out so many manuscripts to contests only to realize, five minutes after paying the thirty dollar entry fee and hitting Send, that it was really just a lump of raw dough rather than a fully baked loaf.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the other hand, sometimes lightning strikes and a poem comes out whole. The writer <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ruth-stone" target="_blank">Ruth Stone</a> contended that her poems came to her whole, like tornados on the horizon. She would sense one coming and run as fast as she could back to her house, in order to grab a pen and scribble it down. If she didn’t outrun the poem it would blow right past her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/bob-dylan" target="_blank">Bob Dylan</a> sometimes wrote three songs a day at the height of his powers. There was apparently a conversation between him and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen" target="_blank">Leonard Cohen</a> about writing. Cohen confessed it had taken him seven years and zillions of drafts to write “Hallelujah.” “How long did it take you to write ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’?” Cohen asked Dylan. “Ten minutes,” Dylan replied. So, there you have it!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CeaXU3y9rpd5vLQIa6_NS0R972pPgG0gZrDTlF5kCGZnG70xjcGhHhNjLysY_eJ7vKyAhRwXGc2irXHDfHd1VEB9zqkVC5p1407TuQH85ATrixmcvq2VOT_BiesvV7cZHoz8MesMlVXC3hvJEQWFHs_CZQeHDhwk298_SvRaHT2Mz5zF7zg4z4BT/s1110/CAT-COVER-poetry+book+2020-2-+(1)+(1).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CeaXU3y9rpd5vLQIa6_NS0R972pPgG0gZrDTlF5kCGZnG70xjcGhHhNjLysY_eJ7vKyAhRwXGc2irXHDfHd1VEB9zqkVC5p1407TuQH85ATrixmcvq2VOT_BiesvV7cZHoz8MesMlVXC3hvJEQWFHs_CZQeHDhwk298_SvRaHT2Mz5zF7zg4z4BT/s320/CAT-COVER-poetry+book+2020-2-+(1)+(1).jpeg" width="216" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></span><p></p></span><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Alison Luterman’s books include the poetry collections </i><a href="https://catamaranliteraryreader.com/books/in-the-time-of-great-fires" target="_blank">In the Time of Great Fires </a><i>(Catamaran Press), </i>Desire Zoo<i> (Tia Chucha Press), </i>The Largest Possible Life <i>(Cleveland State University Press), </i>See How We Almost Fly <i>(Pearl Editions); and a collection of essays, </i>Feral City<i> (SheBooks). Luterman's plays include </i>Saying Kaddish with My Sister, Hot Water, Glitter and Spew, Oasis, Touched; <i>and the musicals </i>The Chain<i> (with composer Loren Linnard), </i>The Shyest Witch<i> (with composer Richard Jennings), and the song cycle </i>We Are Not Afraid of the Dark<i> (with composer Sheela Ramesh).</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-73101294971644753632022-07-20T16:00:00.011-07:002022-10-24T11:56:50.651-07:00Dealing with Rejection as a Writer<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing you don’t always hear when you’re starting out as a writer is that your work is going to get rejected most of the time you send it out. I’ve seen a variety of statistics, but it seems that in general, literary journals accept between 1% and 2% of their submissions. A magazine such as <i><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine" target="_blank">The New Yorker</a></i> accepts an even lower percentage: .14%. That means they reject 99.86% of the work sent to them.</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-945c87ee-7fff-6e82-1054-618ddc63e770"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, if the work I submit to literary magazines, publishers, and theaters is accepted even one tenth of the time, I feel as if I’m doing terrific. The reality is, there are many, many talented writers, and a much smaller number of outlets to publish in. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On top of all that, rejection is never easy to take. We work hard on our literary creations, and we pour our hearts into them. For that reason, rejection often feels as if our very souls are being turned back from the gates of Heaven and banished to literary hell.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, how to deal with rejection? Well, one lesson I try to take away from a negative response is that my work can always improve. After a rejection, I imagine I’m the editor who reviewed my work, and then…poof, I accept it!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No, actually, I imagine I’m the editor, and I attempt to see my writing more objectively. I think how I can make that submission better before I send it out again. I try to consider each rejection as an opportunity to rethink and to polish my writing. That doesn’t mean ripping up what I sent and throwing it out. It means I strive to raise my work closer to my aspirations for my highest potential as a writer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another takeaway from getting your work turned down is that not all rejections are completely negative. In some cases, an editor takes the time to say that they liked your work and they hope you’ll submit your writing to them again. Do not take that as a polite version of a flat “No.” That means an editor really did appreciate your work. Make sure your submissions spreadsheet has a place to note rejections of that sort, and periodically go back to those notes and send more work, maybe six months or a year later. In your new cover letter, thank the editor for encouraging you to resubmit, as a way to remind them that they liked your earlier submission. Do not resubmit the same work, however—that would be ignoring what the editor told you in the first place.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the reasons you send out your work is that you’re hoping to reach out beyond your solitary labors as a writer. As the poet <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Breton" target="_blank">André Breton</a> once said, “Writing is the loneliest road that leads everywhere.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNCRWS1EsvCDzym_gB3Si6VF9_LzjJsX3zr0gtG7qaWQkAOgOzbqmZ5wI_8mowhmDabxj-XqUUe1WQfZQ9BEaZcxqUVqYQL8tEg7apWvf4oBhcSJdPkBKDnnXnydJDQ1h6DddeWZt4ABXRFzimrHbr7OUyIcd3ba4z0dLHpjZZa0PpivlHAWZ7ZVr/s430/338px-Andre-breton-1929.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="338" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNCRWS1EsvCDzym_gB3Si6VF9_LzjJsX3zr0gtG7qaWQkAOgOzbqmZ5wI_8mowhmDabxj-XqUUe1WQfZQ9BEaZcxqUVqYQL8tEg7apWvf4oBhcSJdPkBKDnnXnydJDQ1h6DddeWZt4ABXRFzimrHbr7OUyIcd3ba4z0dLHpjZZa0PpivlHAWZ7ZVr/s320/338px-Andre-breton-1929.jpeg" width="252" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">André Breton: <br />“Writing is the loneliest road that leads everywhere.”</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While rejection may not be the kind of connection you were hoping for when you submitted your work, it still means you were brave enough to risk sending your work out into the world. That’s a victory. Someone also saw your writing, and weighed it in their mind and heart. That’s also a connection. Concider viewing your attempt as an achievement, rather than as a negative.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a particular work of yours keeps getting rejected, try sending it to a different kind of magazine. Over a two year period, I sent out a poem I thought was very publishable to 50 magazines in the United States. It got rejected at all of them. You read that right: 50 rejections! The 51st journal I sent that poem to, with an editor based outside North America, emailed me to say, “Congratulations! We loved your poem and would like to publish it in our next issue.” Sometimes it makes sense to mix it up a little. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But given that rejection is the most likely outcome of a submission, make sure you really celebrate when your work is accepted. Savor that moment. Don’t boast, but don’t be too modest, either. When the publication is posted online or arrives in the mail, share that with your friends and on social media.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s rarely easy to get your work printed online or on paper. But publication is, after all, one of the great thrills of being a writer. Yes, rejection is not the fun part of a writer’s life, but it helps us to improve our work, and it reminds us to keep faith with our literary calling, even when that is painful. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p><div><br /></div></span></div><br /></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-75957340733991756152022-07-03T16:06:00.021-07:002022-07-11T15:43:03.198-07:00Haiku in Africa: An Interview with Adjei Agyei-Baah<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">This blog features an interview with Ghanaian poet <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Adjei-Agyei-Baah-1608996462495105/" target="_blank">Adjei Agyei-Baah</a></b>, one of the leading writers of “Afriku,” the school of haiku poetry flourishing in Africa. Agyei-Baah is the author of three volumes of haiku: his latest, <i><a href="https://ojalart.com/buttonhook-press2022-chapbook-seriespoetry-all-forms-styleshaikuadjei-agyei-baahscaring-crow/" target="_blank">Scaring Crow</a></i> (Buttonhook Press); <i>Afriku</i> (Red Moon Press); and <i>Ghana 21 Haiku </i>(Mamba Africa Press). He is the cofounder of the <a href="https://africahaikunetwork.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">Africa Haiku Network</a> (AHN) and coedits <i><a href="https://africahaikunetwork.wordpress.com/contact/" target="_blank">Mamba Journal</a>,</i> Africa’s first haiku magazine.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiar78EECK5jB_BdjaZTcDCxyrbqvinOELmnfIiASjYdp4A8NI0Sg0XXJCIzjn3CLUmFB90pas8UHBXRseq-oUKZ5xET21rWeBrl6osviuGQ-ndSsjkhPTdNB5ENsxmEX4eROJLZF-E5U9Oms4N91fLRu7W2oE3yNicgQzOFIwON9bmARw9L9mpVKTp/s789/Pic_Adjei%20Agyei-Baah.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="789" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiar78EECK5jB_BdjaZTcDCxyrbqvinOELmnfIiASjYdp4A8NI0Sg0XXJCIzjn3CLUmFB90pas8UHBXRseq-oUKZ5xET21rWeBrl6osviuGQ-ndSsjkhPTdNB5ENsxmEX4eROJLZF-E5U9Oms4N91fLRu7W2oE3yNicgQzOFIwON9bmARw9L9mpVKTp/s320/Pic_Adjei%20Agyei-Baah.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Adjei Agyei-Baah</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Could you talk a little bit about the history of haiku writing in Africa?</span></b></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-421377e8-7fff-889f-fd9a-8c4524b4a694"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haiku writing in Africa owes a lot to Sono Uchida, the prominent Japanese haiku poet and diplomat, who thirty years ago in Senegal initiated a haiku contest in the French language. That was the first international haiku competition in Africa.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During his mission as a Japanese ambassador in Africa, Uchida always felt that Senegal would be a fertile ground for the growth of haiku. The way the Senegalese people adapted to nature reminded him of the traditional world of the Japanese people, a way of life that was rapidly disappearing. According to Sono Uchida, it was the belief of haiku poets in Japan that nature does not belong to humanity, but rather it is humans who belong to nature.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Uchida’s promotion of haiku in Senegal was supported by the first President of Senegal, His Excellency Léopold Sédar Senghor, who was also a great friend of haiku.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In more recent years, haiku has spread particularly in West Africa, especially in Ghana and Nigeria. Some African haiku writers have pushed the genre in new directions. <a href="https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/emmanuel-abdalmasih-samson/" target="_blank">Emmanuel-Abdalmasih Samson</a> of Nigeria, for example, invented what he termed “mirror haiku,” a technique now used by many other haiku writers around the world. Here’s an example from Samson’s poetry:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>walking in the rain</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>umbrellas sing counterpoint</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>August concerto</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>August concerto</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>umbrellas sing counterpoint</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> <span> </span></span>walking in the rain</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>How did you personally come to haiku as a form for your poetry? Why does haiku particularly appeal to you as a writer?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I got to know haiku through my fellow Ghanaian countryman, <a href="https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/nana-fredua-agyeman/" target="_blank">Nana Fredua-Agyeman</a>, a very strong haiku contender. He used to share haiku on his blog. I followed his adventures and became addicted to the genre. I was captivated by its feature of brevity and the way a short haiku also says much more. It seemed a good way to tell African stories.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Your new chapbook,<i> <a href="https://ojalart.com/buttonhook-press2022-chapbook-seriespoetry-all-forms-styleshaikuadjei-agyei-baahscaring-crow/" target="_blank">Scaring Crow</a></i>, has a remarkable form—every haiku mentions a scarecrow. What drew you to that image, and what associations does it have for you personally and as an artist?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's a book I wrote purposely to try to push the frontiers of haiku. Arguably, it's the first haiku collection ever to explore a single theme in more than 100 ways. It was an honour and privilege to have great haiku scholars and doyens like Hiraoko Sato, Professor John Zheng, and Scott Mason contributing the foreword and blurbs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPWKS2ORdk_43jeBRNqSBSx-2yc_AnTLuCCLSRzTU8ttXa6Phixyr1RNA3UJuZB5iAicc7eKFP-2kcopglufFMTVQG2XGIMqYEH9ezdBvCjc421nZWVCl7TnstBW9uKQoin5u4sKRuu5gImN0YUrh3lNJHseGAzPOZ6ovYxBbtLW0egQwaCNWVSzU/s1102/IMG_20220427_053946.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="715" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPWKS2ORdk_43jeBRNqSBSx-2yc_AnTLuCCLSRzTU8ttXa6Phixyr1RNA3UJuZB5iAicc7eKFP-2kcopglufFMTVQG2XGIMqYEH9ezdBvCjc421nZWVCl7TnstBW9uKQoin5u4sKRuu5gImN0YUrh3lNJHseGAzPOZ6ovYxBbtLW0egQwaCNWVSzU/s320/IMG_20220427_053946.jpg" width="208" /></span></a></div><b style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you write in other forms besides haiku, or in free verse? If so, how do you know when a poem wants to be a haiku, and when it needs a different shape?</span></b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, I began with longer poems before discovering haiku, and I’ve had several long poems published in international journals and anthologies. As part of my practice, I create a haiku when nature presents a moment in a flash of lightning, that delivers a lasting after-image. But when I want to address humanity, or talk about more scholarly topics, I usually write longer poems.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Any advice for writers who would like to write haiku?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deep observation yields haiku! To communicate an <i>aha!</i> moment from nature, a novice writer must constantly observe. Read good haiku journals and publications to improve your craft. I hope to see more African poets, both young and experienced, come to the practice of haiku to tell African stories, as few are doing at the moment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Here are some favorites of mine from Adjei Agyei-Baah’s new chapbook, </i><a href="https://ojalart.com/buttonhook-press2022-chapbook-seriespoetry-all-forms-styleshaikuadjei-agyei-baahscaring-crow/" target="_blank">Scaring Crow</a>:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>All Saints’ Day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>a scarecrow glows</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>in fireflies</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>gleaning the field</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>a hidden melon</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>behind the scarecrow</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>ripened field</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>an old scarecrow invites</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>birds to party</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>flitting butterfly</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>the scarecrow’s shoulder</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>provides a rest</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>country walk…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>passing on an old hat</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>to a scarecrow</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>parting mist…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span>the open arms</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of a scarecrow</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>
Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div><br /></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-63326925911082079202022-06-11T12:12:00.014-07:002022-06-11T12:48:55.997-07:00Embracing Your Darkest Hour: An Interview with Poet Michelle Bitting<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">This blog is an interview with the writer <a href="https://www.michellebitting.com/" target="_blank">Michelle Bitting</a>, whose book <i><a href="https://www.twosylviaspress.com/nightmares--miracles.html" target="_blank">Nightmares & Miracles</a></i>, winner of the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Prize, establishes her as an important voice in poetry. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7idNickKwutbzFAKB4kNvCaNIqeccCs1_nwEHL_Fu_iSuGlvyyV-Y8wJi-syp0vrpNpYAq4yVqw-9fKihd70-snVFKl3bRBd9TwB4Hfvtn5ZietjZU3wJ9sg-yJd7Yv7PSrjLZ-9E22WDE9VHW-bTxax8Mm8uHGEeSKzuo4jRbydFAVZ3JFfh2OHM/s609/_DSC4856.JPEG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7idNickKwutbzFAKB4kNvCaNIqeccCs1_nwEHL_Fu_iSuGlvyyV-Y8wJi-syp0vrpNpYAq4yVqw-9fKihd70-snVFKl3bRBd9TwB4Hfvtn5ZietjZU3wJ9sg-yJd7Yv7PSrjLZ-9E22WDE9VHW-bTxax8Mm8uHGEeSKzuo4jRbydFAVZ3JFfh2OHM/s320/_DSC4856.JPEG" width="253" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Poet Michelle Bitting</span></td></tr></tbody></table><b style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Zack Rogow: In <i>Nightmares & Miracles</i>, you turn to a number of stories from your childhood and your family history. What was it that made that material so urgent or so possible to explore at this moment in your life and your development as a writer?</span></b><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c11f92ad-7fff-a579-8f56-08c0f39bcca6" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Michelle Bitting: </b>When writing, we all experience the “eternal return” to childhood matters—memories, sensory impressions, snippets of recollected gesture and dialogue. As a writer, I’ve been working through a fair amount of trauma and dysfunction from the distant past since I started making poems a couple decades ago.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be blunt and to the point: twenty-five years after my older brother William committed suicide, my younger brother John took his life as well. This latest tragedy occurred in December of 2019, the day after Christmas, and at our parents’ house. In attempting to get at the molten center of that, I’m also trying to free myself from it, or at least transform it into song outside myself. I’m not sure I’d still have the passion and joy for life I hold now if I hadn’t surrendered to this activity, which feels almost mystical to me. When I lost my younger brother by suicide recently, it was (again) a terrible, shocking thing. I had to don the mask and suit and absurd flippers and dive back down.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. One of the poems in your collection is titled, “A Poet Embraces the Darkest Hour.” To me, that could be a description of this whole book. What is it that a writer gains by embracing the darkest hour?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to keep embracing the darkest hour? I would really love that. I think we could all use a grand break, don’t you? Along with each personal trial (and mine, in relation to the wide world of suffering humans are bearable by comparison) it feels, of late, like a constant barrage of outrageous torments chipping away at our collective serenity. And sanity! But on we endure, and I try to expand beyond my particular suffering into new articulations that have to do with making stories, or mythologizing, if you will. Crawling through the tunnels with my flashlight I find stuff that glows and helps me figure my way forward. I remember I’m a dot in time puzzling the “facts” and past into something that helps me embrace the chaos while also organizing it in a way through language, image, sound. To state the obvious, and to quote <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Jung" target="_blank">Carl Jung</a>: “There is no light without shadow, and no psychic wholeness without imperfection.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7tgXZodMc0dYGYp0Ghw3el7cK3YaGZvQUXf1E3w1NHI3dBTgJl2Sb1YzZUKgL4-7mQSsF5pNl1w7ZykRRRxLztvN2x9rFrRbfzPRvseKLKNZV0QS14RFCCnPZo6nRUmNwkbDuNrXZ6aocVqkGzQZSzU7LGs8TUWNZGCuWSVgYcQYzqNe2XwBbHH5/s2784/Michelle%20NEW%20FINAL%20COVER%20FRONT%20PDF.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2784" data-original-width="1855" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7tgXZodMc0dYGYp0Ghw3el7cK3YaGZvQUXf1E3w1NHI3dBTgJl2Sb1YzZUKgL4-7mQSsF5pNl1w7ZykRRRxLztvN2x9rFrRbfzPRvseKLKNZV0QS14RFCCnPZo6nRUmNwkbDuNrXZ6aocVqkGzQZSzU7LGs8TUWNZGCuWSVgYcQYzqNe2XwBbHH5/s320/Michelle%20NEW%20FINAL%20COVER%20FRONT%20PDF.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><b style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Q. The nightmare-like experiences you talk about in your book seem to enable the miracles that you describe in such a dazzling way—I’m thinking, for example, of your poem “The Unmaking” about going with a child to put a pet to sleep at the vet’s, a poem that ends in such a moving way. Could you talk about the dialectic and the interplay between nightmares and miracles?</b><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The “flip side” of the nightmare portion of life, the sense of “miracle” is often the glorious, astonishing feeling of having survived horrible derangements and despair—the terror of what came before. I know this sounds awfully dramatic, but having experienced a fair amount of violence, sustained psychological stress, and volatility in my family environment (s) over the years, making it through those passages delivers a euphoria, a deep gratitude and delight in the smallest “things” that are often of the spirit and not necessarily concrete. We may be battle-weary and scarred, but we’re still mighty. We get excited about life and art because these engagements are precious and necessary. Just as death is necessary. Look, I’ll never be over losing my brothers or our dog Charlie, among other brutal realities and epic failures I have to contend with in myself, my family, the world at-large. Shaping a little container of words on the matter is a positive gesture that helps soften the blow even if it hurts in the writing and remembering.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. Your book deals in part with the roles of women in your mother’s generation and your own. Do you see continuity or discontinuity in how the women of those two times dealt with issues of parenting and relationships?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a question I’m actively attempting to answer, and perhaps reconcile, in my mind and in my writing. And it connects to what we’re experiencing on the national and global levels of society, history, politics, and more. How do we “break down” and break away from the mistakes of the past, and find ways to heal, change, and forgive forward?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A major point of contention seems to be the ongoing lack of admission of wrongs done, and poor choices that continue to be made that hurt and subjugate people. At this point, I’m most concerned for the rising generations, the young people who have to somehow move valiantly into the future dragging a behemoth of economic and environmental problems that are complex, yes, but also perpetuated by older generations who continue to make greedy and heinously controlling decisions that serve their own immediate desires but certainly not the true prosperity and freedom of future generations—or civilization, for that matter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet, without compassion and understanding for each other and the faults of those who came before, what are we? This predicament feels especially critical and troubling at this time of turbulent change. Well, we’re not the first to struggle through dark times. The best we can do is keep singing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Q. Could you talk about how you are moving forward from this gripping collection of poems?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve embarked on a “larger” and ongoing hybrid (fiction, memoir, script, poetry) writing project that involves my great-grandmother, the remarkable stage and screen actress <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Mercer" target="_blank">Beryl Mercer</a>. She was quite a renowned character performer of the 1930s, and considering obstacles she endured to become who she was, a feminist exemplar. I’m channeling her and imagining into various roles together as we investigate family and societal ills, as well as achievements and ongoing patriarchal damage spanning a century. For me, this is a major creative undertaking—in this case, that’s an appropriate word!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Here's one of my favorite poems from Michelle Bitting’s new collection:</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The Unmaking</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where brightness goes to die</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">after years of settling its joy in our lap</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the husk of all we prized and carried</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">just as my son clutched that four-pawed warmth</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in his hope-stripped hands</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">surrendering our furry bundle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in an old blue baby blanket</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dachshund-Beagle-Chihuahua mutt</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the dwindling fruit of his ruined heart</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">driven to the mercy hotel in the dead of night</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">because this suffering we could no longer abide</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and so passed on to the doctor</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at the all-hours clinic</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a kind, white-coated vet who nodded</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a solemn <i>You’re doing the right thing</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">after I stammered <i>Maybe a different medicine?</i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the twin neithers of her eyes meeting mine</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">silence dropping its dirty oars</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">breaking the human surface</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rowing us closer</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who asks for this?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my son’s beggared hand finding me</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our palms’ salt rivers twining</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reading each other</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our runned-over prayer</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">completing the circle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as we turned to find the door, the lot, our keys, our car</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our way home in a vacant dark</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of dreaming streets</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">first pocketing his collar, some paperwork</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how sweetly he looked at us</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as the last light left
</span></p><p style="height: 0px;"></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="white-space: normal;"></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></p><p style="white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span>Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span>Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span>Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><span>Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span>Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span>How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span>Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span>Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></span></div></span>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-80098387457380941762022-05-25T10:05:00.019-07:002022-06-03T09:07:18.938-07:00Along the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail in France<p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Louis-Stevenson" target="_blank">Robert Louis Stevenson</a> wrote his book <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_a_Donkey_in_the_C%C3%A9vennes" target="_blank"><i>Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes</i> </a>in 1878 about his 140-mile (225 km) hike through the mountains and fields of central France. Stevenson’s book was prophetic—he spoke so eloquently about our need to reconnect with the natural world in the early stages of the industrial age. That was a time when most educated people were wild about machines and factories and could not yet imagine their negative consequences.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP23PmcSCxWtWGcxuH8diFiy1ge8oSAa4HPd_kqhHTbLuLgZEmkv0mGi1MGqKK40U4nC944uLfxyTR-2wM4nrJlzFDXhOMjj76LsWfaoohcU2Ohck1Il0SmTC9MuvHdiAAinXXzIXnmaJgxjoi3Kqo1odp-anyMy-2lzWDWFRlfKfVW6iiTTrW2Gz/s885/stevenson.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="885" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP23PmcSCxWtWGcxuH8diFiy1ge8oSAa4HPd_kqhHTbLuLgZEmkv0mGi1MGqKK40U4nC944uLfxyTR-2wM4nrJlzFDXhOMjj76LsWfaoohcU2Ohck1Il0SmTC9MuvHdiAAinXXzIXnmaJgxjoi3Kqo1odp-anyMy-2lzWDWFRlfKfVW6iiTTrW2Gz/s320/stevenson.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Louis Stevenson, around the time he wrote <br /><i>Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">
Here’s a quote from Stevenson’s book where he talks about sleeping outdoors, a passage that gives a flavor of his worshipful attitude toward nature: “A faint wind, more like a moving coolness than a stream of air, passed down the glade from time to time; so that even in my great chamber the air was being renewed all night long. I thought with horror…of hot theatres and passkeys and close rooms. I have not often enjoyed a more serene possession of myself, nor felt more independent of material aids. The outer world, from which we cower into our houses, seemed after all a gentle habitable place; and night after night a man’s bed, it seemed, was laid and waiting for him in the fields, where God keeps an open house.”</span></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxEskgxYT5OSlSu-x3eSKRRSvzWpVpvypyDzBefaKjzQZqHUyfA4Oe3dWbRlLm6LG-gXvXCcJv3fUfSamWnjUuB9h0-8Ee3ZkLGra_p3Nifn3rXNdAMvMGMuyAUqwTloS5UAzDx33s0iouvJsty9mkCjeJYgm357wOGhXF3bG3BxWzy1giYasdqoa/s640/IMG_1951.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxEskgxYT5OSlSu-x3eSKRRSvzWpVpvypyDzBefaKjzQZqHUyfA4Oe3dWbRlLm6LG-gXvXCcJv3fUfSamWnjUuB9h0-8Ee3ZkLGra_p3Nifn3rXNdAMvMGMuyAUqwTloS5UAzDx33s0iouvJsty9mkCjeJYgm357wOGhXF3bG3BxWzy1giYasdqoa/s320/IMG_1951.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wildflowers in the Cévennes mountains</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Stevenson wrote this book about his solitary interactions with nature, but <i>Travels in the Cevennes</i> has resonated with so many people. This slim volume has had an amazing ripple effect! Currently thousands of hikers every year retrace Stevenson’s route. A small percentage even attempt it with a donkey. </span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SF0L9THMGBVfNBFP0iFZrTpHqAM7jY3vMwGiq5_G0rzkd_8L8qMwUQ-9NpczgzjYPe1KnFn5NX_S8s8C_ywMEjRfJUu77oatJ0CMcOtBDy-9SwmQRm3ottAi2IdsPBUfXt8yQQRk4D78Ce5J5XitND_tH6bGSoJfFJf_u8rxssnTHFW3LdseChpe/s640/IMG_0815.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="640" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SF0L9THMGBVfNBFP0iFZrTpHqAM7jY3vMwGiq5_G0rzkd_8L8qMwUQ-9NpczgzjYPe1KnFn5NX_S8s8C_ywMEjRfJUu77oatJ0CMcOtBDy-9SwmQRm3ottAi2IdsPBUfXt8yQQRk4D78Ce5J5XitND_tH6bGSoJfFJf_u8rxssnTHFW3LdseChpe/s320/IMG_0815.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiker struggling with recalcitrant donkey.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The reach of Stevenson’s message has actually increased geometrically in recent years. The engines driving that were the publication of <a href="https://www.chemin-stevenson.org/product/bd-voyage-avec-un-ane-dans-les-cevennes/" target="_blank">a <i>bande dessinée</i> (graphic novel or comic book) of Stevenson’s book in France by Juliette Lévéjac</a>, and the recent release of a charming rom-com film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11013434/" target="_blank"><i>My Donkey, My Lover & I</i> <i>(Antoinette dans les Cévennes).</i> </a>The film, which stars <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4277922/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Call My Agent</a></i> phenom <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2662182/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">Laure Calamy</a>, tells the story of a school teacher who stalks her crush in the Cévennes, with a donkey as moody and lovable as Stevenson’s Modestine. Stevenson’s book has now become a cultural phenomenon in France and has inspired the hikers who follow in his path.
Recently my partner and I walked three stretches of Stevenson’s path, through beautiful fields of wildflowers, up to peaks in the Cévennes mountains dusted with yellow broom and with sweeping views of green valleys, and passing by gorges of the Tarn River. We were impressed with how many hikers were walking the entire length of the trail, seeking to recreate Stevenson’s pilgrimage to nature.</span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy65yTX2AZHK12u2TpQqroo_SzDEOS-RwioV3R8I121liTiSj2eHBK_k8TD8ENLG-m-rAH9n3ioCwVk3w-wupbYYY4yQoMu10EJLDwAcFHc2S9zcviIsi_R1vWH-Y_6d7DmfTO_8kuHEThOfus4nEdTc1HPcjSO3ls_q2qpyI0QAyF1blPiAqvn3H/s640/IMG_1942.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="640" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy65yTX2AZHK12u2TpQqroo_SzDEOS-RwioV3R8I121liTiSj2eHBK_k8TD8ENLG-m-rAH9n3ioCwVk3w-wupbYYY4yQoMu10EJLDwAcFHc2S9zcviIsi_R1vWH-Y_6d7DmfTO_8kuHEThOfus4nEdTc1HPcjSO3ls_q2qpyI0QAyF1blPiAqvn3H/w542-h120/IMG_1942.jpg" width="542" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiking near the Stevenson trail, in Bougès, France</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In our own era, when our 24/7 connection to mobile phones, computers, and other devices severs us even more from the natural world, it’s not surprising that so many people want to disconnect from virtual reality and reconnect with actual reality. The extraordinary effect of Stevenson’s book a century and a half later shows how much impact an author can have over time—provided the author, like Stevenson, has foresight, authenticity, and original turns of phrase that touch the lives of others.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>RESOURCES FOR HIKING THE STEVENSON TRAIL</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://ilovewalkinginfrance.com/chemin-de-stevenson-guidebook/" target="_blank"><i>I Love Walking in France </i>downloadable guidebook </a>with information about trails, places to stay, and other great information. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.chemin-stevenson.org/" target="_blank">Association of inns along the Stevenson Trail</a>.<br /></span></span><p></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></i></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p></div></div>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-46729058812142102772022-04-24T10:20:00.010-07:002022-04-24T17:09:34.700-07:00Dion O’Reilly Guest Blog: Demoralization, No! Intention, Yes!<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to admit something: I’ve been caught in an endless desire for acceptance as a writer. It began with seeking positive critiques in workshop groups and paying famous poets for feedback. Submitting my work has also stirred intense cravings to see my writing in print or online. But it has forced me to study journals, to reconnoiter the literary landscape, and to refine my poems to meet the challenge. As high as I feel when I receive a Yes, inevitably, a crash follows. That can lead to <b>demoralization</b>. Not only that, I’ve jonesed for better and better journals and publishers for my fix. Whenever I’m obsessively checking my emails or social media, it’s time for me to refocus on i<b>ntention</b>.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNSsCkFj70D1lUilkcjm43a652ZkDObZ2HgRqHb70rFT24gj6m-KUzdrbgUyo_fk4yykl_D2xTX3nKWlQ6o9sQiq7nSB2zjHOFk7YRtwXKqab3rfhDKFu8MUSzsvIAZgmUTtc-5-Kw41XlrO9HkZHZ-SnUFjFB_9w4ocIJRb-jxy-XAdJsqXKB3Kz/s1536/headshot%20oreilly.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNSsCkFj70D1lUilkcjm43a652ZkDObZ2HgRqHb70rFT24gj6m-KUzdrbgUyo_fk4yykl_D2xTX3nKWlQ6o9sQiq7nSB2zjHOFk7YRtwXKqab3rfhDKFu8MUSzsvIAZgmUTtc-5-Kw41XlrO9HkZHZ-SnUFjFB_9w4ocIJRb-jxy-XAdJsqXKB3Kz/s320/headshot%20oreilly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">poet Dion O’Reilly</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I examine the culture of poetry, I sometimes think poets exist on a spectrum: on one end, those who rarely self-promote and quietly turn out a finely-crafted collection every seven years. On the other, poets who self-published a collection twenty years ago, and have taught high-profile creativity classes and published how-to manuals ever since. In between these poles are poets with an array of accomplishments and varying levels of social media presence. Some write essays like this one. Some teach in MFA programs. Some record and sell craft talks. Some offer podcasts or webinars.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">At all spots on that spectrum, poets offer something for someone. I just want to understand where I feel comfortable—and to set my intention accordingly.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">For now, my main priority is to dramatize experience, to stand at honesty’s precipice and jump. Then poetry never disappoints and is pleasurable. Even if my poems remain unpublishable, the process is satisfying, leads to greater insights, and sometimes (Hallelujah!) results in “good” poems.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The same is true of the thrill of discovering poems—it’s like finding an absorbed twin. In fact, when I don’t have an engaging book to study, I feel lost. Meeting poets, befriending poets, entering a community of poets is likewise satisfying and provides warm connections.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">I don’t want to discount ambition. It moves me, motivates me, and informs me. No one’s pure. I think the trick is to be self-aware, to track what the mind is doing, dis-aggregate the information, and explore what feels valuable. For example, my mentors have followed a trajectory to impressive fame. But there are many ways to skin poetry! By remaining in my own intention, I can be both thrilled to see my poet friends achieve, and also study my vocation’s pathways. Why respect one publisher or one way over another? Why not democratize the journey?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">This might seem off topic, but bear with me: In my childhood and into my twenties, I struggled with an eating disorder—an addiction really. I felt fat and ugly. But, through therapy and twelve-step programs, I strived to ignore the disparaging voices—if I couldn’t believe I was worthwhile, I could at least act like I did. I also had to reset my intention—to care for myself in order to be a better person, kinder, and more present—and not because I wanted to be hot and skinny. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Writing’s the same: when I started out as a poet (and even now sometimes) my disparaging voice whispered, <i>Hey, Bitch, your poems are ugly!</i> But my better angel said: <i>Honey! Don’t listen! Just lace up that corset and go! </i> I realized my intention should not be to “fix” myself with recognition, not to write “good” poems, but rather to work at feeling poetry’s pleasures, to enter poetry—to resolutely craft the rawness of life—in doing so, I might become more mindful, insightful, empathetic, and content.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Besides, self-disgust—anything I feel—is worth writing about, if I can just detach a little and examine it from a new angle.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">One more thing: of course I’m insecure! I’m writing poetry—it’s the opposite of engineering. Everyone knows what engineering is for! But when I say I’m a poet, people ask if I make money at it, or they complain about their high school English teacher (which I also am). Or, if they’re a poet, they might ask what press I publish with, and if it’s not Norton, they’re unimpressed. Even among other poets, reaction to my intense, “confessional” poems can be dismissive.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Yes, self-disgust originates from others—from family, society, and some peers. That’s why overcoming demoralization by honing intention is a radical act. I also think finely crafting our deepest thoughts stimulates the brain’s pleasure centers in a healthy way. The trick is to develop a greater sensitivity to poetry’s mysteries at work in our minds. And finally, I want to share this advice: be your own damn self.</span></span></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-9be1d1dd-7fff-c914-d5d4-3e5a2db67807"></span></span></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Dion O’Reilly’s debut book of poems, </i>Ghost Dogs <i>(Terrapin 2020), was shortlisted for the Catamaran Poetry Prize and the Eric Hoffer Award. Her work appears in </i>The Sun, Rattle, Cincinnati Review, Narrative, <i>and other magazines. Her second book, </i>Sadness of the Apex Predator, <i>was chosen for the Portage Poetry Series from University of Wisconsin’s Cornerstone Press and will be published in 2024. She facilitates workshops with poets from all over the U.S. and hosts a poetry podcast at The Hive Poetry Collective.</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="http://dionoreilly.wordpress.com">dionoreilly.wordpress.com</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfnG2Ac1eoqRwEL8TDHo1Mznw3ghltJGnHQea3FmXPCFuc0Ty-rlgZMR6TLodLTwyDfIjxs2YSjZFeGQB___WfvF4NbJMh40zXG8vG7H54UDptAg1m-kr0JbRPd1pQNiKp9mV4zeneLuL8_Oao5MNhQ9jJlyn_jC0xx7jidinnAf0bmgWx141xnuq/s499/ghost-dogs.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfnG2Ac1eoqRwEL8TDHo1Mznw3ghltJGnHQea3FmXPCFuc0Ty-rlgZMR6TLodLTwyDfIjxs2YSjZFeGQB___WfvF4NbJMh40zXG8vG7H54UDptAg1m-kr0JbRPd1pQNiKp9mV4zeneLuL8_Oao5MNhQ9jJlyn_jC0xx7jidinnAf0bmgWx141xnuq/s320/ghost-dogs.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dion O’Reilly’s most recent book, highly recommended!</td></tr></tbody></table><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>
Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-91376178210380465502022-03-05T18:12:00.008-08:002022-06-11T12:47:34.856-07:00How Much Should You Know Before You Start Writing<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">When a piece of writing involves research, you might ask yourself when you’re ready to start writing. You want to have enough background information that you can recreate the world you are studying truly. You also want to know enough that you can identify with the subject you’re writing about, and maybe even gain some insight into those lives. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Let’s say you’re writing a short story or a poem that features the wonderful painter, <a href="https://www.marycassatt.org/" target="_blank">Mary Cassatt</a>. You should read at a very minimum the Wikipedia article on Cassatt. You might even read a really scholarly biography about the artist to pick out a detail here or there that will give your story the ring of authenticity. Here’s an example: it’s interesting that Cassatt, a woman artist, was good friends with <a href="https://www.edgar-degas.org/" target="_blank">Edgar Degas</a>, a notorious misogynist. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZIat1ziZXdfSWvUzBI3XcgjIu8f3jLWrQspATq55WFwMwOC-a7UwLrHDpYbeYY3IuV4ptAA-Lkiraz6T4nJ1_Wj3OV7XMAKLL9wU6X9RW3GRwKn-JxAAORIw8aVb9Sz77p5bps-5rIMqEQ1g3EJHMhOP0c-V65I04KA9ug6DZ6Hj-fDJqvz85x6UZ=s500" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="393" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZIat1ziZXdfSWvUzBI3XcgjIu8f3jLWrQspATq55WFwMwOC-a7UwLrHDpYbeYY3IuV4ptAA-Lkiraz6T4nJ1_Wj3OV7XMAKLL9wU6X9RW3GRwKn-JxAAORIw8aVb9Sz77p5bps-5rIMqEQ1g3EJHMhOP0c-V65I04KA9ug6DZ6Hj-fDJqvz85x6UZ=s320" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait of Mary Cassatt by Edgar Degas</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The two of them sometimes even painted side-by-side. Imagine the great conversations! Think of their differing interactions with a model. If you were writing a full-length work about Mary Cassatt, a novel or a play based on her life, I would think you’d want to read multiple biographies in order to feel you were almost a Cassatt expert.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But is it possible to research a subject too much before you start writing about it? I listened to a fascinating panel on historical plays at a conference of the <a href="https://www.awpwriter.org/" target="_blank">Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)</a> several years ago. One of the panelists, <a href="https://www.deborahbrevoort.com/" target="_blank">Deborah Brevoort</a>, had been commissioned to write a play about <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martha-Washington" target="_blank">Martha Washington</a>, the wife of George Washington. In researching her topic before she started writing, Brevoort discovered that Martha Washington kept up a lively and extensive correspondence with her husband. Perfect material for a play, right? Unfortunately, after George Washington died, Martha burned all their letters. What a disaster! What surprised me was Brevoort’s reaction to learning this. She was actually overjoyed. I was flummoxed, till I heard her next comment: “That meant I could make it up!”</span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTg7E5eCX5ZjADzXljJH-Fce5nZETXFqo3I1oXEL5BTbmkLnRvMl-_rNlRaWZL9FRLuhW3ELxZEEv7vvBUXg5fFk7OK0oZ7kI00N7AbL8dcdSSmGw4xyrQNY4qHySk1X2MNwcLitfKs7KLA9BzFeYBm1QexvRXCGua-8rX8iYxLlra4VxPYGnFDG_S=s400" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTg7E5eCX5ZjADzXljJH-Fce5nZETXFqo3I1oXEL5BTbmkLnRvMl-_rNlRaWZL9FRLuhW3ELxZEEv7vvBUXg5fFk7OK0oZ7kI00N7AbL8dcdSSmGw4xyrQNY4qHySk1X2MNwcLitfKs7KLA9BzFeYBm1QexvRXCGua-8rX8iYxLlra4VxPYGnFDG_S=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deborah Brevoort</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I thought about that, it made a lot of sense. In order to really get inside the experience of Martha Washington, the playwright had to find deep connections between the first First Lady’s life and her own. That’s not so easy if you have so many specific facts in your head that you can’t bend your subject’s story closer to your own. To make that play work emotionally, the playwright had to make herself into Martha Washington, and Martha Washington into her, to some degree, so she could write about that other life with real understanding and empathy. And that becomes almost impossible, if at the same time, you’re juggling countless historical facts.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">So, how much research is enough, and how much is too much? You’ve done too much research if the knowledge you’ve accumulated becomes so detailed and specific that it impedes your personal identification with your topic and prevents you from writing. You haven’t done enough research if you still need more details and situations to create content that is believable and compelling both to you and your audience.</span></span></p><p></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-87500610466385233822022-02-11T18:05:00.012-08:002022-02-17T10:46:52.644-08:00My Love-Hate Relationship with German Language and Culture<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“Never turn your back on a German,” my Jewish mother used to tell me growing up. She had lived through the time of the Holocaust, though she’d been lucky enough to be in North America then, with the Atlantic Ocean a moat between her and the Nazis. But her generation of Jews knew what it meant to fear Germany, to know that if Germany won World War II, she would probably be murdered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">My mother also swore that, “I’ll never set foot on German soil.” In 1968, that vow was tested when she and I drove with French friends across Germany to get from Paris to Romania. My mom declared she would never leave the car. When we stopped for dinner in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-Baden" target="_blank">Baden-Baden</a>, she stayed behind, ironically in our friends’ Volkswagen. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRDbBprQ-adcJDGDE4BV_dOZ42ESNVTokQoF7h7VbcWj5NRsEgVODAybqwZV99Gy092xM_glYwGurwH9tC8boDnFWVuUTKbq90h1x7RWTzH0o7NakxgwhQF26VmnxgEpNUF0akNlfehFYqMhhpe8iOinYs-R2W3_-s5oLi5oy4Et5Pr3R2QQfekvCi=s500" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRDbBprQ-adcJDGDE4BV_dOZ42ESNVTokQoF7h7VbcWj5NRsEgVODAybqwZV99Gy092xM_glYwGurwH9tC8boDnFWVuUTKbq90h1x7RWTzH0o7NakxgwhQF26VmnxgEpNUF0akNlfehFYqMhhpe8iOinYs-R2W3_-s5oLi5oy4Et5Pr3R2QQfekvCi=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p>The rest of us were in the dining room, enjoying our dinner, when my mother joined us, reluctantly. “If I wasn’t so hungry, I’d have stayed in the car,” she grumbled. My mom ordered </span><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.daringgourmet.com/traditional-kartoffelpuffer-reibekuchen-german-potato-pancakes/" target="_blank">Kartoffelpuffer</a></i><span style="font-family: times;">, potato pancakes, which she gulped down, enjoying every bite. “It’s just like latkes,” she joked, the food that Jews eat to celebrate the festival of Chanukah.</span></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Many of the well-dressed Germans in the restaurant where we were dining were my mother’s age, old enough to have lived through World War II, or to have fought for the Nazis. She looked at them and said, “What were <i>they</i> doing during the war?” Good question. The horrors of World War II and the Holocaust provoke many questions about how a country like Germany that has given the world so much beauty and culture could commit atrocities that cost millions of lives.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Is it surprising that my mother’s demonizing of Germany made me want to learn more about that country, its language, and its culture? My mother turned Deutschland into a kind of forbidden fruit. She was so intent on teaching me to hate Germany, that I felt I had to make up my own mind about that country.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Some of my first positive experiences with Germany happened when I was in college, studying literature and philosophy. I continually came across references to German culture. I’m a leftist, and so much of the story and of the ideas of the Left come from Germany and Austria. starting with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Wilhelm-Friedrich-Hegel" target="_blank">Hegel</a>’s dialectic. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFoeRrhwQtQ_gC5eNKOtojxc2Ymjxs9rVYO7tFVAuYHpz5o5e98xbGFsASdQJpiEUWwMIzGBerms05pAnsFmhXHidtIwBrYVBFx-1DKSUE8ovmuc9UTHB0H0DW76y0Og0dZ1bTWXA4gOEyWnf9Y-zUNuyU85FoYhFjxHJA13k24jHS-HwJXABh95WV=s1041" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFoeRrhwQtQ_gC5eNKOtojxc2Ymjxs9rVYO7tFVAuYHpz5o5e98xbGFsASdQJpiEUWwMIzGBerms05pAnsFmhXHidtIwBrYVBFx-1DKSUE8ovmuc9UTHB0H0DW76y0Og0dZ1bTWXA4gOEyWnf9Y-zUNuyU85FoYhFjxHJA13k24jHS-HwJXABh95WV=s320" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">German philosopher Georg W.F. Hegel</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">
</span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Not to mention <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-Marx" target="_blank">Marx</a>’s famous statement, “Nicht das Bewußtsein bestimmt das Leben, sondern das Leben bestimmt das Bewußtsein.”—“Consciousness doesn’t determine life; it’s life that determines consciousness.” How true, but how many exceptions there are, too!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Then there was the German philosopher <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Heidegger-German-philosopher" target="_blank">Martin Heidegger</a>’s tantalizing use of the word <i>Dasein</i>, which literally means “existence,” but is made up of the words <i>da</i>, there, and <i>sein</i>, being. In other words, existence is about <i>being there</i> or <i>being present </i>in a certain place and time. How could I understand that elaborate wordplay and its deep resonances without knowing German?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">So I began studying German in college. To my surprise, I already knew quite of a few of the words. I had to laugh one day in class when we learned the verb “to drag” in German, which is <i>schleppen</i>. Every Ashkenazi Jew knows what it means to schlep in Yiddish, to drag yourself from one place to another, as in, “I had to schlep all the way to Brighton Beach to get a decent knish.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Likewise, the German word <i>Kinder</i>, children, already meant a great deal to me, because my very Jewish mother would call me and my sister to dinner with the Yiddish word <i>Kinder</i>. It dawned on me that there was a deeper connection between Jews and Germans than my mother had let on. As a friend of mine once put it, “German is a dialect of Yiddish.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The abrasive tones of the German language still reminded me, though, of those World War II movies where the prisoner of war camp Commandant barked orders in the harshest tones: <i>“Mach schnell!”</i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">One year of college German did not get me to a point where I could really read and speak the language. I had to go to the belly of the beast to develop any fluency. The year my mother died, when I was 20 years old, I traveled to Germany to study in a <a href="https://www.goethe.de/en/index.html" target="_blank">Goethe-Institut</a> with its intensive German language program where students stay with German families.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I was assigned to a school in a little town in Bavaria called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafing" target="_blank">Grafing</a>, almost at the end of a Munich subway line that was newly finished just in time for the Olympics that were to take place that summer of 1972. Grafing turned out to be a strange bubble in time, a village out of a Richard Wagner opera. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzEPthKZHkF4MjjMYgepSfdqryocHASJXQlb_Lby31xdmyUGpaSKLQ3l2uqhThHiHZY5dm2UAS-cAXu4zTX1lVBAMO2cC9mAQioO5lGfoKlvy7vGx6IrO1MY8bLnsRJ_opMdOiEsKz5Rm5_8YHlE0XsdAEsyiXU4n5g8k7dTxJIoPDx4Bg4yIwwrZC=s640" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="640" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzEPthKZHkF4MjjMYgepSfdqryocHASJXQlb_Lby31xdmyUGpaSKLQ3l2uqhThHiHZY5dm2UAS-cAXu4zTX1lVBAMO2cC9mAQioO5lGfoKlvy7vGx6IrO1MY8bLnsRJ_opMdOiEsKz5Rm5_8YHlE0XsdAEsyiXU4n5g8k7dTxJIoPDx4Bg4yIwwrZC=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grafing, Bavaria, Germany</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The town had its own brewery that supplied great beer to the locals. Grafing also boasted an amazing bakery strategically located right across the street from the Goethe-Institut. During breaks we ate freshly baked warm </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: times;">Brezeln</i><span style="font-family: times;"> (pretzels), or </span><i style="font-family: times;">Prinzregententorte</i><span style="font-family: times;"> with its endless layers of chocolate buttercream and sponge cake.</span></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHLSez3qKoAb0KrDJYyxpSfX8IjKL4S9cfY7L7g1E63m2-e3xEV2-Nkj7g_LULpwCSc50WAqGjFek23-wGdZZux9GFAv3ci2YxeYWXE0L066Hq4vVLkrKq6cqrzVOmvR75A_cCFMVwfG0_5AowusOuSp0ZNBQrXAXyrQkZgkkhaWMkEBcz-z59uRTc=s673" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="556" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHLSez3qKoAb0KrDJYyxpSfX8IjKL4S9cfY7L7g1E63m2-e3xEV2-Nkj7g_LULpwCSc50WAqGjFek23-wGdZZux9GFAv3ci2YxeYWXE0L066Hq4vVLkrKq6cqrzVOmvR75A_cCFMVwfG0_5AowusOuSp0ZNBQrXAXyrQkZgkkhaWMkEBcz-z59uRTc=s320" width="264" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">All the students in our program were housed in German homes. Many of the young people from the U.S. reported that they had practically been adopted by their host families. I hardly ever saw mine. The couple I was living with had a newborn who took up all their free time. The American students I spoke to also reported that the families they were staying with made nostalgic comments about how much better things were under Hitler—rural Bavaria was a Nazi stronghold. It didn’t help that, to promote tourism, the Munich city government was encouraging </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: times;">Frauen</i><span style="font-family: times;"> to wear </span><i style="font-family: times;">Dirndls </i><span style="font-family: times;">and</span><i style="font-family: times;"> Männer </i><span style="font-family: times;">to wear </span><i style="font-family: times;">Lederhosen</i><span style="font-family: times;"> one day a week, turning the whole city into something out of a third-rate Third Reich propaganda film.</span></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDlqo_j8tQU90HssD6skJ-SUMEeXzhVaBQAnGydL4r9yGaU_stw_3BoC5ATgVcmUOOw0okIMNQ4urKJz6WvHRzkSatfwGrGM2J8x-SmZ5FzJE7y4djO4qUdJ2ZfBlj20K-pdsU9s6R2XztK05zOBvk2rDVeWvxxhrhEKW92S-RYNJWCfaLRJsxViZO=s267" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="267" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDlqo_j8tQU90HssD6skJ-SUMEeXzhVaBQAnGydL4r9yGaU_stw_3BoC5ATgVcmUOOw0okIMNQ4urKJz6WvHRzkSatfwGrGM2J8x-SmZ5FzJE7y4djO4qUdJ2ZfBlj20K-pdsU9s6R2XztK05zOBvk2rDVeWvxxhrhEKW92S-RYNJWCfaLRJsxViZO" width="267" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">One night a friend from the program and I escaped to the outskirts of our little village and smoked a pipe of hashish that he had scored in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englischer_Garten" target="_blank">Englischer Garten (the English Garden)</a>, headquarters for German hippies in Munich. We were stoned out of our minds when we remembered that one of our teachers at the Goethe-Institut was giving a recital that evening at the school of fairy-tales from the Brothers Grimm. We went back to the school and walked in when the teacher had just begun a story.</span></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Once we settled into our seats, we realized that the instructor was reciting from memory the story of Cinderella—<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFtQKL_nQHQ&t=724s" target="_blank">Aschenputtel</a> in German. Don’t judge the German language until you’ve heard one of Grimm’s fairy-tales in German. It’s so much more magical than the Disney version. The language is as musical as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Symphony-No-6-in-F-Major" target="_blank">Beethoven’s <i>Pastoral Symphony</i></a>—it sweeps you along. In the original version, when the Fairy Godmother creates a dress for Cinderella, Cinderella has to recite a magic spell to a tree, a detail that Disney sadly deleted. Cinderella says,</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“Bäumchen, rüttel dich und schüttel dich, wirf Gold und Silber über mich.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><span> </span>Little tree, shake yourself, wake yourself, toss gold and silver over me.</i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The sounds of that fairytale are so soft, the consonants pillowed by the sibilant “ch” and “s” sounds. The rhymes clink so clearly. And the story is familiar. Not foreign in the least.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Those same qualities that I heard that night in the basement assembly room of a little school in Bavaria I found again when I read in German the gorgeous poetry of <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke" target="_blank">Rainer Maria Rilke</a>:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>If only once it would be completely still.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>If that “Almost!” and “Why me?” will</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>just this time fall silent—and the laughter</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>next door—if my whirring senses didn’t keep after</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>me, hobbling me from watching as I ought—</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (translation by Zack Rogow)</span><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0KjR__hJSAYOGgLtd8dyKJPhT4AmRyloDpGSbuHXlR6qZjuQ2MEu-4l9hGtexj_qB_9UFnpnfJ1I5Wb7skB2cxqlAkDT76ixsPJcy9Ln6maReJAdL2xhBq9ZjqeSDVWi_GvI25Qo-TrjOEIBPDBZaUdBNlSlwO4ZIb7ArQGqdYQkwna2i1y-QENu=s1534" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="1534" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_0KjR__hJSAYOGgLtd8dyKJPhT4AmRyloDpGSbuHXlR6qZjuQ2MEu-4l9hGtexj_qB_9UFnpnfJ1I5Wb7skB2cxqlAkDT76ixsPJcy9Ln6maReJAdL2xhBq9ZjqeSDVWi_GvI25Qo-TrjOEIBPDBZaUdBNlSlwO4ZIb7ArQGqdYQkwna2i1y-QENu=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainer Maria Rilke</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I realized the German I had been fed as a child was only a caricature of that country’s culture, a caricature that admittedly the Germans themselves contributed to making. </span></span></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-62fc17f0-7fff-4020-f5ed-31e5d54ced8b" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I feel incredibly fortunate that I have lived long enough to see Germany go from one of the worst dictatorships in history and an engine of global intolerance to a lighthouse for democracy and for accepting refugees. I wish my mother could have lived long enough to see today’s Germany. I wish Germany’s Jewish citizens could have lived long enough to see it.</span></span></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-80705561207954387512022-01-17T14:39:00.017-08:002022-01-23T09:11:26.889-08:00Whatever Happened to Thomas Hart Benton?<p><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) was at one time widely considered the leading painter of the United States. Today, he is virtually unknown. I see many valuable lessons for artists and writers in the rise and fall of Benton’s reputation.</span></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpPmpEYGevldrob9_4HGXXI58SfAauM7NwTWsSsCMe6XiBkJXmcLs6No1IewYbnVFptnMohjIFf6r6ARd1OdE7YYiaOXLD4tu6DDQumSEqDJvqdCMfDYSioELlWKyHhUs2KCB_xCwBXVFEgg8kg08hEfGKrW-1IsQUK3Y4zRBAEFu-sdzyFanHprfg=s1024" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="755" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpPmpEYGevldrob9_4HGXXI58SfAauM7NwTWsSsCMe6XiBkJXmcLs6No1IewYbnVFptnMohjIFf6r6ARd1OdE7YYiaOXLD4tu6DDQumSEqDJvqdCMfDYSioELlWKyHhUs2KCB_xCwBXVFEgg8kg08hEfGKrW-1IsQUK3Y4zRBAEFu-sdzyFanHprfg=s320" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Hart Benton, <i>Self-Portrait</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the height of his renown, Thomas Hart Benton was the first artist ever featured in a <i>Time</i> magazine cover story, in 1934. Art critic Thomas Craven wrote as late as 1958: “Thomas Hart Benton, secure in his eminence, has weathered the storms and caprices of popular and aesthetic tastes, and stands virtually in a class by himself…”
Benton was in a position to become the Diego Rivera of the United States. Like Rivera, Benton went to Paris as a young artist during the Cubist era before World War I. In fact, Benton and Rivera knew each other in artistic circles in the French capital. Also like Rivera, Benton rebelled against the elite and rootless movements of modernism and returned to North America to paint murals that depicted the local history and politics of his country.
Today, however, Rivera is enshrined as an iconic artist, while Benton is largely unheard of, even for many artists and art enthusiasts. I recently visited the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco to see one of Benton’s best-known canvases, <i>Susanna and the Elders</i>, in their permanent collection. I was told that the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco had 24 works by Benton, and not one was on display.
The almost total eclipse of Thomas Hart Benton’s reputation is even more surprising because he anticipated many directions in contemporary art:
</span></span></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benton rebelled against the empty abstractions of modernism in favor of a more representational and political practice of art.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benton condemned the New York-centered bias of the art world and moved back to his native Missouri to seek inspiration in settings not often represented in traditional painting.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benton worked with radical scholars outside the art world (including revisionist U.S. historian Charles Beard) to gain insight and information that he used directly in shaping his art.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benton incorporated images of African Americans and Native Americans in his paintings in ways that broke stereotypes.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">To some degree, Benton’s innovative move back to Missouri and the Midwest, outside the coastal hubs of the art world, may be responsible for the current lack of awareness of his work. Some of Benton’s most monumental works he did for the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City; other are now housed in the Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, Indiana. One lesson here is that the reputation of an artist often has as much to do with geographic proximity to cultural centers as it does to the importance of the work.
Benton’s standing in the art world also slid downwards during the rise of abstract expressionism in the 1950s, even though, ironically, Benton was a close mentor to the young Jackson Pollack. (The influence of Benton’s murals is still palpable in the scale and dynamism of Pollack’s abstract canvases.)
Benton was also inconsistent in his portrayals of the truths of American history. He was far ahead of his time in showing how White settlers decimated Indian communities in works such as <i>Aggression </i>in his first major suite of murals, <i>American Historical Epic</i>, painted 1919–24. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga_Hrmv-rayrXaKT2aaKMRxWlr5k9yhPUHRNIDPY40-QCjNHDd1GGfRoU10-ZYnTdbp77uHEefYvMcNSReZogXVMM4a2JuR3DxmcMKugGU_6kEPVwjhK_1lB40EYeqbvo_u5Xw1DC1jBm_H7uo8wJU75RxS0WfeSQPwtIOtgcgrXFlo4-qh8M5QWZu=s663" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga_Hrmv-rayrXaKT2aaKMRxWlr5k9yhPUHRNIDPY40-QCjNHDd1GGfRoU10-ZYnTdbp77uHEefYvMcNSReZogXVMM4a2JuR3DxmcMKugGU_6kEPVwjhK_1lB40EYeqbvo_u5Xw1DC1jBm_H7uo8wJU75RxS0WfeSQPwtIOtgcgrXFlo4-qh8M5QWZu=s320" width="135" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Aggression, American Historical Epic</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Many of his portrayals of Native Americans have dignity and individuality, and are well researched. But Benton fell back on stereotypical images in a number of his murals, including the Indian offering the peace pipe to the gun-toting pioneer in <i>Independence and the Opening of the West</i>, painted for the Harry Truman presidential Library from 1959–62. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgObrv-W00hTxNE-GKRNLNeOlD98B4QR_MD2mmjGsVgZlB7tRf01-b3uS2AaQxlJliEUaul_6TRgLb3S3hALoIHs3n-U4gxp4bpyjUqMQH_EDqvKX4st2l0jb0rLwSCFRdiU6t-OQ4qpYqPPetu9Y6kxbXEXef1HsSUf1HOG5Yv9TA68bU2oVyhY6OH=s3648" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgObrv-W00hTxNE-GKRNLNeOlD98B4QR_MD2mmjGsVgZlB7tRf01-b3uS2AaQxlJliEUaul_6TRgLb3S3hALoIHs3n-U4gxp4bpyjUqMQH_EDqvKX4st2l0jb0rLwSCFRdiU6t-OQ4qpYqPPetu9Y6kxbXEXef1HsSUf1HOG5Yv9TA68bU2oVyhY6OH=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail from <i>Independence and the Opening of the West</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">Unlike the Native Americans in Diego Rivera’s murals, who are clearly the architects of an advanced civilization, the Indians in Benton’s murals are hunter-gatherers who don’t seem to have cultural artifacts beyond what they wear and carry. </span></span></span><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Similarly, Benton depicted African Americans with nobility and pathos in <i>Water Boy</i> (1946) and <i>Ten-Pound Hammer </i>(1965). </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_KCjKSfLMM1DHaPwjR0DfU5A1wGGQS4jMG7w5gZNrs3mhaLxVqLdDb_xhqeWbj_wcOLvZeDmcA3GE55eQ5ZlUHG4kgsrqWbs2MOQ5mGOu74jpsJNVtxv8-3KFgYKRr9WQOmWjoPQZg4Urv7FNMmzD1WX6lNS6xmi3zJCSN9PBNdQYYlHpdNlXtu3x=s278" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="181" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_KCjKSfLMM1DHaPwjR0DfU5A1wGGQS4jMG7w5gZNrs3mhaLxVqLdDb_xhqeWbj_wcOLvZeDmcA3GE55eQ5ZlUHG4kgsrqWbs2MOQ5mGOu74jpsJNVtxv8-3KFgYKRr9WQOmWjoPQZg4Urv7FNMmzD1WX6lNS6xmi3zJCSN9PBNdQYYlHpdNlXtu3x" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Water Boy</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But he also reverted to trite images of Blacks in his interpretation of the story of Frankie and Johnny in his murals for the Missouri State Capitol (1936), among others. </span></span></span><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">From my point of view, the lesson for artists and writers here is that if you go outside your own background for inspiration, make sure that you seek out honest and insightful feedback from members of the community you are representing. That is particularly true if, like Thomas Hart Benton, son of a U.S. congressman and grandson of a senator, you are fortunate enough to grow up with significant privilege.
I believe that Thomas Hart Benton’s reputation as an artist has also not benefited from a revival because he used an odd technique in his work. To create murals with many figures in them, Benton sculpted three-dimensional models out of clay, or out of plasteline and wax. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAFqqmln9QVWWf881Oo072dlEueD1cHR81KN8q_RImOOgFynq2UlbgSq0UcYbhqhA8Nw5XwVYOjNNfossGuPHhirV7j1G-BhpbL__tIPhgwxDr7_h0Nmx99Oy-mWWvQqLV9UiTCoyhx5dfLqEWj62dI6xCAYEBG-zF6eXlThlh_xUF9JkL1DUq2UvH=s880" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="880" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAFqqmln9QVWWf881Oo072dlEueD1cHR81KN8q_RImOOgFynq2UlbgSq0UcYbhqhA8Nw5XwVYOjNNfossGuPHhirV7j1G-BhpbL__tIPhgwxDr7_h0Nmx99Oy-mWWvQqLV9UiTCoyhx5dfLqEWj62dI6xCAYEBG-zF6eXlThlh_xUF9JkL1DUq2UvH=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay model Benton used to paint one of his murals</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Instead of painting directly from a live model, he often used those dioramas as visual notes for his compositions. Those lifeless models drained the vitality out of many of his paintings. Benton’s work also often has a cartoonish aspect, which might result from his retro fondness for egg tempera, rather than oils, which allow for a more painterly texture. The lesson here is, there is no substitute for living and breathing sources in our work as artists. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
Ultimately the paintings of Benton that I find the most enduring are not his panoramic murals with dozens of figures, or his portraits of quaint, rustic characters, both of which were trademarks of his American Scene art. The paintings of Benton’s that move me the most are landscapes where the human element almost seems incidental, such as <i>Lewis and Clark at Eagle Creek </i>(1965), where a tiny boat is barely visible in a vast Western river valley. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4vPQnzUFcfNqslMuMkJgLd_fmQSa4TstwuXaBGI5yaJhuZhZJ5z59olX34tNFXjPyYrdrOkFYP-CAojJ1AyRLt1Y8yR24Ju8aI_kdLflBstmLy1xthqbw8OpoQU7ynZ5wC14-nST2l4mHjaPxOckGs7xSVIwEVrsY5QBYUpN8T_yjL9GS1lRSwDFo=s506" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="506" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4vPQnzUFcfNqslMuMkJgLd_fmQSa4TstwuXaBGI5yaJhuZhZJ5z59olX34tNFXjPyYrdrOkFYP-CAojJ1AyRLt1Y8yR24Ju8aI_kdLflBstmLy1xthqbw8OpoQU7ynZ5wC14-nST2l4mHjaPxOckGs7xSVIwEVrsY5QBYUpN8T_yjL9GS1lRSwDFo=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lewis and Clark at Eagle Creek</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I also admire <i>The Boy</i> (1950), where a young man waves goodbye to his farmer parents, presumably off to make his way in the big city. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXwVxXCl2pSDYeSd4ktAGIFnXaDdY_Equw-ELN8oFxB4ZOfa0Z3I5bFu71C6zXLfy26REl6ClTRVrfOmJOPSMR-aIjEPofLhm9NZMkJ8nzjZdmcaozIBTimYlp7-UAh23UDHAN-I8dBbmYq_G4B3i8QTc-YSKy1zfZ8qAEEq3RytJKD6rHux8v8X7Q=s800" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="800" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXwVxXCl2pSDYeSd4ktAGIFnXaDdY_Equw-ELN8oFxB4ZOfa0Z3I5bFu71C6zXLfy26REl6ClTRVrfOmJOPSMR-aIjEPofLhm9NZMkJ8nzjZdmcaozIBTimYlp7-UAh23UDHAN-I8dBbmYq_G4B3i8QTc-YSKy1zfZ8qAEEq3RytJKD6rHux8v8X7Q=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Boy</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">Something about the contrast between human endeavor and the expanse of nature stirs me in those great paintings of Benton’s. He was not trying to do too much in those works, just to tell a story against a vividly imagined backdrop. </span></span></span><p></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1606677092886863065.post-44661561746380718452021-10-24T14:15:00.017-07:002021-10-24T14:57:21.344-07:00From Short Story Writer to Novelist: An Interview with Richard Chiappone<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many fiction writers want to make the transition from writing short stories to novels. One writer who has done this successfully is <a href="https://chiappone.us/" target="_blank">Richard Chiappone</a>, whose terrific first novel, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Crows-Novel-Richard-Chiappone/dp/1643857002" target="_blank">The Hunger of Crows</a></i>, was published in 2021. I interviewed Rich to find out how he made that leap in his career.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v8s19icvNok/YXXNKsOMenI/AAAAAAAABmk/GV5Rb4HuN8kuZ5ZyP4aH-WxEufiUCHHGACLcBGAsYHQ/s540/Author%2BPhoto%2B.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v8s19icvNok/YXXNKsOMenI/AAAAAAAABmk/GV5Rb4HuN8kuZ5ZyP4aH-WxEufiUCHHGACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Author%2BPhoto%2B.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Chiappone, author of <i>The Hunger of Crows</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Zack Rogow</b>: Before you published your novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Crows-Novel-Richard-Chiappone/dp/1643857002" target="_blank"><i>The Hunger of Crows</i> </a>from Crooked Lane Books, you’d written mostly short stories. When you got the idea for The Hunger of Crows, how did you know that this would be a novel and not a short story?</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard Chiappone</b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">: That makes me smile because I had no idea that a short story titled “Personal Use” in my second story collection, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Days-Flyfisherman-Richard-Chiappone/dp/1936008041" target="_blank">Opening Days</a></i>, would turn into this novel. I rushed to complete the story in time for that collection, and I always thought it ended abruptly. So, a couple years later, I picked it up again and said, “Why does it feel like something more is about to happen? What’s next?” What happened next was about ten years of trial and error and error and error, hundreds of jettisoned pages, and numerous gray hairs. Plus, a novel!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>When you started to write the novel, what adjustments did you make to create a plot that you could sustain over many chapters?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> After thirty years of writing character-driven stories, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about plot. I thought writing a novel might be a good way to learn. One problem I had was the tendency to make every chapter a stand-alone story. The first agent I sent a draft to said, “When I started reading this I feared it was actually a story collection.” (Note the word feared. Agents HATE story collections.) I had to learn that a chapter can’t be complete on its own; it has to move the novel forward. Who knew?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0Bj-mc2Ycs/YXXOyJOJBPI/AAAAAAAABms/a0tSN8r-vF4cZ1rDRycxl974BmYqxyszACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/The%2BHunger%2Bof%2BCrows_Hi%2BRes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0Bj-mc2Ycs/YXXOyJOJBPI/AAAAAAAABms/a0tSN8r-vF4cZ1rDRycxl974BmYqxyszACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/The%2BHunger%2Bof%2BCrows_Hi%2BRes.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">Q. </b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt;">Did the number of characters or subplots increase when you saw the work as a novel?</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">A.</b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Oh, yes. And it was very liberating. I allowed myself to shift points of view among the characters, something I’ve always avoided when writing short stories. And new plot ideas kept weaseling into the story. So I let them. What a luxury. It was like finding out you were allowed to swim—without wearing handcuffs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>What kinds of character development did you add in writing a novel that you would not have done in a short story?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> Actually that was one of my worst problems. I set out to write a simple action-driven crime novel. But free to sprawl, I went nuts. I got so interested in each character I wrote dozens of pages of back story that had to be thinned down. Even in the finished novel, most of the characters have a lot of history. I guess that’s why it’s been called a “literary” thriller. You have no idea how much more I tried to cram in. Thank God for editors.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>Does the setting play a different role in this novel than in your short stories?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A. </b>Setting plays a much larger and more active role. Here where I live in south Central Alaska, in June when the story is set, we have about twenty hours of daylight, and almost no real darkness. (There are midnight softball leagues.) That’s not just some colorful factoid in the novel. The main character, a young woman, Carla, has fled from Phoenix, Arizona, to a small town, 200 miles from Anchorage, where she is hiding from a quasi-military corporation out to kill her. She assumed that the remoteness of Alaska would hide her, but the constant daylight feels like a spotlight shining on her. Then there are the unpredictable and treacherous northern ocean currents, tides, and storms that nearly kill Carla before the bad guys even show up. Atmosphere can be an important character in a longer work of fiction.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>Are there advantages to novel writing that short stories don’t offer?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> Yes. In a short story there can be very little dramatic physical action. Look at “The Dead” by James Joyce, one of the greatest stories. It’s a dinner party; no punches are thrown, no guns drawn, there’s barely a voice raised in anger. After reading that story, your knees quake.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">In short stories, what characters feel and think is often more important than what they actually do. But ironically, there’s little room in that form for delving into their lives leading up to those powerful moments of epiphany. That’s something you can include in a novel. I had a good time writing beatings, shootings, boats sinking, sex! But still, I fell in love with my characters and I wanted to spend a lot of time with them. I hope my readers will too.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>Is there any one thing you were able to carry over from years of story writing and use in your novel? Something akin to your “style.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> I’d say it’s humor. Sometimes crime novels can take themselves pretty freaking seriously. That’s their author’s business, of course. But some that I admire also have moments of great levity. I’m thinking of <a href="https://www.waltermosley.com/" target="_blank">Walter Mosley</a>’s stories, and of course, the sometimes very funny <a href="http://www.elmoreleonard.com/" target="_blank">Elmore Leonard</a>.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">My wife is horrified and embarrassed that I laugh at my own jokes, but I’ll go out on that limb and say in my own defense, several readers have commented on the humor in <i>The Hunger of Crows</i>. One of the many revisions was taking out excess jokes. Painful!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>How did you go about finding an agent for your novel?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> In 2018, after working for five years, I thought the novel was complete. I sent it to Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management. I knew that Jeff had discovered Alaskan writer Eowyn Ivey’s hugely successful debut novel, The Snow Child, at the<a href="https://writersconf.kpc.alaska.edu/" target="_blank"> Kachemak Bay Writers Conference</a> here in <a href="https://www.homeralaska.org/" target="_blank">Homer</a> in 2008. He was an agent who had been to Homer, the setting of my novel. I was sure he was someone with an ear for Alaskan stories. He is.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>What process did you go through with the editor in creating a finished version of the manuscript?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A. </b>Jeff Kleinman liked it, but said it did not feel complete. He turned it over to his associate, Rachel Eckstrom, and for the next two years I completely rewrote the book three or four times before the wise and patient Rachel decided it was ready to pitch to publishers. When Crooked Lane Books bought it in the spring of 2020, I thought I was done revising, at last. Then their editor sent me eleven single spaced pages of “notes” (meaning things that needed to be worked on, changed, or eliminated). Eleven pages! I thought they were rejecting the book. Then I remembered they’d already paid me for it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The editor’s notes were brilliant, and I rewrote the whole manuscript twice more, making massive structural changes. And then it was finally done, after ten years, uncountable rewrites, and hundreds of excised pages zapped into cyber oblivion with the delete key. Nothing to it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>How is the novel being publicized or marketed differently from a short story collection?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A. </b>Hah! Using the words marketing and short story collection in the same sentence is hilarious. (See above: agents hate story collections.) Why? Because publishers hate story collections! And for good reason: they do not sell. Seriously, how many story collections are on the NY Times bestselling fiction list right now? I'll look. Okay, I looked. The answer: NONE. Only novels.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">So, after three decades of publishing short stories, Crooked Lane’s wonderful marketing of my novel has been deliriously encouraging and very much appreciated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>Any advice for short story writers who want to try their hand at a novel?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> Yes. Read lots of novels. Many short story writers mostly read short stories. I know, I’ve been a short story junkie for thirty years (and I don’t want to recover. Ever). I have a whole wall of nothing but story collections or anthologies. You can always sneak-read a couple stories secretly. (Hint: Put a story collection on the bottom of a stack of novels on your nightstand. No one will notice.)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Not reading novels made it hard to learn to write a novel. I did not have the rhythm of a long work of fiction etched into my brain the way the shape of stories was. Maybe that’s why some of the greatest short story writers never wrote wildly successful novels: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Munro" target="_blank">Alice Munro</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raymond-Carver" target="_blank">Raymond Carver</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anton-Chekhov" target="_blank">Anton Chekhov</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Flannery-OConnor" target="_blank">Flannery O’Connor</a>, to name a few.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Q. </b>Were there any “How to” books about novel writing you found useful?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>A.</b> I love reading craft books on writing. But because until recently I never intended to write a novel, I’ve never read any that are specifically about novel writing. It should go without saying that it helps to have some general writing skills if you’re going to write 300 pages of anything. There are several fine books that I’ve found helpful for myself and for the numerous students I’ve worked with over the years. Here are some favorites (alphabetically):</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>The Half-Known World</i>, by Robert Boswell </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Writing Fiction</i>, by Janet Burroway, et al.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>The Art of Fiction</i>, by John Gardner</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>On Writing</i>, by George V. Higgins</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>The Fiction Writer’s Workshop</i>, by Josip Novakovich</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>How Fiction Works</i>, by James Wood</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">One last word to new novelists.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">READ LOTS OF NOVELS!</span></span></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-3e234bdd-7fff-add9-4287-6554840510ca"></span></span></i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">Did I already say that? </span></span></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></i></div><p></p><p><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Zack’s most recent book of poems,</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><a href="https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/product/irreverent-litanies/" style="font-style: normal;" target="_blank">Irreverent Litanies</a><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zack’s most recent book of translations, </i><a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69251" style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Bérenice 1934–44: An Actress in Occupied Paris</a><span style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Other posts of interest:</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-publish-your-work-part-1-is.html" target="_blank">How to Get Published</a></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-get-most-from-workshop-comments.html" target="_blank">Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-not-to-become-literary-dropout-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How Not to Become a Literary Dropout</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-together-book-manuscript-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Putting Together a Book Manuscript</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/01/working-with-writing-mentor-trusting.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Working with a Writing Mentor</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-deliver-your-message-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Deliver Your Message</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/04/does-muse-have-cell-phone-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-i-write-poetry-part-1-intimate.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Why Write Poetry?</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Poetic Forms: <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-1.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-2-sonnet.html" target="_blank">the Sonnet</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/08/using-poetic-forms-part-3-sestina.html" target="_blank">the Sestina</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/using-poetic-forms-part-4-ghazal.html" target="_blank">the Ghazal</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2012/09/font-definitions-font-face-font.html" target="_blank">the Tanka</a>, <a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetic-forms-villanelle.html" target="_blank">the Villanelle</a></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2015/08/praise-and-lament-part-1-types-of.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Praise and Lament</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-be-american-writer-part.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">How to Be an American Writer</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2016/11/writers-and-collaboration-part-1working.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Writers and Collaboration</span></a></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://zackrogow.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-i-was-starting-out-as-young-poet-i.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times;">Types of Closure in Poetry</span></a></p>Zack Rogowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456441036173605376noreply@blogger.com0