Poetry Slam

Recently I also attended a poetry slam at a local university, and I found it to be pretty entertaining. It was sponsored by one of the local undergraduate creative magazines at the university and consisted of four competitors, all of which were undergrads themselves. If I recall correctly it was a freshman, a junior, and two seniors, but I could be wrong on that. The slam was designed so that each of the four poets could read up to three poems of their choice, being of their own work, across the span of three rounds. The first round was what appeared to be the most nervous for the four of them, because after that round they seemed to be able to breathe and read with a better and more fluxiating tone.

The first person to read was a comedic yet Shakespearian poet. I didn’t catch his name but he wore very large glasses that lent him a scholarly aura. His poems went back and forth from well written but silly poems about farts and love, to ideas of what the state of art is and how some people in his eyes regard poetry in a “wrong” way. I felt that his work was the best of the competition.

The second poet was another guy who I couldn’t recall the name of and his work was very structured, Shakespearian would be again a very good description. A lot of his work was very mature in nature sounding similar to an older poet, older being fifty to sixty years ago or more. He discussed battle and duty in one of his poems that I found to be the best of his.

The third poet was a girl, actually the only girl, which I was disappointed to see, but she wrote a lot of more standard poems. Her themes were about love and heartbreak, as well as not fitting into society as everyone else does. The most amazing thing about her work was that she actually sang parts of two of her poems and as this would be cheesy for other poets, the poems were pleasantly accented by this. Her last poem was perplexing though, I’m not sure if she meant to stop and stand in silence or if she was lost in the poem or afraid but her last poem was choppy and didn’t come out well, though I enjoyed her performance.

I got a call and had to miss the last poet but I heard from a girl who works with me at the library that the fourth poet won, I don’t know what his work was like, but I thought that the first and second poets both were runners for first and second place. I wish I could have stayed for the whole thing but I had an important call about my great aunt who has been in the hospital for a week in Michigan. Good to get out and hear some amateur work though.

I was searching around online when I found a very interesting blog about graphic novels. I have had a small fascination with graphic novels for some time but never have I really dove into a complete series, just reading here and there. This goes along with comic books as well, I’ve only skimmed the surface but I found it to be something really worth looking into. I think that it used to be that comics were for kids or “geeks” but more and more I think that graphic novels and comics are becoming more recognized for their originality and artistic worth, not just for kids anymore. So I was really interested when I found Graphic Novel Review. The site is updated fairly frequently and has a lot of very in-depth and easy to read reviews and impressions about graphic novels and comics alike. The sites motto is “a look at book-length comics for the casual reader.” Exactly what I was looking for.

I was very much impressed not only with the ability and great journalistic review, but with the wide breath of types and styles of comics that the administrator (ominously only noted as Joey) reads and reviews. The blog covers everything from new animae that has just been translated all the way to classics such as Popeye. And Joey’s description in itself is very artistic in nature, he/she is able to identify the most important aspects of the comics but doesn’t give away the ending or any of the meat of the comic, all the while discussing the moments that cause he/she to pause and enjoy the simple beauty and haunting stillness that a comic or graphic novel can convey. The nice thing about graphic novels is that its part text and part art, and enough of both that you can convey more feeling and meaning with them together than you can if they are kept separate. It’s almost like TV, but keeps its heart, its almost like a film, but doesn’t need a big budget or any of the other things that people complain about films not having but books do.

I was very impressed with the site and I’m hoping to keep track of it as much as I can and see what wonderful things Joey is able to dig up or bring to his/her readers attention.

simple notations, or my prognosis

I borrowed Anselm Berrigan’s Some Notes on My Programming from a friend. He’s a New York poet and Art Director of the The Poetry Project, someone I consider a fine pilot of language who emerged with a long family history of poetry and art. This book, the title of which screams of a fierce dig-n-find job into his language-mind, holds about 30 diverse pieces that tend to center around an introspective speaker or collective voice. I instinctively search for the appropriate file in which to throw his writing, but it won’t fit. It’s like trying to fit the offspring of a giraffe and a sparrow through an automated slaughter-house built for oinkers. There are clutching moments that turn sharply in voice and focus that drove me to view this introspective journey in relation to society and the world at large, like his piece ‘I know, it’s an instant movie.’

why do you sing to me like I’m you my gone and dead singer
o train I could run through a shocked public face

Or his ‘Anti-preening poem’:

trying to get past in private
in public one is fucked fluidly

This is a theme driven home frequently, danced upon and around and spliced between more distant and general images and satirical political messages like ‘The autobiography of Donald Rumsfeld.’ Movement on the page is used as irregularly, which makes the book as a whole feel like a well-measured and balanced array of thoughts taken from a snapshot of Berrigan’s mind. I have yet to encounter such a wide spectrum of voices, images and style crammed into one book like this. The overarching aura I come away with is a struggle between the freedom of identity and its inevitable return to residual, past, and external influences like the media and politics. The title poem struck the tip of this notion:

spread your hands to build a bubble around the latest
phony peace plan you’re looking sewn on again

This collection of poetry could be the unified interpretation of Berrigan vs. Berrigan’s mind vs. schizophrenic external universe, or it could just be

the need to produce
one word
after another

The Cambridge School and Kestonian Cool

Was in a local university town for a long weekend, visiting a friend, and heard about a lecture/reading two-day series being put on by the English Dept. I saw flyers around the campus (it’s quite a pretty campus… but what’s with the bed sheets everywhere? Kids these days.) and decided to attend. The poets featured were part of the “Cambridge School,” including Keston Sutherland (spitting image of a grown-up Harry Potter), Andrea Brady (American, actually), and Peter Manson (Scot.) The lectures were given by Andrea, Keston, and Sam Ladkin (critic… not sure if he’s a poet as well. Probably.)

The reading was great, although sometimes I feel a little lost by the avant-garde poets. I feel that I don’t know how to begin to describe/explicate post-modernist (post-L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, post-avant-garde?) poetry; it’s not really something you can explicate by describing meter, rhyme, or form but instead maybe syntax, word choice, etc., and everyone sort of intuitively understands, nodding along like pigeons. No one ever asking the question on the back of (surely) all our tongues, “But what does it mean?” (don’t pretend you don’t want to ask it too. You do.) Sort of how it was acceptable to have a lunchbox in high school but now, post-college, no one ever sees you eat. But I digress.

But I suppose it is related to my reaction to the poetry (esp. that of Keston and Andrea’s.) A few lines stuck out, and I had picked up a current copy of The Chicago Review (in which they are both featured) and looked over two of the poems that they read. Andrea’s “Saw Fit” and Keston’s “Hot White Andy.” I must say that hearing them read aloud made the poems come alive much more for me, though they were still a bit oblique. Andrea’s was clearly related to the Lynndie England scandal, and hearing her read the line break and caesuras made the text open up for me. (How sexy.) Keston’s “Hot White Andy” was a dynamic text which included a play and a story, with such memorable lines as, “I disappear, but the nights/stick” and “I accumulate you” repeated like a refrain.

Both texts felt chock-full of extremely of-the-minute inter-textual/pop culture references that I’m not entirely sure I caught (esp. Keston’s piece), though I did still enjoy what I caught. I have been thinking about this lately, though: can poetry ever be read in a vacuum? Esp. concerning avant-garde poetry, but not excluding heavily inter-textual texts, work in translation (referencing cultural norms with which we are not familiar), etc., can a text stand alone, as a text—sans context?

I was able to enjoy the reading, though I felt like I was missing key chunks of the point. But is there a point in avant-garde, post- L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry? And have I completely missed it?

link for The Chicago Review: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/

Lee Martin

Well, last week I read this great novel by Lee Martin. The Bright Forever was intriquing and the way that Martin set up his characters and the story line was something to really respect as an aspiring writer. Well anyway I had heard that he was coming to do a reading at the local university for this particular book. I was so excited!
The reading was great, he has a very down to earth type attitude. He read several pages, and chapters from the Bright Forever and then answered some questions posed by the audience. Again, this book is one of those that once you get into it you don't want to put it down. I enjoy going to public readings of those authors that you have read and enjoyed, I feel that it puts the author in more of a light that you can relate to and get a better feeling of them on a personal level. Speaking of that, I don't know if anyone else feels the same way or not but hearing more about the author of the most recent book that they have just read makes the novel a little better? I had some information on his past and just hearing his voice and more about his actual life made the book more interesting in general. Of course people asked him about his writing process and why he did this or that in the novel, when you hear the answers to those questions you feel more on the same type of level as this esteemed writer. Overall I would suggest this book to those reading and to even check out other books that Lee Martin has written or see him if he comes to a town near you.

Bookdwarf: lots of literary info

I was searching around litblogs the other day and came across Bookdwarf (www.bookdwarf.com). I found it very interesting. Most of the time I don’t understand literary blogs, but this one didn’t make me feel that way. While I still didn’t know most of the issues he was talking about, he provides links that are extremely helpful. That way, I have easy access to learning more about the topic at hand. Another thing I liked about his blog was that it contained a lot of different stuff. Not only does he review books, but he also keeps everyone who looks at the blog up to date on what’s new in the literary world. For example, in one post he comments on something he read on the blog ‘The Millions’ (www.themillionsblog.com), which attempts to define what a literary blog is and should be.

The book reviews were also pretty broad. Rather than focusing on a particular genre, numerous different ones are brought out. Some experimental fiction, which Bookdwarf then tries to define, new releases, and stuff I’ve never heard of, like Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon. It follows a couple who decide to only eat locally grown food within a hundred miles of where they live for a year. It follows their struggles, not only with the food, but their relationship too. I’m intrigued to read it, as I’ve never quite heard of this genre before.

Anyway, I found the site to be really informative. I didn’t have to look at any advertisements either, which I always like. However, there was quite a list of other blogs to check out, which I’ll have to do here shortly. This is also one of those blogs where posting comments is allowed, and some of the debates can get some good attention. One post stood out in particular because of this, as it had six comments, more than most of the other posts. It revolved around Shelfari, which happens to be a library cataloging/network site (I didn’t even know something like this existed!). Anyway, there was controversy over its association with Amazon.com as opposed to promoting more independent bookstores. This got me thinking about my take on the subject. While I find Amazon useful, though not so much now, since I can borrow most books I want from the library, I do like the idea of helping out the smaller companies. Besides, I think it spoils the purpose of the site to associate it with a bookseller, rather than just having it focus on letting others know of some good books. Anyone else want to weigh in on the subject?

A Novel of Haunting Imagery

Really slow day in the library today. The only people that came in were middle aged soccer moms with their 2.5 children looking for the latest Harry Potter book. I decided to go hide in the corner and check a book off of my to-read list. The book was Chuck Palahniuk's latest blood and gore loaded novel Haunted. It is a collection of 23 short stories and poems all wrapped up in one overlapping story. The main story is about a group of men and women who respond to an ad for a three month writing retreat. It turns out that they actually are not allowed to leave and are held against their will. The purpose of the retreat was to provide them with an environment that would allow them to write their masterpiece. They begin to turn on each other as they struggle for control and their freedom. This story is sort of lost in the shadow of the other 23 stories, which are each written by a different character in the main story.

When I first started reading the first story, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it through the entire novel without vomiting. Palahniuk chooses to lead off the novel with his story titled "Guts". It is filled with the most vividly disgusting and enthralling imagery that I have ever read. I must have shut the book and put it down at least ten different times. I couldn't leave it though. No matter how horrific the story was, I just had to find out how it all would end. To show you a little hint of the gore, here is a little quote:
"That's all this soup of blood and corn, shit and sperm and peanuts, floating around me. Even with my guts unraveling out my ass, me holding on to what's left, even then my first want is to somehow get my swimsuit back on."

"Guts" is by far the most horrifically wonderful story that I have ever read. I really don't want to give too much away for everyone so I'll stop talking about it. Just take my word for it, this is definitely a must read. All of the stories in this novel are amazing. Just make sure that you are ready for some gag inducing imagery that will stick with you for weeks, months, and probably even years.

Learning From the Not So Great Novels

This really cute guy came into the library a couple of weeks ago to look for a particular book, Nietzsche’s Kisses. Of course this lousy library didn’t have it, but it gave me a chance to talk to Frank a little more. He seems great, but I’m sure he will never ask me out. Anyway, back to the book. I ordered the book and Frank came in to check it out as soon as I called him. He returned it on Friday, and since I have no life that is what this past weekend consisted of…READINGL Oh well.
After all of this I was quite disappointed with the novel. It is set back in the year 1900, around the month of August. One of the eye catching things was that of the names of the chapters throughout the book. The narrative goes on in a sequence of hours, body parts and flashbacks. The hours run from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. and beyond. The body parts range all the way from the “tail”, to the “teeth”, “tongue”, “stomach”, “bowels”, and the “nervous system”. The flashbacks are part of every third cycle, to remember important moments in Nietzsche’s life, although calling them strictly biographical is to have misunderstand them in a way. I wanted to make sure I was understanding the book, so I looked up some information on the author Lance Olsen. To continue to talk about the chapter titles I was interested in the names of them and how they may have came about. Here is an interview from Olsen talking about specifically the cycles of the chapters and the varying point-of-view:
“the first-person, representing real-time; the second-, representing dream-time; and the third-, representing a failed attempt on Nietzsche’s part to pin down memory and therefore history. The consequence, I hope, is for the reader to feel increasingly unmoored in time and space, in fact and fiction, in “selfhood” and “personality”.”
After reading his greater interpretations on this topic of the names of the title, in this case the flashback scenes. Even though the book didn’t hit me in a place, the author’s writing ideas can help in some way or another. Olsen is has a great hand at writing prose, this book shows that in many instances. I don’ t know if other people feel that way or not, but after reading someone else’s work can inspire you to try that technique in your own personal writing. Or maybe that is just me? Opening myself and my writing up to new ideas and others perspectives is something may broaden my skills or help me to create a new piece of writing.

Poets and Writers

I recently stumbled upon a magazine unlike many of the literary magazines I find myself browsing through in my down time at the library. Still, despite its differences, I found this magazine, Poets and Writers, to be an extremely useful reference as an aspiring writer. Poets and Writers did not include the published fiction and poetry that make up most of other literary magazines’ content. Instead, it was designed much like what I like to call “grocery store magazines,” that is the magazines at the check out line with articles, celebrity interviews and special insert sections.

Its cover layout stands out from literary magazines and is more along the lines of these “grocery store magazines,” which was what first attracted me to the magazine. On the cover of the March issue is Lawrence Ferlinghetti, proclaimed by Poets and Writers as poetry’s godfather in the cover headline. In addition to this headline are others, all aligned on the left hand side of the cover; one even advertises a special section within. Right off, I got the impression that this magazine wouldn’t contain too much fiction and poetry selected from aspiring writers, but I had no idea of the wealth of information until I really got into reading it.

What I found to be the most helpful part of Poets and Writers was actually near the back, after all the main articles and interviews. The magazine lists contest information for grants and awards, including deadlines and recent winners. Supplementing the work I have sent off to literary magazines with contest entries seems like a good idea to help me move forward in the writing community. Would you agree? Do you send your work off to contests? Have you had any luck with them? I have heard that publishers essentially use contests to generate enough money through entry fees to print the winning manuscript, but are not especially helpful beyond the basic printing of a book. Still, I suppose I remain rather optimistic that this means will prove itself to be helpful to me. Am I merely being a naïve writer?

Poets and Writers seemed to be sponsored primarily by MFA programs, as there were many advertisements for programs at universities throughout the country. Additionally, the magazine provided a list of (in addition to a few larger advertisements for) conferences held throughout the country and even in Europe; this issue focused on those held in the summer. This information felt inarguably helpful to me.

For the most part, I felt that the parts of this magazine that invited writers to join a community, whether it be at a writing conference, through a MFA program, or even by submitting work to a contest, were the most helpful. The magazine also included interviews and columns, which seemed to give readers more of a glimpse into a community rather than inviting them to join it. Where do you go to find information on various writing communities?