Absolutely true. And sometimes a poem about anything - like rowing, for instance - is actually about writing poetry.


Best wishes,   Mike



--- Alkuperäinen viesti ---
Sometimes a poem about writing poetry, isn't a poem about writing
poetry. Just a thought.

Deborah



Hi Grasshopper,
Sorry it's taken a couple of days before I could get back to this machine, 
and close the door and focus...
Because you write:
“Of course we will sometimes write poem about writing poems because that’s 
what concerns us – and there are some good poems about writing poems – but I 
think the impulse should be avoided as much as possible.”
And I think everything you write in that sentence is right!
I think the list I included (which is a good starter – and I would include 
more) contains a few things I, as a person who writes poems, feel are 
important to say. And it’s amazing that so few poets have published more 
than one or two - even though they’ve had books and books of poems about 
other things published. Some of the poems are mischievous, too – possibly 
complaining about the poetasters of their day! Some are offering insights 
that are hauntingly profound – and could be enough to vaporise any effort I 
may make to get to grips with poem making in a poem!
I know I would never encourage a person to write a poem about writing a 
poem. Why? Cos there’s far better subjects for poems – and I feel you’ve got 
to have been doing it well for years before enthusiasm’s sublimated behind 
insight. (I don’t mind people talking about poetry, or writing about poetry, 
but not making poems about it!). I think I’d not bother visiting a site 
again if I found more than one poem about the skills of writing poems! I 
guess in the face-to-face world it could be easier to point out to a person 
how irrelevant/awkward/irritated/bored/cringeworthy/uninterested other 
people, particularly other writers, feel. Even those who read and write them 
must feel they’re living in one of those sea-side amusement hall of mirrors.
It might be that the impulse behind the poems you (and probably I) don’t 
like is that they’re written by people who’re more into being a poet than 
into making poems. Like Laurence Olivier was focusing on the acting – “I 
act. It’s my job” – and Melvin (I’ll let you) Brag couldn’t see what it’s 
actually all about. If I came across someone who’d been writing poetry, 
seriously or assiduously, for 30 or more years who said, “I don’t think I 
could write one about writing yet…” I think I’d know what was being said.
All the best,
Bob

And a P.S.,
Colin,
Yeh, interesting thought... but why Apricots???? LOL! I've been eating plums 
of late - juicy!





>From: grasshopper <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Discussion topic? Poems about writing poems.-Bob
>Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 16:44:34 +0100
>
>Dear Bob,
>        If writing poems about writing poems was like painting
>self-portraits, I'd have no reason to complain. But it isn't. It's more 
>like
>Rembrandt faffing on about the difficulties of mixing pigments and choosing
>the right brush, and the mental strain of it all - rather than getting down
>to paint a self-portrait.
>In a way, every poem is about poetry - but the process shouldn't overwhelm
>the product. Of course, we will sometimes write a poem about writing poems,
>because that's what concerns us,-and there are some good poems about 
>writing
>poems - but I think that in general,the impulse should be avoided as much 
>as
>possible.
>If we want to express the difficulty of writing about a certain subject,
>say, there are ways to do this subtly, while writing ABOUT the subject.
>I remember years ago seeing Laurence Olivier being interviewed. Melvin 
>Bragg
>begin to ask him reverently about how he approached a certain role. Oh,
>goodness me, the Great Man replied, I can't be bothered with all that. I'm
>an actor. I act. It's my job. You don't ask a baker how he makes bread'.
>I thought this was a refreshing change from the usual pretentious
>attitude -and it's what I think about poems. Writing them is an author's
>job,- so just do it, don't witter on about the technicalities, unless you
>want to poke fun at your pretensions.
>Kind regards,
>    grasshopper
>


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Deborah Elizabeth Russell, Artist/Poet

Post Poems | Inside | Cityslide
Shadow Poetry | Parallels Words For The Wind

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