Yes, I've read the Hendry/Pow combo you refer to and enjoyed many parts. It 
occurred to me as I was reading it that many sequentially written poems 
unintentionally make a series. If a poet has certain themes that s/he 
returns to then there is a certain amount of complimentarity built in as you 
move from page to page. The reader gets the benefit of their obsession. 
That's the kind of poetry I like to read, where there's an identifiable 
current running through it. It's among the reasons why I find anthologies 
heavy going.


Colin



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gill McEvoy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: discussion topic: series of poems


> Hello everyone, this discussion makes me think of Mimi Khalvati's "Entries 
> on light" which is a book full of linked untitled poems that together make 
> a long meditation on aspects of light. I found it wonderful.
> But I do have to admit that when I pick up a poetry magazine I read the 
> short ones first! (Coming back to the longer ones later).
> May I add to this discussion by asking if anyone has read "Sparks" (Diana 
> Hendry and Tom Pow), a record of a twelve month series of poem challenges 
> that they set each other plus the resultant poems. I find dialogues 
> between poets very interesting. (Ted Kooser did a similar thing in the 
> form of a correspondence with another American poet). I love challenges 
> but don't always manage to rise to them as well as I'd like (find this 
> Forum quite challenging, and apologies if I don't succeed in responding to 
> all of the new subs...)
> And also why is it hard for a jointly penned poem to get published? I ran 
> a workshop based on Elma Mitchell's poem "Lifecycle of the Moth" in which 
> the poet uses only the common names of the moths to tell a story. We used 
> the names of flowers and birds to make a story-poem and 2 people (we 
> worked in pairs as I only had a few flower books/ bird books) produced a 
> stunning poem called "Clinton's Lily" which they can't seem to get 
> published under 2 names. Any advice?
> best wishes to everyone,
> Gill
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "sally evans" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 9:32 PM
> Subject: Re: discussion topic: series of poems
>
>
>> on 20/2/06 4:26 pm, Bob Cooper at [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>
>>> Matt writes:
>>> "to open up another discussion point, what has been everybody's 
>>> experiences
>>> of writing poem sequences like this?"
>>> and he goes on: "As well as the discipline that James mentions, it must
>>> offer an opportunity to allow poems to work off each other, but I 
>>> suppose it
>>> carries its own risks, such as repetition. I ask because I've been 
>>> working
>>> on a series of linked poems and prose pieces about a very obscure 
>>> historical
>>> character, and have found it both more difficult than writing 
>>> 'occasional'
>>> poems, but also more rewarding in many ways. I'd be interested to hear
>>> people's thoughts."
>>>
>>> Hi Matt (and all else who're reading this),
>>>
>>> I, too, find myself wanting to write poems that are in a series. I find,
>>> however, I'm not too disciplined in how I approach it. I don't, for
>>> instance, map out the issues/themes/topics I feel important to cover in 
>>> the
>>> series, I just write one and then another - then put them in a possible
>>> order and start wondering about how to fill in the gaps!
>>> I guess, because we're conditioned to read and write short poems - and 
>>> the
>>> long poem has fallen from favour - narrative poetry, as a genre, needs
>>> sequences or series of poems.
>>> I wonder, sometimes, about the attention span of readers of poetry. 
>>> Perhaps
>>> that's why I feel happier reading a series of short, self-contained, 
>>> poems
>>> that have subtle links, and underlying impressions that rise to the 
>>> surface
>>> when I discover them, but I'm daunted when faced with a poem that goes 
>>> on
>>> for pages and pages. However...
>>> It could be that short poems are like nibbling chocolate, or eating 
>>> oranges
>>> (for rhyming poems) or plums(from the icebox in the fridge), whereas a
>>> series of poems is like a 5 course meal with lots of things in each 
>>> course,
>>> and a fine wine or two (and even with sherry before and port - or a 
>>> really
>>> good Malt! - afterwards!).
>>> Bob
>>
>>
>>
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>