Yes it's interesting what co-existence can do. It just seems to be the case
that if poets are brought into proximity (whether or not literally) they can
stimulate each other. They also serve to bolster each others repuations, as
in many industries. Take Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Whatever you think
about their relationship or the relative merits of their work, they are
likley to last longer than either on their own. People who take interst in
one of them can't help learning about the life and work of the other.
Thank you for expressing your opinions regarding other joint efforts. I'm
more familar with Tom Pow than the authors you mention. One poem of his I
like in particular, "The Flower" from "The Moth Trap", with it's handling of
text and sub-text. It's an example of what the metaphor can do, if it's
pushed.
Colin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gill McEvoy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: discussion topic: series of poems/Gill
> Hi Colin, it's good to know you read 'Sparks' too. I really enjoy these
> dialogue works. Did you know John Burnside ( whose work I really admire)
> and Andy Brown have a forthcoming volume, I imagine in similar vein,
> called 'Goose Music', to be published by Salt? It's interesting to see
> what friendship among poets triggers: I think of Edward Thomas and Robert
> Frost, Wordsworth and Coleridge...
> sincerely,
> Gill
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Colin Dewar" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 4:42 PM
> Subject: Re: discussion topic: series of poems/Gill
>
>
>> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>>> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.11/264 - Release Date:
>>>> 17/02/2006
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.0.0/268 - Release Date: 23/02/2006
>>
>>
>
|