Chris,
A final thought before I go off to play tonight with what is billed as
an "All Girl Band" --I guess I'm going to be the bearded lady! In a a
poem like Caroline Bergvall's the form IS the content. That is, it's
surface structure demands so much attention from the reader or listener
that, for many, there will never be any other relationship to the poem;
at the very least any reaction to the poem will be strongly mediated
by a struggle to get at the words and to make the words represent
thoughts (we are pattern-making animals, we see patterns even when
there are none) In a curious way, this makes the poem closer to music
in its affect, since these efforts at denotation are deflected if not
defeated by the poem, and we must rely on sheer sound (but how to make
that sound!). No doubt this a legitimate path for a poet, and perhaps
that's why you posted it along with comments about music.
I still want to say things in my poetry, and I don't want the poetry to
get in the way. I think Wordsworth was right (leaving aside questions
of gender) to aspire to the condition of "a man talking to men." I
seldom know what it is I want to say before the poem is about 3/4s
finished, if then, but I want it to be intelligible speech, not pushed
around by verse, but made more memorable and perhaps more beautiful.
Best,
Michael
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