Weekend Guide: 12.18.2020
What I talk about when I talk about poetry
This year I thought a lot about Poetry. In regard to the genre, I have a ton of catching up to do. I left it alone, never giving it the time of day. For one reason or another it gave off a nerdy aura - a type of reading meant for the more sophisticated/academic. A real thinking-mans-game type reading. Something to decode or opine. Vague/airy/light. It’s just not where I was at! Historically, I preferred to bully my way through something thick like The Stand or Ulysses, but this year hit different.
It has taken me a long time to realize that there is nothing to get with poetry. Much like a song, a poem is more of a feeling - some would say, a vibe. I have made a lot of songs in my day, so I figured I could also write some poetry. The obstacle is the way. So, this year I wrote poems. I also made a point to read more poetry and to find poets who I could truly fuck with. Here are three that I spent a lot of time with this year:
Romance or the End by Elaine Kahn
A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
What About This: The Collected Poems of Frank Stanford by Frank Stanford
I do not claim to know anything about poetry. But, I don’t think you need to know anything about it to participate in the medium. Ignorance is bliss and done is better than perfect. In 2021 I will be self-publishing Sometime During Eternity, a collection of poems and other writing. Here is a poem that will be included in the aforementioned collection:
If you have any favorite poems/poets/collections please let me know by sending me an email of leaving your suggestion in the comments.
Have a great weekend. Peace and love to you all.
Fantastic news about Sometime During Eternity!!1 I realize that the flip of the calendar isn't going to change much, but having things to look forward to in a new year has become one of life's simple pleasures, right? I can't wait to preorder.
Raymond Carver's poems definitely sent a jolt into me when I was 20 or so. (And, based on the Guide's title this week, I imagine he's reflected some of that inspo back into you.) Wallace Stevens, too! Extremely beautiful stuff, and the kind of poetry you can set your watch to.
This post brought back a memory I hadn't thought about in years--when I was in 7th grade my English teacher, Mrs. Bailey, chose me and a gal named Alexandra to go to another school for some sort of day-long, multi-student poetry workshop. I think the idea was to bring two kids from all the northern New Castle County private schools together to learn about and write poetry for the day? At 37, I'm honestly kinda getting agita just thinking about this premise!
I also need to note that I was a horrible student at this time. Maybe I was pretty good at English and History and/or Social Studies? But that was it. I watched Growing Pains and tried to skateboard and procrastinated about everything, every night. My compass was almost always wrong.
To this day, I can't fathom how I was chosen to join Alexandra (who--I've just googled--has a fucking M.A. in theatre and an M.D. from NYU!--a dual threat) and her bright peers to write poetry for 6 hours in an unfamiliar setting.
Anyway, I have no real memory of writing or sharing poetry that day, but I'm certain I did. What I do have, however, is an anecdote that my friends Russ and Nick shared with me the day after the poetry workshop from the day before where my Spanish teacher (the dreaded Jorge Pardo!) saw me missing and asked out loud to the class, "where is MartĂn?!" And when my buds told him that I was at Poetry Daycamp he replied, "MartĂn? A poet?? MartĂn is NO poet!"
Since then, it's been my life's work to prove Señor Pardo wrong--I'm going to become a poet. Or, at the least, release one new MP3 in 2021.
best regards... Bill