Photos Like Sonnets

“Swiss-born artist Rudy Burckhardt put poets on film and made photos work like sonnets.” Check out this article on the only photographer the New York School of Poets considered one of their own.

This marriage of poem and photo, or photo as poem, poem as photo, brings us full circle, from writing with photographs to writing with words, from considering the full arc of story to the sub-atomic level of the textures of words, of syllables, of letters themselves. What a journey it has been, full of discovery for me and the joy of watching you all make your own discoveries about writing and yourselves.

I’m looking forward to our final formal conferences, and then to whatever next place we find ourselves in as writers.

Bon voyage.

The Cento I wrote for you:

A Poem to Young Writers Leaving ENAM 170

Can you see them?
Faces wreathed in smoke,
Bluish-gray,
Swimming through the haze
There and not and there again.

My mother tells me
there are things you don’t do
and then THINGS YOU DON’T DO
And there is a difference
Don’t hone your skills
Don’t do your chores
Don’t wait around
For tides to turn
Don’t read your atlas

Does anyone else see the alien in the room?
He is editor to my thoughts. He is always there–
Outline of my imagination restricting without restrictions.
An eye in the corner watches me watch it.

It must have been so hard for this poet
To scrawl this soundless solitary stock
Flee the trees, mountains, metal boxes of things,
mere ceilings, visors, long hairs in the eyes.
He noticed the vines growing from his palms,
crawling between thumb and forefinger,
twisting to the form of his arm.
His brimming coffee cup remains
Though his body has vanished.

To those of us who prefer to listen
To the Clear Moon
While walking in sunshine
A season blue-white,
planes broken sharply by
form and shadow
This world is dark, full of mystery
Our start was destined for success
Silent and slippery beneath the tiny impressions.
Our feet on the pavement actually make a difference
Out.
Out there.
Out there the wind blows.
Stand: leave.
this was the rinse cycle
the spinning clean, the
wringing out of debris.

the moon stares down in quiet lines
the window open
that twilight can demand
but from which we shall now digress
In front of the mountain backdrop
A goat in suspenders sings

~with fondness, bg

found poetry…

…is really fun, but doesn’t it imply that someone lost it to begin with? hmmm… 

 

ok sorry, that was the very strange segue to the reason for this post–Doug found a Legitimate Dangers book on the ground beneath a chair opposite the chalk board after class today. If it’s yours, just let me know and we can get it back to it’s rightful owner. Also, there was a nalgene w/ some dark red/pink/grape? liquid in it by one of the sofa chairs–Doug has that, so if you’re missing some grape juice just let him know. if you’re missing a nalgene, you can talk to him as well. 

 

and since I’m up here, thanks for a fantastic, dynamic journey this semester! I hope we all run into each other soon, and can keep up our writing! best of luck with finals 🙂 

Spoofing William Carlos Williams… on NPR

An episode of This American Life on apologizing a la “This is Just to Say” from class: here (starts at 51:00)

Final Evaluation Conference

POETRY PORTFOLIOS
Just a reminder, you need to hand me a PAPER version of your poetry portfolio by 5:00 p.m. this Friday (the 9th). Remember to include a narrative reflection (you can also, of course do that as hypertext on your blog) and a reading-as-a-writer piece as well as all of the regular assignments.

FINAL REFLECTION

At least 24 hours before you meet with me to propose and defend your course grade, please send me an in-depth final view of your journey through this course. Include, if you like, the full portfolios from all the units. Make sure you indicate how you feel you have done according to the rubrics (image of the board above should help you out).

Conference Schedule
Friday, May 9
9:00 Laura

Monday, May 12
10:30 Tony
11:30 Gregg
3:30 Eleanor

Tuesday, May 13
9:00 Doug
11:00 Matt
3:30 Lois

Wednesday, May 14
10:00 Chris
11:00 Mikaela
1:00 Kyle
2:00 Sean

Thursday, May 15
10:00 Alicia
11:00 Clare
2:30 carolyn

Friday, May 16
9:00 Tamara
10:00 Andrew
11:00 Simone

A Poem by Robert Haas

From Alex, Robert Haas’s “Heroic Simile” (He is the 2008 Pulitzer winner)

Please share the poems (and stories and essays, of course) you come across during your writerly wanderings. How about compiling a collaborative list of must-reads for the summer?

summer workshop group?

hey guys,

i am going to be working on campus all summer and i was curious as to whether anyone else will be sticking around as well. during my conference, barbara and i talked about me starting a workshop group for anyone in our class who will be around to meet once a week or so to share what we’ve been working on and to sort of keep us in the habit of writing regularly. so, if anyone will be around and might be interested, let me know! i think it could be a really awesome summer activity…

Poetry Out Loud

Here’s a brief article from the Washington Post about the annual poetry recitation contest at GW University. The quotation from John Barr at the top of page two seems particularly fitting to our discussions last week about how important the sounds of words to our poems.

Meetings to discuss poetry?

Hi guys! I hope you’re having fun (it should be FUN) crawling around in your poems. I know the regular tutor-tutee meetings have unraveled a little this unit; it’s a busy time in the semester, and we’ve all got a lot on our plates. That said, I’d be happy to meet with anyone who wants to talk about poems, readings, your own work, the work of other writers, anything your little hearts desire. Regardless of your workshop group, feel free to jump in on this.

Let me know (post or e-mail at kflagg @ midd) if you want to meet up. Saturday and Sunday afternoons would be best bets — we could meet up on campus, or maybe for coffee in town for a nice change of pace. On both days, the 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. window is relatively open, so feel free to pick a time that works best for you; just be in touch.

May Day Poem Exercise

In honor of May Day, here’s a playful prompt:

A 14-line poem about May

• Every line must contain in addition to whatever other kinds of syllabled words you like, one (and only one) two-syllable word and one three-syllable word.
• A rich sound texture using repeated sounds and rhythms–you choose how
• The following words: stone, clever, melt, yellow
• A line “lifted” from the poem you memorized