After reading Wil Wheaton's "Push the Restart Button" post [linked to yesterday, I got wondering what intentions I've stalled on in my life, and the main one is:
Much popular poetry––such as Mary Oliver's––is also too easy to scan for the pay off. Dense poetry (such as John Donne's) is the one kind of writing I have to eat slowly, like fig cake.
So... I don't usually go for One-a-Day type activities,
but at the Thrift Store, I bought an Advent box just like this one >>
and I thought maybe I'd read and write out one poem a day during Advent this year---and pop it in a little Box o' the Day.
If you have any suggestions of poems or poets that call for careful reading, please let me know.
Read More Poetry.
I read a lot, all the time, but mostly I rush.
I read like I eat Tootsie Pop suckers: impatiently.
I crunch text up to get at their chewy centers. Even when I'm researching, I'm scanning for usable info.
Much popular poetry––such as Mary Oliver's––is also too easy to scan for the pay off. Dense poetry (such as John Donne's) is the one kind of writing I have to eat slowly, like fig cake.
but at the Thrift Store, I bought an Advent box just like this one >> and I thought maybe I'd read and write out one poem a day during Advent this year---and pop it in a little Box o' the Day.
If you have any suggestions of poems or poets that call for careful reading, please let me know.
Avent 2015 begins this Sunday, November 29 and ends on Thursday, December 24.
My only reference to John Donne is Wit - with Emma Thompson.
ReplyDeletePoetry is like jazz for me, a little goes a very long way, and it doesn't go down well. Dense novels are sometimes worth the trouble, other times they hit the wall where I fling them, leaving a small dent. I do like savoring a well crafted story, not rushing it, licking up the crumbs, re-reading it as soon as I get to the end.
How about Emily Dickinson, John Ashbery, Bernadette Mayer, James Schuyler? But with the middle two especially, it won’t be reading that yields some certain conclusion.
ReplyDeleteMICHAEL: Thanks! I don't know Bernadette Mayer and James Schuyler--so I went looking and found Schuyler's "A Stone Knife":
ReplyDelete"it's that of which I
felt the lack but
didn't know of, of no
real use and yet
essential as a button
box"
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/248634
What a great poem for a Thrift Herder and an appreciator of stationery supplies.:)
Yes!
ReplyDeleteHow about Hafiz?
ReplyDeleteWallace Stevens, you could start with "On the Road Home". He is very visual.
ReplyDeletePOODLE: Hi, there! Hafiz--there's an idea! Thanks---I have never really read him.
ReplyDeleteARTS: Oh yeah, I LOVE Wallace Stevens--haven't read "On the Road Home"--just looked it up---wow! What a prompt for art!!!
“Words are not forms of a single word.
In the sum of the parts, there are only the parts.
The world must be measured by eye”;