| Author | Message | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1600 Registered: 08-2003 |
I’ve been accepted to the San Miguel Poetry Week in January 2006. Curious about the staff, I discovered that the chairman of the NEA, Dan Gioia, will be one of the key faculty leading the morning workshops. This is an excerpt of a longer article by Gioia entitled “Can Poetry Matter,” first published in the Atlantic Monthly. I thought you might find it interesting. If you have only a moment, please read Gioia’s six “proposals” for making the dream of a culture where “poetry matters” a reality. How Poets Can Be Heard The most serious question for the future of American culture is whether the arts will continue to exist in isolation and decline into subsidized academic specialties or whether some possibility of rapprochement with the educated public remains. Each of the arts must face the challenge separately, and no art faces more towering obstacles than poetry. Given the decline of literacy, the proliferation of other media, the crisis in humanities education, the collapse of critical standards, and the sheer weight of past failures, how can poets possibly succeed in being heard? Wouldn't it take a miracle? Toward the end of her life Marianne Moore wrote a short poem called "O To Be a Dragon." This poem recalled the biblical dream in which the Lord appeared to King Solomon and said, "Ask what I shall give thee." Solomon wished for a wise and understanding heart. Moore's wish is harder to summarize. Her poem reads, If I, like Solomon, . . . could have my wish– my wish . . . O to be a dragon, a symbol of the power of Heaven—of silkworm size or immense; at times invisible. Felicitous phenomenon! Moore got her wish. She became, as all genuine poets do, "a symbol of the power of Heaven." She succeeded in what Robert Frost called "the utmost of ambition"—namely "to lodge a few poems where they will be hard to get rid of." She is permanently part of the "felicitous phenomenon" of American literature. So wishes can come true—even extravagant ones. If I, like Marianne Moore, could have my wish, and I, like Solomon, could have the self-control not to wish for myself, I would wish that poetry could again become a part of American public culture. I don't think this is impossible. All it would require is that poets and poetry teachers take more responsibility for bringing their art to the public. I will close with six modest proposals for how this dream might come true. 1. When poets give public readings, they should spend part of every program reciting other people's work—preferably poems they admire by writers they do not know personally. Readings should be celebrations of poetry in general, not merely of the featured author's work. 2. When arts administrators plan public readings, they should avoid the standard subculture format of poetry only. Mix poetry with the other arts, especially music. Plan evenings honoring dead or foreign writers. Combine short critical lectures with poetry performances. Such combinations would attract an audience from beyond the poetry world without compromising quality. 3. Poets need to write prose about poetry more often, more candidly, and more effectively. Poets must recapture the attention of the broader intellectual community by writing for nonspecialist publications. They must also avoid the jargon of contemporary academic criticism and write in a public idiom. Finally, poets must regain the reader's trust by candidly admitting what they don't like as well as promoting what they like. Professional courtesy has no place in literary journalism. 4. Poets who compile anthologies—or even reading lists—should be scrupulously honest in including only poems they genuinely admire. Anthologies are poetry's gateway to the general culture. They should not be used as pork barrels for the creative-writing trade. An art expands its audience by presenting masterpieces, not mediocrity. Anthologies should be compiled to move, delight, and instruct readers, not to flatter the writing teachers who assign books. Poet-anthologists must never trade the Muse's property for professional favors. 5. Poetry teachers especially at the high school and undergraduate levels, should spend less time on analysis and more on performance. Poetry needs to be liberated from literary criticism. Poems should be memorized, recited, and performed. The sheer joy of the art must be emphasized. The pleasure of performance is what first attracts children to poetry, the sensual excitement of speaking and hearing the words of the poem. Performance was also the teaching technique that kept poetry vital for centuries. Maybe it also holds the key to poetry's future. 6. Finally poets and arts administrators should use radio to expand the art's audience. Poetry is an aural medium, and thus ideally suited to radio. A little imaginative programming at the hundreds of college and public-supported radio stations could bring poetry to millions of listeners. Some programming exists, but it is stuck mostly in the standard subculture format of living poets' reading their own work. Mixing poetry with music on classical and jazz stations or creating innovative talk-radio formats could re-establish a direct relationship between poetry and the general audience. The history of art tells the same story over and over. As art forms develop, they establish conventions that guide creation, performance, instruction, even analysis. But eventually these conventions grow stale. They begin to stand between the art and its audience. Although much wonderful poetry is being written, the American poetry establishment is locked into a series of exhausted conventions—outmoded ways of presenting, discussing, editing, and teaching poetry. Educational institutions have codified them into a stifling bureaucratic etiquette that enervates the art. These conventions may once have made sense, but today they imprison poetry in an intellectual ghetto. It is time to experiment, time to leave the well-ordered but stuffy classroom, time to restore a vulgar vitality to poetry and unleash the energy now trapped in the subculture. There is nothing to lose. Society has already told us that poetry is dead. Let's build a funeral pyre out of the desiccated conventions piled around us and watch the ancient, spangle-feathered, unkillable phoenix rise from the ashes. | ||
| LJ Cohen
Moderator Username: ljc Post Number: 2741 Registered: 07-2002 |
E--that's fabulous! Will you be reading your work? Thanks for posting Gioia's essay--I found it very interesting. I especially agreed with number 6. best, ljc http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Senior Member Username: garyb Post Number: 4560 Registered: 07-2001 |
Thanks much for the article, and waiting with anticipation reports from the conference. Who else is on the staff? I was only able to attend the Port Townsend writing conference once, but I nor my writing have not been the same since. Smiles. Gary Drop in read the new MindFire, 2005's first Go in through http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ to get to the issue in a click or two. | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1603 Registered: 08-2003 |
Hi Lisa, Thanks! All the participating poets will be reading. We will work each morning with a member of the faculty, then we will be given writing assignments which will be read to the instructor and class. Each evening the day's instructor has a reading San Miguel's Bellas Artes. They accept about 30 people a year with preference being given to the returnees. My friend, Peter Ludwin is returning for his 3rd year and had urged me to submit and attend. I've never been involved in a "live" workshop before so it should be interesting. At the end of the week there a huge reading of all the participants. It is apparently an excellent way of networking. My friend got his work in the Atlanta Review and received a personal critique from Allistar Reid who sat with him on his balcony and went over all his poems.  I agree with 6 too and have been thinking of this radio idea. Not sure who is doing poetry on radio but I'd love to get involved with something like that! Hi Gar, Here's the rundown on the staff for Jan.'s slot and a list of previous participants. Port Townsend. I'm going to check that our right now. It's good to know that these conferences/workshops can be a pivotal point in the process. I'll be sure to tell you the details! Smiles back. E FACULTY 2006 Jennifer Clement Reginald Gibbons Dana Gioia Linda Gregg Matthew Sweeney PREVIOUS FACULTY: Previous Faculty Simon Armitage W.S. Merwin Stanley Moss Alfred Corn Naomi Shihab Nye Mark Doty and others... | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Senior Member Username: garyb Post Number: 4576 Registered: 07-2001 |
for PT go to centrum.org July of each year Gar Drop in read the new MindFire, 2005's first Go in through http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ to get to the issue in a click or two. | ||
| Christopher T George
Advanced Member Username: chrisgeorge Post Number: 1991 Registered: 12-2004 |
Hi E Fabulous news! Thanks also for posting the essay by Dan Gioia, which I will read in detail later. I just wanted to chime in to congratulate you on this fine accolade. I am sure the San Miguel Poetry Week in January 2006 will be a memorable and wonderful time for you. Whoopee!  Chris Editor, Desert Moon Review http://www.desertmoonreview.com/ http://chrisgeorge.netpublish.net/ http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1612 Registered: 08-2003 |
Gary this is quite a site. Wonder what you took when you were there. I see they have a haiku symposium which looked interesting. That's the only one I saw related to poetry. Looks like a wonderful place--fees quite reasonable too. Chris thank you!!! So nice of you to cheer me on. Enjoy the article all. E | ||
| marty
Advanced Member Username: marty Post Number: 606 Registered: 10-2003 |
KS E, The essay is a compelling read, and the ideas were both simple yet I would say, something that has an impact especially on those who strive to keep the spirit of poetry alive. I agree with 6. Now is the time to move on to alternative means of making poetry heard. I have a friend here in the Philippines who has a sound studio and she often produces records of alternative bands. She once talked to me about an alternative poetry, that is the poet reads his/her work and a sound plays in a background, and this could be produced in CDs. Intriguing, and i must admit, a fascinating idea to tinker with. The problem is, I dont know many poets here. Perhaps with some sound software (mixing/sound editing), a computer, a mic...I might just go at it on my own and see what comes out. Good luck, and do share with us what you have done and learned. | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Senior Member Username: garyb Post Number: 4578 Registered: 07-2001 |
http://www.centrum.org/index.php?page=WC-intro 2006 will about the same time, late July smiles Gary Drop in read the new MindFire, 2005's first Go in through http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ to get to the issue in a click or two. | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1615 Registered: 08-2003 |
KS M, I'd love to hear you record your works. What an idea--maybe that's another group project for Wild All the Wilder's recording their best stuff. I'd love to see a dissemination of poetry on CD. The only thing I've found is a series of early 20th century poets. I've often thought how I'd like to hear poetry on CD while in my car. Seems there could be a nitch for contemporary poets?? Gar thanks. Looks like that covers poetry and general writing. Very good. I've already told a friend about Centrum. She teaches elementary school children about jazz. Could be a place for her there to do a workshop for the music program. E | ||
| Beau Blue
Advanced Member Username: beau_blue Post Number: 324 Registered: 03-2004 |
'Poetry Speaks' Sourcebooks MediaFusion 2001 editors - Paschen & Mosby series editor - Raccah advisory editors - Pinsky, Dove & Gioia includes: 44 poets, 150 or so recordings essays on poets by poets. a great pub. Everyone seems to be worried about poetry's place in the future. I think it's needless anxiety. Poetry is bigger, stronger and louder than it's ever been in the USA. And the Internet makes sure it gets to thousands of times more poeple than it ever has been offered to in the past. moo. -blue (Message edited by beau blue on August 28, 2005) http://members.cruzio.com/~jjwebb | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1657 Registered: 08-2003 |
Thanks for your thoughts blue. Between this heat and the busy days I think I'm ready to move to Iceland. I will look for MediaFusion "Poetry Speaks." Maybe I'll find it in a great bookstore I just discovered in Pasadena last night called Vromar's. They have a huge audio section. No worries about its place, just wishes to make it even more prominent in all mediums! Thanks for the moo E |
