The Professionalization of Poetry...It's Okay

I’ve thought a little bit more about Mattix’s article “Poetry and Subsidies: Is Materialism Ruining Creativity?” Although Mattix seems to be asserting, along with several sub-points (jabs at the avant-garde, the need for riskier poetry that is against the commercialization of art, etc., etc.), that: poetry is waning because there’s too much money thrown at mediocre poets through prizes, subsidies, grants, lectureships, and professorships.

After re-reading the article it feels like an anti-academic criticism; after all who funds the majority of the prizes, subsidies, grants, lectureships, and professorships: universities and well-funded non-profit arts organizations who often have some ties to universities. I think what Mattix is talking about is the professionalization of poetry, which essentially means that the proliferation of creative writing programs necessitates professional poets (who of course have other skills…namely teaching lit, comp, etc.).

So, a poet who loves writing and has a passion for poetry and/or literature might postulate “I should teach” and off they go to build a resume to achieve that objective. But how is this any different than any other profession. I work for a bank. How does one move up in the bank:

• They take an entry level position selling residential loans or running a depository branch, get really good at selling residential loans, etc., etc.: top producer, awards dinners, plaques in office, etc.
• They get promoted to lower level management
• Go back to school and get MBA
• They get promoted to mid-level management: more accolades, awards dinners, more responsibility and more visibility
• And they eventually get promoted to senior level management and somewhere along they way they might have to get a little more education to sweeten the deal

The prizes, subsidies, grants, lectureships, and professorships help build a prospective “professional poets” resume along with, of course, publications. I don’t think “contemporary poetry works like a Ponzi scheme operated by the academic world” (sorry BJ) because this kind of “resume building” is prevalent in any occupation. So, “resume building” is expected for those that want to teach creative writing in academia and I still have faith that the prizes, grants, and publications are available to academic and non-academic alike because quality poetry will always rise to the surface whether an MFA student or teacher poet or established god/goddess of poetry or a poet outside academia is writing the poetry. My only concerns are:

A. That poetry becomes elitist: that bad poets make all the decisions or non-poets make all the decisions regarding prizes, grants, publications, funding of creative writing programs.
B. That those poets operating within “the hallowed walls” (sorry if this offends anybody…I’m not anti-academic) of academia are writing poetry for resume building as opposed to writing because they must.
I think to some degree the surge in small, grassroots presses helps counter concern A. There are many small presses that are producing wonderful work and two that have supremely impressed me are Black Ocean Press and Octopus Books. For example, I am not at all stylistically similar to Eric Baus but his work challenges me, inspires me, makes me feel good after I read it. I’ve read The To Sound twice and finished Tuned Droves about a month ago. And as BJ puts it, there are plenty of poets writing from outside academia to give proper balance to contemporary poetry:

There are scads of poets living and working outside of academia, and these voices are quickly becoming the voices recognized as contemporary poetry. They are voices that aren't being called upon to fill job requirements, in fact, they are voices that exist despite job requirements, motivated by no other desire than to make poetry that people want to read, or, in the very least, that we want to read again later. They are voices that don't have to exist, but do…

I don’t know if they are being “recognized as contemporary poetry” but they are being recognized and are evolving into a more essential component of contemporary poetry. And I like the idea of being “motivated by no other desire than to make poetry…” This is really what I’m after…to make poetry and equally important to ingest poetry (metaphorically of course…unless said poetry is chocolate in nature or Starburst jelly beans in taste).

So, in conclusion for tonight, I don't believe materialism is ruining poetry.

Making It Commercially

This post was going to be a response to John Gallaher's post about an article by Micah Mattix's article Poetry and Subsidies which was partially in response to Tom Bethell's article in The American Spectator. But my response got a little to big for its britches so, since I haven't posted in a while, I decided to post my response here.

I honestly think, if Mattix is interpreting Bethell accurately, that Bethell is off kilter…as is Mattix. Sure prizes, subsidies, grants, lectureships and professorships may be bureaucratic and careerist in nature but who cares. Is the world that bad off having more poetry in it due to the prizes, subsidies, etc.?

Micah Mattix’s suggestion that there’s a possibility of “making it commercially” in poetry is pretty ridiculous. With the exception of a few poets who have achieved a little “commercial” success such as Ai, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Maya Angelou, poetry is not a profitable endeavor and thus using the phrase “making it commercially” feels asinine.

Unfortunately, like many contemporary arguments about the “decline of poetry,” I feel that Mattix assumes that poetry “is” waning before proving it “is” waning, which is to say, “poetry is waning” seems like one of his premises, while at the same time being his conclusion. This is probably confusing but suffice it to say, I am not convinced that poetry is in fact waning.

If the prizes, subsidies, grants, lectureships and professorships were reduced to reduce the amount of mediocre poetry wouldn’t this be similar to what Collins jokingly suggested a few years back: that the NEA pay poets to not write to reduce the mediocrity in contemporary poetry. This, in my opinion, seems to lead to elitism.

I like Mattix’s conclusion though, that critics need to do a better job of finding good poetry.

Ultimately though, I say who cares. These kinds of things tend to take care of themselves. Time causes the dross to rise to the surface and eventually it’s scraped off. But of course this may be too simplistic a conclusion and doesn’t mean that I believe thoughtful dialogue about the state of contemporary poetry shouldn’t exist.

Out on a Friday Night

Megan, I, and the boys went out to Minsky's Pizza tonight. It has been a long week and neither Megan nor I were up to going through the normal routine of preparing dinner. It was a pleasant little family dinner minus, of course, sitting right next to the entrance.

In a little bit Megan and I are going to watch The Duchess. We tried to watch Appaloosa earlier this week but could not watch all of it. I don't think it was a bad movie; it kind of reminded me of old school westerns: very plain, straightforward dialogue, clear bad guys and good guys, a woman who vies for the affection of the rugged gun slinger. But I kind of got bored which was too bad since I love Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, and Viggo Mortensen.

Oh, and before we watch The Duchess I'm going to run out and get fixings for Cosmopolitans. No, I don't drink Cosmopolitans but Megan likes them and she's in the mood for martinis. So, I'm going to attempt to make my first martinis tonight. It could get ugly.

I'm getting three Tupperware containers full of encyclopedias tomorrow. And my parents are visiting which should be fun. And I'm going to the Apple store in "The Plaza" or "The Plaaaaza" to price a new computer.

David Kirby

I went to David Kirby's reading at the Kansas City Art Institute tonight. There was a fairly large turnout...mostly art institute students through. I've read Kirby's work before and it is littered with obscure (and less obscure) literary and pop culture references. He has a very stream of consciousness style which can be difficult to follow but very rewarding if you stick with the poem. But hearing him read the poems brought the poems I've read to life and added an even greater texture to the language, narrative, etc. David Kirby appears to love language, narrative, story-telling, pop culture, literature, and he has tones of fun with each of them as he weaves in-and-out of different threads within the same poem. It was fun listening to him read. The reading made me appreciate his work a whole lot more...so much so that I bought his most recent book: The House on Boulevard Street: New and Selected Poems (LSU press).

The Party Monkey

Today I felt a little out of sorts. I still had "the party monkey" on my back as one of my co-workers put it. Although there are some naysayers regarding AWP I had an excellent time. My top 10 highlights:

1. Hanging out with BJ and MD drinking beer, single malt McCallan's, and eating good food.
2. Buying John Gallaher's Map of the Folded World (I also bought Heather Derr-Smith's The Bride Minaret and Ashley Capps' Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields from the University of Akron Press and look forward to reading all three...thanks to Mary Biddinger for her recommendations on Derr-Smith and Capps).
3. Walking 20 blocks in the wrong direction attempting to find the Rabbit Lights Live reading at New Wave Coffee, walking 20 blocks back to the Empty Bottle, and then another 6-8 blocks before BJ, MD, and I gave up. It was an adventure.
4. Drinking beers with BJ and MD at Blueline after walking around for 2 hours after attending No Thousands: A Small Press Reading and attempting to find the Rabbit Lights Live reading.
5. The Poets of American Hybrid reading: Peter Gizzi was amazing.
6. The More Than a Collection: Imagining and Realizing Thematic Poetry Projects panel. Oliver De La Paz, Jake Adam York, and Sean Nevin were great. This was one of the most professional, articulate, and helpful panels I've been to at AWP. Great job...my favorites were ODLP, JAY, and SN.
   
7. Hanging out with BJ, MD, FK, etc. at BJ's place in Hyde Park which happens to be 2 blocks from where Barack Obama lives and he happened to be at home for the weekend which meant that the street leading to his house had no parked cars. That's a little tid bit that made me feel warm and fuzzy...but that could have been the Knob Creek.
8. Buying Brandi Homan's Hard Reds: it feels good to know there's a published Marshalltown poet or poet from Marshalltown.
9. The University of Missouri-Kansas City/New Letters reading featuring Robert Stewart, Michael Pritchett, Christie Hodgen, Hadara Bar-Nadav, and Michelle Boisseau. Christie's story kicked ass as did Michelle's and Hadara's poetry. The whole thing was really great!!! Thanks for hanging in there BJ and MD.
   
10. Falling asleep at 2:30 AM on Friday night after a day and night of drinking McCallan's single malt and beer. I snored while BJ and MD chatted away until 4:30 AM. O, AWP.

Thanks for the great time BJ and MD. And thanks for having us over to your apartment Anne. Also, it was great seeing Friedrich again.

Misery

Check out your misery index. It looks like we're mildly miserable in Missouri. Although Kansas City is ranked better than Chicago. Kansas City is ranked 92nd; whereas Chicago is ranked 159th. But of course this is not a joking matter...things kind of stink right now and the media is fanning the flames everyday.

Tonight is going to entail the following:

1. Watch a little Lord of the Rings with Elijah and Gavin
2. After Elijah and Gavin go to bed I'm going to drink a few beers
3. I am going to drink a few more beers and either watch The Duchess or The Namesake with Megan

I finished another rough draft this morning: "After Watching Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" which of course is based partially on the incidents after watching Nightmare at 20,000 Feet with Elijah and Gavin.

Four days left. I'm going shopping this weekend. Guess what I'm shopping for?

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 2 continued

Here's Eastern Region Round 2 for Group 2:

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"

WINNER: Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth" - this is somehwhat of an upset because I've read Bibbins before and thoroughly enjoyed sky lounge but upon reading "Truth" a third time in the last week I saw thing I did not see in previous readings.

* * *

Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"
vs.
A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

WINNER: Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

* * *

So here's the final 4 for the Eastern Region:

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

and

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

Ahhh, the things I do to pass the time. I think I might do a post-AWP poetry tournament involving all the poetry books I purchase at AWP.

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 2

Here's Round 2 for Group 1 from the Eastern Region bracket:

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

WINNER: Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

* * *

Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"
vs.
Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"

WINNER: Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter" - I think BJ's right: Beckman is going to be hard to beat. His poem is pretty awesome.

* * *

Tomorrow we will move on to Round 2 for Group 2 from the Eastern Region bracket and then we will be down to our final four. The poets competing in Round 2 for Group 2 are:

Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"
vs.
A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

and

Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"
vs.
Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"

I can't believe I just used the words "poet" and "competing" in the same sentence because I'm idealistic and don't want to believe poet's would ever compete amongst one another. Of course, my idealism is bull shit because whether poets like to admit it or not they either overtly and secretly compete with each other quite frequently.

I keep referring this poetry tournament thing as the "Eastern Region bracket" because all of these poets were or still are from the east coast: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. Plus, I like to think of this as my own little private "NCAA-like" tournament only with poetry.

Tuesday Tid Bits

This is the dialogue between my wife, Brayden (my youngest son who is turning 3 in 19 days), and I the other night (keep in mind my son has never said "I love you" to either of us because he's stubborn):

MEGAN: I love Brayden. Who do you love Brayden?

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

MEGAN: No, I love Brayden.

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

ME: What about me? I love Brayden. Do you love me Brayden?

BRAYDEN (taking his eyes off of me and slowly turning his gaze towards Megan): I love mommy.

MEGAN: Don't you love daddy?

BRAYDEN: I love mommy.

ME: C'mon. I love Brayden. I love Brayden. What do you say Brayden? Do you love daddy?

BRAYDEN: I love Brayden.

Megan laughed. Brayden laughed. I cried. No, actually I laughed too.

* * *

My other son Gavin (7 years old) said two hilarious things during our farkle game tonight:

1. He told Megan and I that when he visits are tombs some day that he's going to put chicken on my tomb because I eat meat and vegtables on Megan's tomb because she's a vegetarian.
2. He also said that his stuffed otter, which he has called baby for years, is the son of God and that his baby is just waiting to take God's place when he wants a break.

* * *

BJ made me aware of this awesome off-site reading during AWP:

6:00PM-9:00PMThe Burning Chair Readings: Ahsahta Press & Typo
Location: The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave
Cost: Cover charge TBD by venue
Website: http://www.typomag.com/burningchair
Poetry readings from Carrie Olivia Adams, Ben Doller, Kathleen Jesme, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Alex Lemon, Barbara Maloutas, Rusty Morrison, G.E. Patterson, Marvyn Petrucci, & Stephanie Strickland.

I'm familiar with Carrie Olivia Adams, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hilman, and Alex Lemon. And I look forward to familiarizing myself with the rest.

* * *

Farkle Standings
Gavin - 19
Jon - 18
Elijah - 16
Megan - 13

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 1 continued

Here's Group 2 for round 1:

Jeffrey Levine, "Blisses"
vs.
Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

WINNER: Nancy Krygowski, "This Loss, Any:"

* * *

A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"
vs.
Alessandra Lynch, "Birthday"

WINNER: A. Loudermilk, "Daring Love"

* * *
Sarah Hannah, "The Garden As She Left It"
vs.
Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday"

WINNER: Mark Bibbins, "Just Yesterday" - Mark Bibbins is pretty freaking awesome. Reading this poem makes me want to read sky lounge again. And since I've read sky lounge before Sarah Hannah's poem was probably at a disadvantage since I haven't read Inflorescence before. You could call it bad refereeing.

* * *

Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth"
vs.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, "One Bit"

WINNER: Jean-Paul Pecqueur, "Truth" - I can't really say anything about this one. This was an upset. I loved Aimee Nezhukumatathil's At the Drive-In Valcano and thought she'd win this won. But alas, Jean-Paul is the winner.

* * *

On to round 2.

2009 Poetry Tournament, Eastern Region Round 1

You could call this Round 1, Group 1 since it's only the first 8 poets. But since I'm a little short of time I'll have to have Round 1, Group 2 tomorrow or Tuesday. But here you go (I hope this captures the essence of Schomburg's fun poetry tournament exercise):

* * *

Ethan Paquin, "[people are/wherever there's clouds/starry curvature]"

vs.
Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

WINNER: Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"

* * *

Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"
vs.
Ellen Dudley, "The Bats"

WINNER: Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony" - it was close but McCann nailed the ending like a gymnast nailing a dismount from a pommel horse.

* * *

Rod Smith, "the egret says..."
vs.
Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

WINNER: Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"

* * *

Susan Grimm, "Green Wave"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

WINNER: Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet" - this one was close as well but its hard to compete with Daniels' ending:

"A smudge at memory's edge: love's
tender silence. Footsteps." (ll. 9-10)

I really love the simple yet stark language alongside the haunting footsteps.

* * *

So, the forthcoming Round 2 for the first group will be:

Joshua Beckman, "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter"
vs.
Anthony McCann, "Father of Noise Ceremony"

and

Joan Houlihan, "Squall Line"
vs.
Jim Daniels, "The Dark Planet"

The host city will be Syracuse, NY for Group 1 (this is a NCAA hoops reference).

2009 Poetry Tournament

A few months ago Zachary Schomburg posted a poetry tournament. I can't find the post; perhaps BJ can help. The concept was simple: set up a bracket (probably 16) of contemporary poets from your personal library, read the first (i.e., opening) poem from their book and which ever poem is best moves on until a champion is crowned. I hope this is an adequate description.

I have chosen poets from the east coast for my first poetry tournament. So, if this were a "March madness" type poetry tournament this would be the Eastern Region bracket.

This will be my distraction for the next 1 1/2 weeks so that I'm not distracted by the looming trip to AWP in Chicago when, as Marc and I talked about today, us adults get to go on vacation and indulge by staying up late and drinking lots of beer.

Here are the poets from the Eastern Regional bracket and the corresponding book that the first poem will come from:

Ethan Paquin, The Violence
Joshua Beckman, Things Are Happening
Anthony McCann, Father of Noise
Ellen Dudley, The Geographic Cure
Rod Smith, Deed
Susan Grimm, Lake Erie Blue
Jeffrey Levine, Mortal, Everlasting
Nancy Krygowski, Velocity
Alessandra Lynch, it was a terrible cloud at twilight.
A. Loudermilk, Strange Valentine
Sarah Hannah, Inflorescence
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, miracle fruit
Jim Daniels, Night with Drive-By Shooting Stars
Joan Houlihan, The Mending Worm
Mark Bibbins, sky lounge
Jean-Paul Pecqueur, The Case Against Happiness

I will post the first round tomorrow (hopefully...time permitting). This ought to fun, entertaining, and something nerdy to pass the time.

My Friday Night

My sons (Gavin and Elijah) are in Boy Scouts. So, this is what I did on Friday night:

Elijah's Boa constrictor pine wood race car.

Gavin's car.

Gavin, very excited about his prospects of being the Pinewood Derby champion.

Sibling Rivalry: oddly enough, Elijah and Gavin had to square off against each other in their first race. It was a random drawing to see who went against who.

Gavin and Elijah (left to right) patiently wait for the race results.

Elijah hoping for the best.

Elijah getting excited as the cars are released while his friend Zach sways in a zombie like trance.

Elijah's car at the end of the track after beating Gavin's car. Elijah was 4-0 against Gavin, which didn't make for a very happy Gavin.

But Gavin was still very gracious in defeat. Although he won all the races that were not against his brother. Also, our sons were the only siblings to race against each other even though there were at least 4 families with multiple boys in Boy Scouts. Very weird.

The Pinewood Derby is an annual event put on by the Boy Scouts. It was a new experience for me because I didn't do Boy Scouts growing up, and quite honestly probably wouldn't have signed my boys up for it if they hadn't asked to be in Boy Scouts. Their friends are in Boy Scouts so I couldn't really deny them.

We didn't get home until 9:30 pm. So, we ended up picking up Culver's because it started at 6 pm and we didn't have time for dinner before the Pinewood Derby started.

Naysayers, etc.

Megan and I are back into Battlestar Galactica. We're plowing through season 4. I love it! The narrative is dark, complex, mesmerizing, unique, haunting, etc., etc. I think it's one of the most well-written Science Fiction television shows of all time, which isn't saying much I suppose since there's not much competition in the science fiction category. So, I'll extend it by saying I think it's one of the most well-written 1 hour dramas ever.

*
Farkle Standings
Gavin - 19
Jon - 18
Elijah - 16
Megan - 12

Gavin is still the king and Megan is in a bit of a slump.

The AWP Itch

I'm getting the AWP itch. I haven't had much time to think about AWP because I've been busy at work. It dawned on me a few days ago that AWP is only a week and half away. Last year I came back with so much loot (mostly books and journals) that I had to pay Northwest Airlines $25 because my suitcase was over 55 lbs. By the time I got home the zipper broke on my suitcase and I almost was ready to bust out a very large "manly knife" to rip it open so I could get to my booty. Fortunately a little TLC prevailed and I got my suitcase open without resorting to violence and destruction. The the suitcase wasn't mine, it was Brandon and Debbie's, which is another good reason I didn't tear it open.

This year I won't be flying. Marc Dickinson and I are taking a road trip to Chicago. I hope the weather cooperates. The three things I'm looking forward to the most: drinking with my friends, the AWP book fair, and the off-site readings on Friday night.

Of course, I've highlighted a few panels. I'd like to take advantage of the conference a little more this year. Last year Luke, BJ, and I stayed up later and later each night, and got up later and later each morning. It was awesome!

But this year I'm looking forward to arriving fully stocked: a cooler with beer, a trunk with spare beers to be added to the cooler when said cooler is empty, and a few bottles of single malt Scotch whisky (probably 12 Year MaCallan's). It truly will be Cartons and Kegs. Luke, BJ, Marc, myself, perhaps even Ron Sandvik, and anyone else who wants to join the party(s).

Stuff

I was going to blog about "Typography in Poetry" (my first post about my "poetry book score card") but I have a cold that's kicking my ass. So my brain isn't up for anything overtly demanding. So, instead I'm going to say that I love Cate Marvin's Fragment of the Head of Queen. Cate Marvin kicks ass. I just said "kicks ass" or a similar variation twice in one paragraph. Fuck!

I'm currently reading:

• Matthew Harvey, Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form
• Arts & Letters (Issue 18)
• Indiana Review (30.2)
• There's an incredible shorty story by Anthony Farrington in this issue
• Shih-Shah Henry Tsai, Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle
• Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King

I'm hoping to post a semi-review of Cate Marvin's in the next week.

*
Check this out:

A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

This is the kind of indifference that just baffles me. Doesn't the municipal power company have any culpability in this tragedy given the age of the customer?

Farkle

I love Farkle. I've blogged about it before but I have to admit that it's my favorite game and I love playing it with Megan and the boys. As I have done before our Farkle standings to date are:

Gavin - 18
Jon - 17
Elijah - 16
Megan - 12

The numbers above represent the number of games each person has won. Gavin has been the "King of Farkle" since September and hasn't relinquished his top spot in almost 6 months. He rubs his "blanky" for good luck with his right hand fingers while rolling with his left hand.

Speaking of Gavin, the other night he said something hilarious and disturbing for a parent during a Farkle game. The objective in Farkle is to be the first to reach 10,000+ points. Once a player reaches 10,000+ points, the other players have one turn to beat the top score.

Gavin reached 11,050 and the nearest score was 9,050 which typically is a pretty safe cushion. But not on Sunday night. Megan rolled doubles and then 1,200. When I announced the mom had just passed him he screamed "dammit."

We all froze. His jaw dropped and eyes bulged. We stared at him in opulent silence. Then Megan started chuckling. I couldn't contain myself so I started laughing. Of course, Elijah laughed. And finally Gavin cracked a smile and stated rather profusely and repeatedly "I meant to say darn it! I meant to say darn it!" Through our snickering and lack of composure both Megan and I stated "that's not an appropriate word...we don't use that word."

Of course we probably lost all credibility by laughing. I think we were both so utterly shocked and we were both feeling like "dammit" because it seemed impossible that Megan was going to beat his score. And by the way, Elijah topped by Megan and Gavin with a final score of 11,550.

Perhaps, I'll bring my travel Farkle to AWP and coax BJ, Luke, and Marc into a drunken game of Farkle. We'll see...

I'm so one of those guys...blogging about Farkle?

Scorecard

The other day (Jan 12th and 13th to be exact) I referred to a rating scale I've developed for poetry books. I've identified different poetic components that I often reflect upon (some more so and some less so) while I read a book of poems. I rate each component on a scale from 1-5, add up the score, and then rate the book based on the total score. Here are the scales:

1 = I hated it 1 = Not at all

2 = I didn’t like it 2 = Not really

3 = I liked it 3 = Sort of does

4 = I really liked it 4 = Yes it does

5 = I loved it 5 = Absolutely does

The reason I have two different scales is because, for example, a poet's book might employ a lot of alliteration, assonance, consonance, slant rhyme, internal rhyme, etc. but I don't particularly like their use of the sonic level. So, for the Sonic Level I rate a book of poetry on two levels:

• One, is it present = objective
  
• Two, do I like it = subjective
  

Of course not every category is like this and I know this sounds very nerdy and almost too scientific for what is often viewed as an intuitive art but several years ago I felt compelled to analyze and critique the books I was reading rather then just reduce my responses to simple "knee-jerk reactions" (i.e., "I don't like it" or "I liked it"). Perhaps I just want to be more interesting in my conversations about poetry but I've always been intrigued by exploring the questions: "What is Poetry" and "What constitutes good poetry." I think my desire to explore these questions has lot to do with my desire to explore and understand a philosophy of what is beautiful (of course this exploration is going to be very subjective and preferential at times).

But my score card breaks down into the following components and their corresponding sub-categories:

Typographical
The Sonic Level
The Sensory Level
Diction
Craft
Formal Range
Meaning
Originality
Structure
Vision
Emotive
Likability
Credibility

Now, I realize not many people read my blog but I'm open to suggestions about my score card if missing something. Beyond being nerdy though, the scorecard has helped me become more objective and fair in some readings. For example, I may think a particular poet lacks originality but a few poems illicit emotive responses, they attempt to conjure meaning in their poetry, and their sonic level is pretty good. So, I'm going to at least find some redeeming qualities in their poetry instead of simply saying: "this poetry sucks ass!" and then proceed to chuck the book against the wall.

That's it...My twenty minutes are up.

Today's Bullet Points

Here's what I did today (in bullet points):

• Revised two poems
• Watched Cars twice with Brayden and he tried to con me into letting him watch it a third time
• Read National Geographic (July 2008)
• Finished reading chapter 5 and parts of chapter 6 in Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle
• Finished reading Craig Cotter's Chopstix Numbers
• Prepared lunch for Brayden: fish sticks, tater tots, and applesauce
• Read I Spy with Brayden
• Folded 3 baskets of laundry
• Sorted laundry and did 4 loads of laundry
• Cleaned kitchen and did dishes
• Blogged
• Chatted with Travis Mullen and Dan Nichols via Facebook
• Found out Adam Muller moved to Nashville
• Gave Brayden a bath - he peed on the potty tonight (we're trying to potty train him)
  
• Watched Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring with Elijah and Gavin
• Watched Battlestar Galactica Season 4 episode 1 - it was amazing
• Watched Max Payne when Megan went to bed
• Drank 2 Guinness's and a Samuel Smith Taddy Porter

Exciting times...exciting times.

Another Emperor Poem

I finished a rough draft for another "emperor poem". So far I've finished 5 but it hasn't been until more recently that I've focused all my attention on completing a series of "emperor poems." So far the titles are:

"The Burial of an Emperor" - which appeared in Notre Dame Review (Issue #25)
"The Emperor's Eunuch"
"The Emperor Orders Death By One Thousand Cuts"
"The Emperor Plays A Divination Game"
"The Emperor Has His Ex-Adviser Buried In the Snow"

I've got a few ideas for future "emperor poems" but I need to continue my research. This has become my new project. I think poets (or in my case aspiring poets) need projects whether they be a chapbook, a book, a series of poems, etc. Or at least I need projects.

But the one thing I hate is the great "sigh" after completing a poem: it is both gratifying and frustrating. On one hand its gratifying because I've finished something with language and yet on the other hand I always have this feeling of "where do I go from here" which is the exact feeling I have right now: what do I work on next? When I experience this I usually will revise an old poem until a new idea surfaces or try a writing prompt if I want to continue composing.

In Review

This is a completely worthless post but I've been utilizing Netflix profusely since canceling cable. I've watch the following movies this month thus far (including ratings):

Charlie Bartlett, 5 out of 5
The Darjeeling Limited, 3 out of 5
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, 2 out of 5
The Other Boleyn Girl, 2 out of 5
Burn After Reading, 2 out of 5
Hancock, 3.5 out of 5
Signs, 4 out of 5

These ratings are based on the Netflix rating scale:

1 = I hated it
2 = I didn't like it
3 = I liked it
4 = I really liked it
5 = I loved it

I don't love a lot of movies. A movie has to really impress me and Charlie Bartlett really impressed me. Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was pretty amazing not to mention the fact that Robert Downey Jr. is pretty cool.

Of course I've seen Signs oodles of times before but I was a bad Dad and let my kids (Elijah and Gavin...not the youngest) watch it. They've seen it before at my in-laws so I didn't figure it would be a big deal. But of course, it freaked them out. Quite frankly it freaked me out when I first saw it in the theatre. After the movie I was standing outside our apartment drinking a beer. The screen was open and my wife started making the alien-clicking noise which startled me. Megan speaks alien-click fluently.

I loved the cast in The Darjeeling Limited but wasn't overly impressed by the movie. I usually enjoy John C. Reilly (he was great in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and not so great in Stepbrothers), but I didn't enjoy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Like I said...pointless post.

Bank Bits

I work in the internet residential lending division for a small bank based out of Kansas City, MO. I went to the restroom yesterday and while I was walking down the hall I heard the sounds of the ocean along with other inspirational instruments: wind chimes, light flutes, etc. I looked down the hall to see where the music was coming from and saw two massage chairs with some of the women from our operational staff (i.e., processors, underwriters, closers, etc.) getting massages. The music, of course, was to soothe their souls. It was the oddest thing I've ever witnessed at the bank. I guess these are stressful times and the VP of Residential Lending felt it was worthwhile to provide some relief for our overworked operational staff.

*
While on the subject of work, yesterday I was sharing with one my co-workers that the thing I love about Obama is that he highlights that the government can't fix everything and he extols Americans to get involved, serve, sacrifice, etc. to provide opportunities for everybody to achieve the American Dream. He's even alluded to the fact that "we're all on this together," which is a sentiment that was expressed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

My co-worker, who's also a staunch Republican, said (and I'm paraphrasing a little bit), "I'm sacrificing by putting food on the table and taking care of my four kids." I hang out with this particular co-worker occasionally and even have sushi with him from time to time. But he's also the top producer in the internet lending division and makes a lot of money. This mentality, which is fairly common in the industry I work in, is going to be an impediment to real long-lasting change and is another reason why, while I enjoy my job and am fortunate to work for the bank, I struggle working in an industry predicated on production: ultimately any industry predicated on production cares about one thing...the bottom line, which is making more money and protecting its own self-interests.

I'll stop...that's the only rant I have. I really don't want to appear as if I'm complaining though because I truly feel blessed by the opportunity I've had to work for the bank...The End.

Spongia Solis

Spongia Solis is the title of the manuscript I finally put to rest. Essentially I arrived at a place a few months ago in which I didn't care about the manuscript any more. I'd been working on it for approximately 6 years so I quickly put in one final push of organizing the content and then grew indifferent towards it. I believe the indifference is what I need to start submitting it out.

So, starting this month I'm going to submit it to at least 2 publishers and/or contests per month for 2009 and beyond. Those who are familiar with me know that I am tenacious about familiarizing myself with journals and submitting to literary journals. I've applied that same tenacity to familiarize myself with small presses over the past 2 years (since "The Great Purge of 2006" I blogged about yesterday). As a result, I'm ready to apply the same tenacity to submitting out Spongia Solis.

Here's to the adventure (me lifting an imaginary or not-so-imaginary glass of MaCallan's single malt Scotch whisky...12 year...very good and recently on sale).

On a side note, I've indefinitely stopped submitting poems to journals. I decided back in September that I wanted to take a break for a year and focus on writing new material and submitting Spongia Solis. I'll probably get back to submitting to literary journals next fall but I think I'm going to do it on a much more limited scale (more on this later).

Not-So Day Off

I had today off due to the fact that I work for a bank that observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But of course, since I work in the residential lending division, if I voluntarily choose to work...I can. So, its not a forced day off. So, I worked from 12:30-5 pm. I've been very busy recently and needed to catch up on some unfinished work.

*
Megan and I did not watch The Namesake last night. I talked to Luke Pingel on the phone. Megan was tired and didn't want to stay up late. So, she watched 30 Rock and ate cheese and crackers while I talked to Luke about football, AWP, poetry, and other stuff. I love talking to Luke. He sent me his thesis/manuscript in process. I'm reading it and enjoying it; its the first new work of Luke's I've read (new stuff meaning stuff that's been written in the last 12-18 months).

*
On another note, I've mentioned "The Great Purge of 2006" the other day. This over dramatic title refers to the winter of 2006 when I purged my entire library with the exception of approximately 20 poetry books. At the time I internally justified the purge with the following reasons: (1) I was buying too many books indiscriminately (i.e., lots of impulse purchases at Half Price Books or Barnes and Nobles) which was a waste of money, (2) I wasn't reading any of the books I purchased, (3) I was moving around a lot at the time and hated moving all of the books, and (4) the books weren't aesthetically appealing on my bookshelves (this last one is a little superficial and teeters on obsessive-compulsive). I probably rid myself of 750-1000 books (which may be a very conservative estimate).

From that time on I purchased books based on a couple of factors:

1. To gain greater familiarity with contemporary poets and small presses
• I do this by buying 5-7 books at a time from a specific press. I choose the books based on referrals from poet's blogs, choosing poets from the presses catalog that I'm familiar with, and referrals from friends. For example, I recently purchased a bunch of books from Ahsata's catalog and will probably purchase another slew of them because there are quite a few books that are on my "hit list."
  
• If I find a poet I'm particularly fond of I'll purchase their other books even if they're not with the same press. For example, I really enjoyed Dan Beachy-Quick's True North, South Bright, which led me to purchase his Mulberry which led me to purchase 3-5 Tupelo Press books, which then led me to buy Spell and the aforementioned slew of books from Ahsatha Press.
2. To non poetry and poetry books from publishers I admire
• For example I love Library of America's hardbacks. There a little expensive but they'll last a long time and the publish beautiful books
• New Directions for their affordable publications of marginalized poets, etc. both past and present
• Routledge Classics for their gorgeous philosophy and religious texts. They're mostly British and European philosophers and religious thinkers but I think some of the best 20th Century philosophers and religious thinkers were from Europe: e.g., Simone Weil.
  
• Penguins Classics for their affordable translations of European novelists...of course the more mainstream novelists but I don't give a fuck.
  

Well, this is a rather geeky method of collecting books but I'm kind of nerdy about books. The great thing has been that I read all the books I purchase before I purchase more (most the time). Of course I do regret some of the books I got rid of: I wish that still had Theodore Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project plus a few other poetry books but oh well.

Errands, etc.

I ran a variety of errands today: I made 4 copies of Spongia Solis (more on this later) at Staples, got lunch supplies at Hy-Vee for work which also included Breton crackers and boursin garlic and fine herbs gourmet cheese for tonight when Megan and I watch The Namesake, and I got laundry detergent (I've been the laundry drill Sargent for the past two weeks) and lithium batteries for our digital camera so that I can show you this:





Elijah and Gavin finished their dinner. Megan and I cleared the table. Brayden stuck around and made an unprompted NASCAR collage around his dinner plate earlier this week. Starting with Juan Pablo Montoya and ending with Jimmie Johnson, he surrounded his breakfast casserole and croissant with 1/64 scale die cast NASCAR cars. And yes, its sad, but I know the names of the drivers of every single car he lined up around his plate.

Tonight is movie night with the boys since they don't have school tomorrow and I don't work. Sometimes its cool to work for a bank. We're going to watch the first 1/3 of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The little one (Brayden) will not be watching; he'll be in bed.

Math Conference

I finished a rough draft earlier this week. Although I've been writing on a regular basis and finally finalized my manuscript (Spongia Solis, which means "sun spots" I think) I haven't finished a lot of new drafts over the past 8 months: four to be exact. It hasn't been due to a lack of effort. I have been writing consistently but have been composing new poems very, very slowly.

The poem I finished was another "emperor" poem. I've been writing an "emperor" poem here and there since July 2006. I've been focusing more intensely on them recently since finishing the nearly 6 year grueling process of organizing and revising Spongia Solis. Essentially their based on the life of the Chinese Yongle Emperor (i.e., Zhu Di) during the Ming Dynasty. I've been using several non-fiction books as well as translated Ming poetry as helpful source texts.

The poems aren't necessarily historically accurate (so you couldn't really call them 100% historical poems). Their fun poems to write. I've been trying to focus primarily on the "emperor" poems because I'd like to write 9-12 good ones for my next manuscript (Lonely sits the city), which is an entirely separate topic altogether.

*
Megan spent most of the morning and early afternoon at a math conference at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She can count up to three hours towards her 90 hours of practicum this semester if she attends. She's got two semesters left and one semester of student teaching (she's an elementary education major).

After the math conference we went out to eat for our monthly family dinner out. We went to McCoy's Public House, which is both an awesome restaurant and an outstanding brewery. I did not have a beer because it was 2 pm and I don't typically drink in the afternoon and I don't usually drink beer during our family dinner out. But McCoy's has the best IPA and you can get beer to go via 30 oz flip-top bottles which I didn't take advantage of today but will soon. Perhaps I'll lug some along to AWP.

Bathroom Soap Dispensers

Megan saw a woman at Target wearing a Marshalltown Bobcats (the mascot for Marshalltown Senior High) sweatshirt. We don't see many folks in Kansas City from Marshalltown so Megan asked her if she was from Marshalltown. The woman responded by saying something like "no, I'm not from Marshalltown." Megan, somewhat taken back, said that she only asked because of the sweatshirt. The woman then said in an exclamatory tone (in a slightly southern Missouri drawl) "I'm not from Marshalltown!" and walked off; although I envision her storming or stomping off.

*
I love Farkle so here's a Farkle standings update:

Gavin - 18
Jon - 16
Elijah - 15
Meg - 12

I've climbed out of the gutter. But Gavin is still the "King of Farkle." The other night Gavin said "when I roll good I think of bathroom soap dispensers." I have no idea what he meant. Both Megan and I asked but his explanation didn't make sense. Sense doesn't matter I suppose though: what he said was creative and funny.

*
I've finished the following books so far this month:

• Bill Rasmovicz, The World In Place of Itself
• One foot in the ethereal, one foot on the street corner. I liked it.
  
• Peggy Hamilton, forbidden city
• I'm not sure what to think about PH's forbidden city. All I can think about is a scene from episode one of the first season of Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia. If you know the show...I'll let you guess what scene I'm referring to...if you know PH's forbidden city.

Much more reading to go. But of course, I'm sure I'll purchase a bunch more books at AWP.

Pay Day

Tonight I've got nothing but bullet points:

• Today was pay day which meant Pay Day Sushi. A few of my colleagues and I celebrate pay day by going out for sushi.
• Megan forgot to pick me up from work. My call at 7:07 pm and went like this: "Hey Megan where are you?" I was expecting her to say "I'm on I-435" or "I'm a few minutes away...be looking for me." Nope. She said something like "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry...its past 7 isn't it." I didn't get home until after 8 pm because we stopped at Target for toilet paper and for a 6 pack of Guinness.
  
• I'm so one of those people.
  
• I ate two bowls of frosted mini-wheats for dinner.
  
• I drank a glass of Glinlivet and had a pint of Guinness for desert.
• I watched an episode of The Tudors.
• I'm definitely one those people: a mere food eater. I'm not complaining though...so is life: a few splashes here and there (or death defying dives) but mostly treading water. I just want to enjoy the scenery while I tread water.
  

I was checking out a few off-site events at AWP and there's a couple cool ones on Friday night definitely worth checking out:

6:00PM NO THOUSANDS: A Small Press Reading
Location: The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.
Cost: Free
Black Ocean; Cannibal Books; Forklift, Ohio; Octopus Books; and Rope-A-Dope Press Present: Dean Young, Johannes Gransson, Joshua Harmon, Claire Donato, Kevin Holden, Russell Dillon, Alexis Orgera, Eric Baus, Shane McCrae, Sampson Starkweather, and Chris Tonelli.

8:00PM Rabbit Light Live
Location: New Wave Coffee, 2557 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.rabbitlightmovies.com
Readings by poets Srikanth Reddy, Lisa Fishman, Lily Brown, Noah Eli Gordon, Arda Collins, Richard Meier, Sarah Gridley, Suzanne Buffam, Abraham Smith, Sara Veglahn, Jaswinder Bolina, and Christopher Stackhouse.

Black Ocean and Octopus Books are awesome. I don't know much about the other presses but if this event is any thing like last years event in Brooklyn it will be fucking cool.

Bills

Today I was thrown out of my routine. The day started well: after getting up at 6:15, drinking some coffee and what not, I read a little of Cate Marvin's Fragment of the Head of a Queen and wrote for an hour or so.

But then I got to work and had 3 hours of training which threw me all out of whack. I work for a bank, and as a result, I have a bevy of compliance related annual training classes I have to attend. Today it was Fair Lending which covered HMDA, the Fair Housing Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Community Recover Act. These are all very important anti-discriminatory acts in the real estate and financing realms but the training still disrupted my routine and put me 3 hours behind in what was an already busy day. But I'm not complaining...I like busy!!! I really do!!!

Tonight I have nothing interesting...I'm paying a months worth of bills because tomorrow's payday. I only get paid once per month so that means a lot of budgeting as well. But if I get done early there will be Glenlivet and beer to celebrate the completion of "bill day" and "pay day."

I wish I could blog about something more interesting but alas...it's not going to happen so I'll end things with one word: phenomenology. There, that's interesting.

Going to Bed Early

Why don't we rate poetry books the same way we rate movies: honestly. I know there's a fine line between dissing a book and dissing a poet but typically the only feedback in the e-ether or elsewhere on a book of poetry is either positive reviews in literary journals (or e-journals), glowing blog gush, etc. Occasionally there's an insightful blog though about a book of poetry with a positive slant.

So, unless I'm missing something, why don't poets, bloggers, reviewers, etc. say "I didn't like this book and this is the reason why" or "I give this a 1 star out of 5." We all know books exist that just fall on their fucking faces but no body wants to be honest. To be fair, I don't think it would be prudent to be insulting just to be insulting. That's not what I'm talking about. But are reviewers, bloggers, poets being dishonest by not talking about what doesn't work?

Of course, there are some lively conversations about post-avant poets, SoQ poets, flarfists, etc., etc. which teeter on the edge of being exclusionary, overly academic, and careerist. But is the only reason for a lack of honest criticism about the good, the bad, and the ugly in poetry because of fear regarding retribution, career roadblocks, etc., etc. Or is my comparison bad since movies are, primarily, entertainment and not art, and of course poetry is art so it can't be judged in the same way. Or perhaps film is art and poets should judge poetry by similarly honest and constructive (of course) means.

I rated The Other Boleyn Girl as a 2 star out of 5 stars on Netflix because I didn't like the move. What does this say about poetry?

I've ran out of thoughts and I'm bored. Megan is going to bed early tonight which means I'm going to watch an episode of The Tudors by myself.

Belated Christmas Book List

This is a little late but besides some new Fiestaware and cologne I received the following books for Christmas (most of which were purchased with several Barnes and Nobles gift cards):

Saul Bellow, Novels 1956-1964
Michelle de Montaigne, An Apology for Raymond Sebond
Craig Cotter, Chopstix Numbers
Linda Dyer, Fictional Teeth
Peggy Hamilton, forbidden city
David Mutschelcner, Esse
Ethan Paquin, The Violence
Lance Phillips, Cur aliquid vidi
Lance Phillips, Corpus socius
Carolyn Wright, Stealing the Children
Leslie Adrienne Miller, Yesterday Had A Man In It
Tina Brown Celona, Snip Snip!
Tina Brown Celona, The Real Moon of Poetry and Other Poems
Anthony McCann, Father Noise
Joyelle McSweeney, The Commandrine and Other Poems
Joyelle McSweeney, The Red Bird
Robert Creeley, Life & Death
Robert Creeley, Just In Time: Poems 1984-1994
Jerome Rothenberg, Vienna Blood & other poems

I guess you could say I've got a lot of reading to do. In addition to these books I found a bunch of books I thought I got rid of during "The Great Purge of 2006" (which I don't have time to get into right now). I found, among others, my The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara and Selected Poems of Robert Creeley which are both lovely editions from the University of California Press. I was elated and had to re-arrange my bookshelves as a result.

I want to rate each book after I read it. I love rating movies through Netflix. They have a very simplistic rating scale:

1 = I hated it
2 = I didn't like it
3 = I liked it
4 = I really liked it
5 = I loved it

I've developed a similar rate system but use a convoluted and nerdy scorecard to arrive at my rating. But I don't know if I'm going to post the ratings. It's more difficult to publicly rate a book of poetry than it is a movie. I'll probably go into more detail tomorrow.

Why I Do It

I'm a horrible blogger. I often feel too busy to post regularly: kids, job, kids, wife, kids, more kids, I wish more wife (I love you Meg), more job, and somewhere in there I try to fit in some writing. But ultimately I think there may be another reason why I don't blog more regularly. The reason is an unanswered question: why do I blog or what's the point of blogging?

By reading numerous "poet blogs" I could probably reduce the purpose of blogging into 5 categories: gratuitous self-promotion, less gratuitous self-marketing, promoting poetry (with a subtle hint of wanting to gain notoriety or attention from said promotion), social networking, and poetic/aesthetic conversation (either civil or uncivil conversations about contemporary poetics or aesthetics; although I would lean more towards poetic conversations because most of the individuals referencing aesthetics are often describing personal preference and not a philosophy of art). So, lets re-cap the categories with bullets:

• Gratuitous self-promotion
• Less gratuitous self-marketing
• Promoting poetry
• Social networking
• Poetic/Aesthetic conversation

I have no idea where I fall within these 5 categories. I suspect I have a little of each. But ultimately I hate self-marketing (it always feels gratuitous to me). I enjoy promoting poetry, I would like to network but dislike most people I meet, and I enjoy poetic/aesthetic conversations but find most of them long-winded, academic, and often misguided.

For example, I hate how poets refer to Ludwig Wittgenstein. I feel that, by and large, poets misinterpret Wittgenstein and use his work to support their own agendas, ideologies, aesthetics, etc. Also, most the time I don't give a fuck about the newest school of poetry that's developing or the newest literary theory or what so-and-so thinks about contemporary poetry because I would rather be reading and writing poetry than talking about poetry in such driveling, irrelevant ways.

Although I will say that Johannes Goransson's discussions and responses are very inclusive and non-dismissive. And Seth Abramson's discussions are lively and inclusive as well; although they are a little long-winded at times. Both of their blogs are refreshing and I'm not including either of them with my aforementioned comments.

So, why do I blog? I don't know why I blog which is why I'm having a difficult time finding a reason to continue blogging. Perhaps I need to follow BJ's lead and get more interesting. Perhaps I need to blog about more interesting topics which may provide more motivation and satisfaction from blogging. But alas, I have so little time and getting more interesting takes too much time.

I guess I'm just one of those guys. Tonight I'll be watching Arrested Development Season 3-the episode that exposes Mr. F. Of course, I already know who Mr. F is because tonight will be the third time I've watched Arrested Development Season 3.