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Poetry Is Doomed #15: The Mail Bag Remix
(Wherein the author takes your missives and dismisses them handily with wit, keen insight and a reference to alien invasions.)
People frequently send me email on the heels of one of these columns. Most are supportive (“Keep kicking ‘em in the teeth!”), some derisive (“I want to punch you in your trachea”), and some are filled with requests for information (“Do you know where I can find a poem about kicking someone in the trachea?”).
We have arrived at the point in this column where I have accumulated enough good questions and snarky responses to make a few reasonable letters columns, of which this shall be the first. Let’s jump right into it, shall we?
Q: How can I become a famous poet?
A: Tell me when you find out.
While there are plenty of famous (by anyone’s scale) poets, I am not one of them. I wake up every morning and go to work until; about 6:00 PM, then get in the car and come home to then be a poet. When I can wake up and skip that whole first step? Then I’ll be a famous poet.
My recommendation for beginning poets is that they strive to be infamous instead. That way you can at least have some fun on your way to your likely obscurity. Really, that you want to be famous instead of good (because 99% of the people who ask me how to become a famous poet already think they’re good; they just want to know why they’re not famous too) should be a red flag for you. It isn’t 1996 anymore, when you could go out and do whatever because most people hadn’t seen performed poetry before so it was all at least compelling. If Love Jones were released today even non-poets would be laughing at it. I can think of five poets at my local open mic whose work is better than most of the poetry in that film and they suck.
Be good. There are all kinds of “famous.” Hustle (but don’t be a hustler).
Q: Does work that is performed have to work on the page?
A: No, but it sure would be nice.
I have a very unforgiving philosophy at play here: I’m one of those people who think that when one shares work publicly by way of the body, it becomes a performance poem (or at least a performance version of a poem). Yes, even work that was never meant to be shared that way (remember: this is from the guy who performed Ron Silliman’s “The Chinese Notebook”).
The means by which an audience receives something has everything to do with how it will be received. No less than twenty-five conditions are activated from when a poem is delivered to an audience member live…some of which aren’t a factor when the poem is being read off of paper. By virtue of the delivery device a poem demands a difference in absorption that reading does not, regardless of how poor or grand that performance is. So yes, even the dry, academic “reading” is an act of performance poetry (by the basest of definitions in most cases, unfortunately).
There are plenty of people who don’t believe this, but this isn’t their column. Be that as it may, I offer this tip of the hat to the other side: they miss a lot of good poetry that, because it works better (or only) performed, is dismissed. I enjoy a lot more poetry than they do, or at least I do so more often.
Making poetry work on the page as well as the stage is something that a poet should strive for, but it shouldn’t handicap their ability to write, share or enjoy it otherwise.
And one more:
Q: Isn’t it the job of the poet to tell the truth?
A: No.
The job of the poet is to write poems. YOUR job may be to tell the truth, but it is not MY job. It may not be the job of the poet next to you either. Maybe their job is to get you to vote for Ralph Nader. Maybe it’s to warn us of the impending alien invasion from Sirius 6-X. I don’t know; the cast next to you is weird-looking and I don’t have the guts to ask.
Even better, think of all the great poems you’ve ever heard or read. Is one of them The Odyssey? How about 90 percent of Silverstein’s canon? Any of that sound vaguely true? Because if it is, I’m going to build me an ark and go find some sirens, or at the very least stop taking my alligator to his regular dentist. I wouldn’t dream of not writing a great poem simply because the premise wasn’t fact.
Well, that about does it for this first installment of Poetry Is Doomed: The Mailbag Remix. Check back soon for my next column, more than likely about poetry, but even more likely about how the art form is doomed.
Submitted by ScottWoods on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (12:38:24) (1975 reads)
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #15: The Mail Bag Remix
(Score: 1 )
by Tony on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (13:22:05) |
Good one, Mr. Woods.
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #15: The Mail Bag Remix
by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 (17:38:36) |
I'm going to cross post this on the Vancovuer Poetry House website if that's ok.
Good stuff.
RC
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #15: The Mail Bag Remix
by Anonymous on Monday, September 22, 2008 (02:50:21) |
good work. please post more!
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