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Graverobbery
Jan. 26th, 2005 07:53 am
Today is one of those days where I feel completely unmotivated and uninspired. This happens a lot when I work six days a week. I just can't seem to get my stuff right. What I say comes out wrong, and I don't have the inclination to adequately explain myself. I end up making snafus, and there's this little voice in my head that goes "You should probably fix that." But really what I do is just kind of sit and stew on it for a little while, and the window passes, and blah.
These are the days when I feel like just being quiet and taking time to view the world passively, retreating into my own headspace to think or vegetate or whatever. But I can't do that today! The world stops for no one, and there's work and Nick's game this evening, not to mention a confrontation with my hair stylist (look at me, I have a *stylist* now) about why she isn't working there any more and where I can find her so I might get my hair braided. Ugh. I just want to crawl back into bed.
But then, Amelie shows me it might not be so bad. :)
I picked up a book yesterday, On Love by Alain de Botton. He also wrote How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy (note the 's'). It's sort of 'smart self-help' like his other books, only this one is in novel format. I have a feeling, however, it's more semi-autobiography than fiction. de Botton explains the many feelings and pitfalls of the romantic experience, and it's taught me a new thing or two (did you know, for example, there's a kind of phobia of being truly happy?). I might actually slip it in before Ender's Game and/or Dune. I'd also like to read Watership Down maybe, because I haven't yet.
Oh! So now's as good a time as any. What is poetry?
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yunage asked me this question several million years ago, back when plastics were new and the BeeGees were the dominant band on Earth. I've been thinking a lot about it, and I thought I might go about it the nomenclative way and kind of engineer a 'proper' definition from that. But that's just asking for someone to poke holes into your Swiss cheese ship, and I really don't feel like doing all of that plugging. Besides, poetry, like almost any art, is a highly subjective medium that is almost impossible to get anyone to agree to a proper definition for. A dictionary online is completely useless in this matter as well; it defines poetry as "the art or work of a poet" and other definitions are similarly lacking. Isn't there some kind of law against using the word (or its root) in its definition?
Anyway, poetry is really...an esoteric thing, so the best I could do is come up with a personal definition and see if it sticks.
Poetry, to me, is a literary photograph; to stretch the metaphor further, short stories are short films and novels are movies. Like the photograph, you're aiming to give the audience the same amount of emotional impact in a much smaller space, so all of the ingredients that you can take for granted in longer forms (words, placing, cadence, meaning, et al.) can't be taken for granted here. You HAVE to do more with less.
That's the challenge, and one of the greatest joys I find in the medium; finding a way to say the most with the least amount of words. The blocks you have to build with are much more basic, and while there's a definite finesse to the way you can very slowly build a story with novel-length writing, there's sheer artistry in getting someone to cry or laugh or ponder in several lines. The writing here takes on a different kind of life; instead of being able to point directly to an experience (because you simply don't have the time), poetry only allows that you point them in the general area and trust that they find the spot you 'lead' them to on their own. I think this is a large part of why poetry is so subjective; true, there are people who are better at being indirect and coy and economical about leading people places, but a much larger portion of what the audience gets out of it depends on the audience. The audience has to *want* to take a walk, and do a little bit of searching. In my opinion, it's the job of the poet to simultaneously point and awaken the desire to take a look around.
To bastardize a saying: All poetry is like pointing to a reflection of the moon. You can show them, but it's their job to look up to experience the moon directly for themselves.
And that's, more or less, what poetry is to me.
These are the days when I feel like just being quiet and taking time to view the world passively, retreating into my own headspace to think or vegetate or whatever. But I can't do that today! The world stops for no one, and there's work and Nick's game this evening, not to mention a confrontation with my hair stylist (look at me, I have a *stylist* now) about why she isn't working there any more and where I can find her so I might get my hair braided. Ugh. I just want to crawl back into bed.
But then, Amelie shows me it might not be so bad. :)
I picked up a book yesterday, On Love by Alain de Botton. He also wrote How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy (note the 's'). It's sort of 'smart self-help' like his other books, only this one is in novel format. I have a feeling, however, it's more semi-autobiography than fiction. de Botton explains the many feelings and pitfalls of the romantic experience, and it's taught me a new thing or two (did you know, for example, there's a kind of phobia of being truly happy?). I might actually slip it in before Ender's Game and/or Dune. I'd also like to read Watership Down maybe, because I haven't yet.
Oh! So now's as good a time as any. What is poetry?
yunage asked me this question several million years ago, back when plastics were new and the BeeGees were the dominant band on Earth. I've been thinking a lot about it, and I thought I might go about it the nomenclative way and kind of engineer a 'proper' definition from that. But that's just asking for someone to poke holes into your Swiss cheese ship, and I really don't feel like doing all of that plugging. Besides, poetry, like almost any art, is a highly subjective medium that is almost impossible to get anyone to agree to a proper definition for. A dictionary online is completely useless in this matter as well; it defines poetry as "the art or work of a poet" and other definitions are similarly lacking. Isn't there some kind of law against using the word (or its root) in its definition?Anyway, poetry is really...an esoteric thing, so the best I could do is come up with a personal definition and see if it sticks.
Poetry, to me, is a literary photograph; to stretch the metaphor further, short stories are short films and novels are movies. Like the photograph, you're aiming to give the audience the same amount of emotional impact in a much smaller space, so all of the ingredients that you can take for granted in longer forms (words, placing, cadence, meaning, et al.) can't be taken for granted here. You HAVE to do more with less.
That's the challenge, and one of the greatest joys I find in the medium; finding a way to say the most with the least amount of words. The blocks you have to build with are much more basic, and while there's a definite finesse to the way you can very slowly build a story with novel-length writing, there's sheer artistry in getting someone to cry or laugh or ponder in several lines. The writing here takes on a different kind of life; instead of being able to point directly to an experience (because you simply don't have the time), poetry only allows that you point them in the general area and trust that they find the spot you 'lead' them to on their own. I think this is a large part of why poetry is so subjective; true, there are people who are better at being indirect and coy and economical about leading people places, but a much larger portion of what the audience gets out of it depends on the audience. The audience has to *want* to take a walk, and do a little bit of searching. In my opinion, it's the job of the poet to simultaneously point and awaken the desire to take a look around.
To bastardize a saying: All poetry is like pointing to a reflection of the moon. You can show them, but it's their job to look up to experience the moon directly for themselves.
And that's, more or less, what poetry is to me.
