The Language Book

I am so nervous for this weeks poem. After reading every one's blog I would have to say I feel more lost then they do. As I was reading the language assignment for today's class, I felt it was hard to understand what was going on. The poems we read were very abstract which made it hard for me to understand the purpose behind each and every poem in the book.
That being said, that was my first impression. After we had gone over some of the poems, I started to feel a little more at ease. I felt that everyone had the same feeling as I did coming onto class that day. As we all began to discuss the ambiguities found within certain examples I began to appreciate them more. For example, we talked about the ANTI-SHORT STORY. Carry had mentioned the meaning as if it was a poem alluding to a longer story behind this short story. Theo had mentioned the meaning as if it was a poem talking about a scenario, but the purpose was to ignore the beginning and the ending of it, and to just soak in the present moment which was "She's running for her bus."
This just happens to be my current feeling about the language book, but since my opinion has changed once, I'm sure it can happen again. So, who knows if I will actually enjoy writing my own form of Language poetry?

salt lines

so i went to the salt lines workshop since i missed the christain bok one, and it was pretty cool. we listened to each of the poets read some poetry and then we all discussed our feelings about the poems, and other feeligns that they brought up. one of my favorites was a poem one of the speakers read related her inner feminist, she called FIM, to knitting and the progression of hte poem made knitting seem like a common, almost mandatory, female activity at first and in the end it became a unique hobby, and somehow it was badass. it was cool to discuss the concepts of sexuality and gender identity with all of the speakers and each other. after each short discussion we got to do a free write session, being a workshop, and racked up about 5-6 writings total. we were able to share one or two at the end and get everyone, especially the presenters, feedback on our writings. it was ncie to go to a workshop the focused on a specific topic, rather than style of writing because all the feedback and thoughts were put to use over and over in each free writing session

The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E book

I don't know if my last poem would count for this language poetry/sound poetry. From reading the packet, I have gathered how much poetry has been changed to more concrete and deeper meanings than that of sound poets. The tribal sweat bath poem we read in class and just our whole discussion of this language poetry made me kind of understand more of what the purpose of these poems are. This kind of poetry seems to be more about the language/ words used in the poems than the content itself. I find this kind of odd, because I normally start out writing a poem with a certain concept in mind or a meaning I want to come across. I think the actually process of writing a language poem would involve so much effort or more than what I normally put into it, which is why I'm kind of afraid of attempting the assignment due on tuesday, because it is a language poem. I really have no clue how I'm going to go about writing it and I'm hoping we talk about it in class because my mind is not comprehending the possibility of me writing one of these poems. At times, I find myself completely confounded by the art of these poems that I really don't even want to try and write one. But since we have to for class, my best effort will go into the completion of one. I'm really hoping we talk about this in class and are given more examples to go off of. =/

L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E

I was reading the into to the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry handout and I thought that it brought up some really interesting ideas. It reminded me a lot of what Christian Bok said and some of the things Dominique talked about in her post. Bok talked a lot about how he decided never to write a poem about his feelings or own personal life experience, because he felt it made him a mediocre poet. He said he thought his success came primarily from his inventiveness with form and sound rather than writing about himself like the majority of other poets. The language handout seemed to also advocate this kind of abstract poetry that centers more on form and innovative use of language rather than actual content. I think this genre and brand of poetry can be incredibly interesting, but I also feel that poetry is in some ways losing a lot of it's readability and connection to the everyday reader. I feel that a lot of modern poetry can only really be appreciated by poets. In my own opinion I think the n+7 is the perfect example of this. I wrote one for my constraints assignment earlier this year, and I couldn't help but feel like I was playing madlibs and the product was nonsense. I don't feel like someone could just pick up an n+7, not knowing what it is and really appreciate it's linguistic virtue, because seemingly to most people it's just random nonsense. I know in techniques Theo talked a lot about the Oulipo and Dada movements and how a lot of contemporary art is considered art because of the process involved in creating it, rather than for the product created. I think is an interesting take on art, but I also wonder if art is moving towards more value placed upon process than product, eventually won't art only be appreciated by those who understand the process and not those who merely like to enjoy the product?

blog (with two dots over the O)

Of course this is a few days late because I alwaysalwaysalways forgot to post in here... yikes.
Seeing Christian Bok this past week got me thinking about the different genres of poetry and how hard everyone tries to keep breaking boundaries and going to the next extreme and there's gotta be farther we can push our writing and speaking isn't there?
But what is it all for?
I really enjoyed Bok's reading. The guy's pretty out there, and I agree that we need more writing like that. It's interesting, it makes us wonder why we've never thought of that before. And that goes with concrete poetry and poetry that uses words to create shapes and poems using letters solely for their sound. I particularly loved his works using all of the vowels and using only words that had those vowels in them. It really drew me in and had such an interesting sound because the way all the words sounded the same and each vowel gave each section a completely different feel. In conversational language we often forget that words SOUND the way they are meant to be felt... well, not always, but a lot of the time.
But, okay. How is this contributing to the greater writing world? To the world outside poets? Is it accessible? Does that even really matter? Are those writers just writing for other writers?
Trying out the sound poetry for ourselves was pretty fun. It's amazing the way we have to train our mouths to makes shapes they haven't made before. Can using unique sounds from other languages for the English language be made into a poem? How would we even know how to pronounce it?
And gosh I loved his idea of implanting poetry into DNA, although I had trouble wrapping my head around it. And the idea of poetry with Legos is pretty cool too... whose going for k'nex(t)? (That wasn't supposed to come off sarcastically, although it might seem like it.) I think that kind of poetry might be the next step... exhibitionist poetry? Demonstrative poetry? People performing poetry not just through their mouths and words in the streets. Contortionist poetry? Who knows who knows. And then... what's the border between poetry and other types of contemporary art? Are all the lines beginning to blur here? Have they always? What does it mean to be an artist these days anyway?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

late but great, book

The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur

I know this is a bit late but I still wanted to read this book and……Holy shit. It is amazing. I sat down to read it and was left wanting sooo much more after I had read the last poem. Tupacs poetry is so different than his rapping and if you couldn’t tell from his songs, his poems show that his words are truly form the heart and soul. I was blown away after reading some poems and am just motivated to write now. For the lovers of long elaborate poems, Tupac may not satisfy you b.c he works in a short-but-sweet style, but dam he says a lot. Many of the poems are working with somewhat predictable rhyme schemes, because he uses the common AB style in most of his poems giving them a somewhat romantic feel. He does branch out a few times to work with more contemporary styles being free verse or other experimental styles. One of the best parts of this book is its realistic feel. In both the physical sense, and the emotions that he conveys. What I mean by physicality is that every poem in the book has 2 copies, on adjacent pages. One is an exact photocopy of what he wrote in his notebook, and the other is a typed copy of the poems. The photocopy is awesome because you are getting more of the poets personality out of the poem. Tupacs handwriting gives you more information of the kind of man he was, or was at the time. Also he has his own loosely defined key he uses, but never defines, in his poetry. Many times he will replace the word ‘I’ with a small drawn picture of an eye. He also uses a lot of ‘AIM’ lingo we use or used to. 2= to, two, too; a heart= love, heart; U=you etc. the overall feel of reading the poetry seems entirely more authentic then when you see his handwriting and graphics, and doodles and pictures he has drawn within, or around the poem. The other reality is that everything he talks about is somewhat introspective about his life or struggles. Nothing is hollow like so many hip hop songs out there. Theres nothing about money, bitches, or hoes. Its all about the struggle of poverty, his emotions, admitting he cries, his search for his place in the world, what happens if he dies… tupac the poet, is very different, yet linked with, tupac the rapper. I would 100% recommend this book to every poet regardless of who they are, and anyone else for that matter.

Bok Bok!

I really had fun when Christian Bok came to our class. I found him to be very bright and entertaining. I was quite embarrassed when we had to perform. At first I felt like a chicken, but once we warmed up and we participated as a class I began to enjoy sound poetry.
Later on that night, when we had a chance to listen to some of his other work, I found it to be a little weird. I wondered what was he thinking while creating most of his works. I bet he disrupted the entire second floor of Sykes when he performed that monster from the opera Bok was in. No wonder he said that there is not many of his kind left, because no one else would do that!
However, I know what he meant when he said there is no one as good as him in his genre left as he referred to himself as being the "top dog of sound poetry." Knowing this particular case, whether he is acting out a lunatic monster or performing his Mario/Lego poetry, he is never the only one. He might be the best for now, but I definitely agree with Theo when she says, "only until someone else breaks and goes beyond Christian Bok's barrier."