For those of you on twitter - you absolutely must follow @proustr . It is Swann's Way 140 characters (or less) at a time. It is absolutely gripping in a way that yaaaawwnn Swanns Way kinduh just... isnt. todays post so far....
"He knocked again" yes thats it. thats all you get. Proust in nano- bitty bits. It is beautiful and I can really recommend it.
Tuesday 25 May 2010
Anthony, Burroughs and Sound
HI everyone this looks SUPER interesting- Anthony is a contributor (we will get him to explain more) it runs through june and july and ooks like a very interesting exhibit/experience that makes us look at words differently and how they can be employed.
Here is the link......
http://www.imagemusictext.com/project-listing/deadfingerstalk
Here is the link......
http://www.imagemusictext.com/project-listing/deadfingerstalk
Monday 24 May 2010
Assignment
So, what is everyone's first impression of the second long assignment?
I was immediately daunted mostly because I am doing the poetry option. I want to be tested on both and as the prose has been done.... I spent some time working through some ideas and a lovely little ideas has come through- i love it as a concept but I think the real test for this assignment is technical. It needs to be technically mastered as well conceptually and poetically presented. That said content is in a way chosen by the from. The same was true for the diary prose piece. There are only certain subject matters which will sustain themselves over the course of the 60 lines in a single sentence. The importance of employing rythm, repetition, rhyme etc in order to "fake a break" in this extended piece means that certain subjects will just run their course too soon. The other trap is that the form could encourage wild self indulgent ramblings. An interior monologue isnt any more interesting just because it employs a bit of clever syntax over 60 lines. And interior ramblings can just be lazy writing: emotional subject matter with pretty words does not a poem make. So the concept and word choice and I think very importantly, the narrative drive of the poem still needs to be kept tight for it to make any kind of impression.
For my own part I know I write very slowly because the first flush comes out either instantly or over a few days in pieces here and there which I work through in my head on long walks, BUT, the actual process of honing and finding the exact words in the right place takes weeks and weeks. You remember the "skinless voice" from my fox poem- many of you loved that phrase (thank you) - but just that 2 word combination took over 10 days there were any number of versions before i found 'skinless". I ust dont think words can be rushed. Soooo 60 lines? not so sure.... oh dear.....
What is everyone elses first impression? Anyone got ideas or thoughts? Would love to hear them- encouragement needed over here!
I was immediately daunted mostly because I am doing the poetry option. I want to be tested on both and as the prose has been done.... I spent some time working through some ideas and a lovely little ideas has come through- i love it as a concept but I think the real test for this assignment is technical. It needs to be technically mastered as well conceptually and poetically presented. That said content is in a way chosen by the from. The same was true for the diary prose piece. There are only certain subject matters which will sustain themselves over the course of the 60 lines in a single sentence. The importance of employing rythm, repetition, rhyme etc in order to "fake a break" in this extended piece means that certain subjects will just run their course too soon. The other trap is that the form could encourage wild self indulgent ramblings. An interior monologue isnt any more interesting just because it employs a bit of clever syntax over 60 lines. And interior ramblings can just be lazy writing: emotional subject matter with pretty words does not a poem make. So the concept and word choice and I think very importantly, the narrative drive of the poem still needs to be kept tight for it to make any kind of impression.
For my own part I know I write very slowly because the first flush comes out either instantly or over a few days in pieces here and there which I work through in my head on long walks, BUT, the actual process of honing and finding the exact words in the right place takes weeks and weeks. You remember the "skinless voice" from my fox poem- many of you loved that phrase (thank you) - but just that 2 word combination took over 10 days there were any number of versions before i found 'skinless". I ust dont think words can be rushed. Soooo 60 lines? not so sure.... oh dear.....
What is everyone elses first impression? Anyone got ideas or thoughts? Would love to hear them- encouragement needed over here!
Tuesday 11 May 2010
good websites from Liz
From Liz:
I have found a website, www.chapteronepromotions.com which has competitions, events, workshops, short story and poetry critiques, literary agents, writer's gallery, etc. I thought this would be useful to people in our class. They are currently running a poetry competition.
I found this while searching for jobs on Arts Hub UK (a website advertising opportunities in the arts - performance visual, writing, etc. This includes internships, jobs and competitions).
It's www.artshub.co.uk
thanks so much Liz you often find really interesting things for us to look at.
I have found a website, www.chapteronepromotions.com which has competitions, events, workshops, short story and poetry critiques, literary agents, writer's gallery, etc. I thought this would be useful to people in our class. They are currently running a poetry competition.
I found this while searching for jobs on Arts Hub UK (a website advertising opportunities in the arts - performance visual, writing, etc. This includes internships, jobs and competitions).
It's www.artshub.co.uk
thanks so much Liz you often find really interesting things for us to look at.
Thursday 6 May 2010
Anthony's Poetry Reading
Anthony is reading from his new volume this friday in dulwich- the details are below including info on Anthony's book and what the other poets will be reading,
http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2010/04/27/poets-and-the-elements-after-paul-nash/
http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2010/04/27/poets-and-the-elements-after-paul-nash/
Monday 3 May 2010
Anthony's next Gig!
The next Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band gig in London is on 27 May 2010 at McQueens in Shoreditch. Its free but you need to rsvp thethrowdownvolume1@gmail.com if you want to come.
Sonnets, workshopping and all that jazz
First up Narayani has sent info on the Poetry Society and Cafe (www.poetrysociety.org) and there some rather fabulous looking events, readings, workshops etc- I might even go wild and leave the wilds of suffolk for a few hours to attend a couple!
I apologise for being so lethargic in writing this blog for the last few weeks- the pressure of time and tiredness have been the victors.
So.... how are we all getting on with the sonnets? I am really struggling to understand the tensions between the formality of the form and the fluidity of how it "reads". Sonnets are so musical and when I read Keats or Wilfred Owen or any of them, they read so musically and naturally, they are very organic in how they flow and yet, and YET they are so structured and meticulous?! how do we do that? and get that balance? So far every attempt I have made just sounds laboured and artificial. Everything I write seems to scream : i'm a sonnett!!! when is should just read easily and beautifully. Some of it has to do with my lack of familiarity with hard rhyming couplets. I worry that no matter what I try and write it will sounds like one of those hideous hall mark wedding card poems (my love is like a red red rose, the more i know you the more is grows etc) or like something we had to memorise as children. Reading more modern sonnets from the 101 Sonnets book and online has really helped. I am still determined to write a formal structured sonnet properly before i write a loser more unshackled on. So far... not looking good.
The other part of the problem for me is that I have a complete mental block that a sonnet is something someone like me writes. Sonnets are what Shakespeare wrote. Shakespeare. So already the bar is set impossibly high and secondly it seems ostentatiously ambitious, arrogant even, to think I could even try. I am sure I wont have a sonnet ready to present in class. I feel this is going to be a slow burning project- but when I do finally have one i will present it here - triumphantly!
On to the workshops. Firstly thank you so everyone who took the time to read my poems. I appreciate it hugely as it does take time to read through someone else's work and come up with thoughtful responses. I took on board all your thoughts and your encouragement has also spurred me on to continue the Animal Cycle - I like to think of the as little messages from the animals, little fables translated from them into our language. For the sonnet exercise I am continuing the theme, possibly with a bumble bee or a falcon - I am working one both and we will see which one resolves itself best.
This week I am in the position of offering critque on other classmates work- Liz and Easlyn. I think it is such a powerful position and thus one which should be used with great trepidation. Because as novices we write so much from our own experience we are actually offering up a piece of ourself for critique. Perhaps this is why what is said without rancour of unkindness can be perceived by another as aggressive/ dismissive etc I can't remember where I read heard it, but i think the expression applies to our workshops: "tread carefully, you are stepping on my dreams". I love that, and think its nice to remember. Having said that- if we want to be mediocre writers we can simply ignore all criticism but if we want to be great writers (and here's a confession: i DO want to be a great writer, i'm not just doing this to pass time) then we need to take it all on board and take stock. After all we write for other people to read the work and if the readers are reflecting back to us that they don't get it/ don't feel it etc then we need to acknowledge that.
Hope you have all caught up on Anthony's performance on Jools Holland? it really made me think about creativity and how we can never be good let alone great writers if we restrict our creatives selves to a couple of hours a week or just between the covers of our note books. Rather our creativity needs to be authentic to our entire way of being. Anthony expresses his creativity in every way possible, words, music, visually etc. If we want to be writers we need to absorb art, music, literature, film, tv- everything! to feed our creative selves.
Hmm im rambling again.... too much time talking to animals does that to you, but at least I get some poems out of it occasionally ;)
I apologise for being so lethargic in writing this blog for the last few weeks- the pressure of time and tiredness have been the victors.
So.... how are we all getting on with the sonnets? I am really struggling to understand the tensions between the formality of the form and the fluidity of how it "reads". Sonnets are so musical and when I read Keats or Wilfred Owen or any of them, they read so musically and naturally, they are very organic in how they flow and yet, and YET they are so structured and meticulous?! how do we do that? and get that balance? So far every attempt I have made just sounds laboured and artificial. Everything I write seems to scream : i'm a sonnett!!! when is should just read easily and beautifully. Some of it has to do with my lack of familiarity with hard rhyming couplets. I worry that no matter what I try and write it will sounds like one of those hideous hall mark wedding card poems (my love is like a red red rose, the more i know you the more is grows etc) or like something we had to memorise as children. Reading more modern sonnets from the 101 Sonnets book and online has really helped. I am still determined to write a formal structured sonnet properly before i write a loser more unshackled on. So far... not looking good.
The other part of the problem for me is that I have a complete mental block that a sonnet is something someone like me writes. Sonnets are what Shakespeare wrote. Shakespeare. So already the bar is set impossibly high and secondly it seems ostentatiously ambitious, arrogant even, to think I could even try. I am sure I wont have a sonnet ready to present in class. I feel this is going to be a slow burning project- but when I do finally have one i will present it here - triumphantly!
On to the workshops. Firstly thank you so everyone who took the time to read my poems. I appreciate it hugely as it does take time to read through someone else's work and come up with thoughtful responses. I took on board all your thoughts and your encouragement has also spurred me on to continue the Animal Cycle - I like to think of the as little messages from the animals, little fables translated from them into our language. For the sonnet exercise I am continuing the theme, possibly with a bumble bee or a falcon - I am working one both and we will see which one resolves itself best.
This week I am in the position of offering critque on other classmates work- Liz and Easlyn. I think it is such a powerful position and thus one which should be used with great trepidation. Because as novices we write so much from our own experience we are actually offering up a piece of ourself for critique. Perhaps this is why what is said without rancour of unkindness can be perceived by another as aggressive/ dismissive etc I can't remember where I read heard it, but i think the expression applies to our workshops: "tread carefully, you are stepping on my dreams". I love that, and think its nice to remember. Having said that- if we want to be mediocre writers we can simply ignore all criticism but if we want to be great writers (and here's a confession: i DO want to be a great writer, i'm not just doing this to pass time) then we need to take it all on board and take stock. After all we write for other people to read the work and if the readers are reflecting back to us that they don't get it/ don't feel it etc then we need to acknowledge that.
Hope you have all caught up on Anthony's performance on Jools Holland? it really made me think about creativity and how we can never be good let alone great writers if we restrict our creatives selves to a couple of hours a week or just between the covers of our note books. Rather our creativity needs to be authentic to our entire way of being. Anthony expresses his creativity in every way possible, words, music, visually etc. If we want to be writers we need to absorb art, music, literature, film, tv- everything! to feed our creative selves.
Hmm im rambling again.... too much time talking to animals does that to you, but at least I get some poems out of it occasionally ;)
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