Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 4:49PM in the chamber
I am surprised that I managed to pull of the radio show this am (on haiku) because pretty much since my first cup of coffee my head has been ringing with a new poem called "The Executioner's Song."
I have been deeply sunk in writing it all day....it is rough, really rough (and no, I am not going to post it yet) but shaping up to fit somewhere between "Monster" and "Requiem for a God."
No big shocker that what pushed me into writing it, although the topic is a constant thought for me, was that dude tweeting that man's execution announcement. If I had a pot of coffee in front of me I would rail about that...maybe not...I think...I am saying it better in the poem. I hope I am saying it better there. But I am trying to synthesize the whole issue, and praying to god it is somehow....I don't know....it is very tricky to handle political and social issues in art I think. I mean, there is the whole preaching to the choir aspect, but when you try to sort of push out to engage someone who either a) may disagree with you or b) have no real interest in the subject....it's like the rules change. Then there is the whole aspect of whether or not you want it to remain specific and identifiable to one event, or if you want it to possess the ability to take in the past, present and future of the issue.
I have no idea if that makes sense. I do know that I have a headache from concentrating on it for hours straight.
The funny thing is, one of the things that is sort of tripping up the editing and writing is the haiku. In doing all the research for the show I had to learn all about the nature of how imagery is used in the haiku and "unfinished bridges" and I wrote my first draft and went back and had a big moment of "ugh" with my imagery.
So I have spent about 5 hours today nipping and cutting, writing a little more and rearranging, erasing some things.
I have not been doing anything that I am supposed to be doing..but that is all fine.
It feels good to be in that space and time when writing is possible. The funny thing is...haiku is something that originally held little appeal for me. I did the show because someone who knew that I was going to be doing short features on forms and styles asked me to focus on haiku because of the confusion about it. IN the process, I think, in the description of the imagery and the way it is handled I wound up not only....suddenly being able to write something that has been percolating for a while, but am looking at it with a sort of...different set of...tools for lack of a better word.
Which even if I blah-blah and constantly harp on studying different styles being such a great way to learn about your own voice and style...you know...you forget to go do it yourself.
So here I am with something that has started that I am beginning to be pleased with and at the same time recognize it is just not ready to leave that cocktail napkin yet.
On father's day, on a day of one of the highly anticipated games of the World Cup, during a thunder storm, I am curled up against my desk picking delicate words.
How strange.
What is also different is the phrasing and rhythm of the new piece. It has been bugging me for month's that I seemed to be defaulting to a repeated pattern, which is fine, but hasn't been...meeting the need for some of the new stuff I have been trying.
Ugh ok....
btw
here is chapter 2 of part 2 of What is wrong with the world by GK Chesterton
The Wisdom of the Weather
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Reader Comments (2)
I loved the show and had no idea beyond the 5/7/5, so I, of course, arrived thinking I knew all about it...ha-ha-ha... :-)
You know, like I said in the post, I am not a haiku kind of person but even so, by the time I got done I was all fired up about my new one and went back and wrote for hours but I also found myself looking at it with some very haiku like consideration, which is different. But I like the way it is shaping up.
I am doing my personal fave next time, the ghazal, and then on the prowl for forms and types I normally wouldn't be drawn to.