"from Winehouse," "Why Poetry" and "Gramercy Park"

We're going to spend some time talking and blogging about the long poem "Bicentennial" in class on Wed. night. I would like you to tackle one (or more) of the other poems on your own sometime this week.

Gramercy Park

This was two stories intertwined into one poem. The author jumps back and forth between the scenery of a war stricken city of Baghdad while also offering us an illustration of the scenery of Gramercy Park. An interesting combination of illustrations.

Bicentennial

I  was less interested in what this writing was about but more intrigued with the style. The way the author transitions from passage to passage. The final words of each passage were also the beginning words of the following passage. I couldn't find a connection between the passages. The only thing that I could see that connected them were those two or three words that ended the first passage and started the next. It is a very interesting way to connect his stories

Smalltown Lift

What makes "Smalltown Lift" a poem? It's listed w/ the poems in table of contents. Why wouldn't you call it a story?

The Difference

I can relate to this poem. This poem appears to be a description of  a dialogue between people about various political topics. They jump from topic to topic. They compare and contrast the different topics.

Porn by Dorothea Lasky

This poem really drew me in. The undertone in the poem is revovles around freedom versus captivity. In the poem the a women attempts to gain her freedom from her husband by having public sex with someone else. But the question is raised if the act is actually making her free. Then the attention is quickly shifted towards the reader. How free is the reader? The author is holding us captive with her provocative details in this short poem.

Stop Making Sense

Here's the scene I was talking about from Blades of Glory:

I think a lot of the time w/ poetry, we can become frustrated b/c we don't know what a poem "means." This is not to say that meaning isn't important. But I think we should also appreciate the way a poem sounds. For instance, the opening and closing stanzas from "Trouble in Mind":

 A heartvein throbs between her brows: Ketty-San's
incensed another joke's made at her expense... [hear that surprising rhyme?]

All nightlong, she scribbles her useless esoterica.
All daylong, mumblecored, she meeps,
meeps along.

I might say that I don't know what this poem is about. But I have images. I imagine a young Asian woman with that throbbing vein between her eyes. I imagine her making a "meep" sound, a character out of a mumblecore film (yes, a thing).

Which of the poems did you struggle with the most? Now read that poem again. Focus on just a portion of it, and try to figure out what it's doing. It's better, w/ poetry, to talk about words and images than overall effect. I think we can't know its true effect until we talk about its parts.

Poem Porn

In the poem "Porn," Dorothea Lasky captivates the reader by providing a beyond personal experience. The narrator uses porn as an escape which seems to confuse her even. Porn is described as horrific but also a distraction from her disastrous love life. The title and the scene referred to as Divorce Party was shocking since its seems to be such an improper reference. However, Lasky is able to use an uncommon reference and connect it to the idea of failed love encounters. This is a genius idea because most people watch porn and talking about it freely makes people uncomfortable. Like feelings of love, people stray away from the topic and prefer not go into detail about it. While the narrator says directly "I watch porn" and "...I'll never be in love." Both revelations that most will never confess. The second stanza is one of the most interesting because it can be interpreted various ways, the reader may question, "What love or sexual encounters has the narrator had with her ex-boyfriend, half brother, and boss?" The reader can draw references of peculiar relationships, harassment, or rape. The poem provides honesty and also leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions. These qualities make for good writing.

Smalltown Lift

This poem was very interesting. It seems to be about a couple. The author writes he/ she doesn't like bowling anymore and doesn't want to bowl anymore because it seems to be raining so instead they goto the photo booth to take pictures and one of them asks to tell each other one true thing. The character mentions "This is the best way I could think to have my arm around you". Then you hear click click click as if the pictures are being taken. It seems to be about a couple getting together for a first date from what I read. It's very interesting how the author explained the photo booth and a bowling ally. I really liked the poem and thought it was good.

Empire Building

The beginning of "XY" is my favorite and the most powerful part of the poem. Laird starts by comparing the use of a type writer to a great emperor. As if building or writing a piece of work is equivalent to building an empire. However, towards the end of the poem he knocks the idea since the task can become repetitive and dull. Despite this, in the end it all becomes worth while. This is similar to Brenda Shaughnessy's poem, "Life's Work." In this poem there is also a display of the same tedious task and a specific ongoing structure. Both poems reflect routine or order in which the individuals may not be satisfied. Most people, including myself tend to stray away from a lifestyle that becomes uniform and lacks variety.

The Essential Dream Car

As we watched the moon and sky thinking about our summer love life was easy moments bitter. Beneath the chocolate skin your gorgeous size and beauty through fall, winter, rain and mist. The one the essential dream car

Behind and Apart

Rock picture shot in shine
Swimming in a cool blue road
Never felt music as raw
Girl gone away to a place not so warm
She who is after me
Meaningful stare over my crush
but why cry frantically to mom
I could tell you but he will barely see
Let Go

Cindy Kumar, Felicia leguillow , Parsa Mahmood, Samir Corrales

dream car

as we watched the moon & sky
thinking about our summer love
life was easy; moments bitter
beneath the chocolate skin
your gorgeous size and beauty
through fall, winter, rain & mist
the one, the essential
dream car

Goddess a vision

Goddess a vision
of power manipulating the storm
driving my ship from water
sweet luscious diamond
repulsive smooth knife
dress white &  hair forest like
sing together an enormous moan
or maybe only a light chant


By Aisling, Erin, Karen and Walton

                                                               Gift Run
                                        By: Amanda, Veronica, Natalya, Kyle, Amber


      Those tongues whisper like symphony
       They spring under delirious worship

               when death screams
                   she will leave
             and soar on black wind

               Pounding chains
                with thousands
           rose and shadow ache

              Time hit their feet
                 like an iron sea.

Magnet Poetry

For those of you that are interested in this cut-up type of writing check out:

French Surrealists

William Burroughs, esp. his novel Naked Lunch

The Oulipo Group, esp. Raymond Queneau (Exercises in Style) and Italo Calvino (esp. Cosmicomics though he also has a book made up completely of stories inspired by random assortments of tarot cards).

Public Writing Project

Here's another way to meet the PWP requirement. You can either submit to Collective, attend one or more writing workshops (listed below) or all of the above.

Collective the QCC Student Literary Journal

Call for Submissions

Issue 2 - Voices

Everyone has at least one voice in which he or she communicate, and during our lives, most of us adopt many different voices for many different purposes. We speak and write differently in school, at work, and at home, yet each of us has an original, individual voice that carries our ideas and feelings.

For Issue 2 of the Creative Writing Club’s literary journal, Collective, we are looking for pieces of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that capture your individual voice. What do you have to say? What does it sound like? Does your voice involve multiple languages? How does your voice change when speaking at school, work, home, or online? What can you say that’s never been said before?

Possible Approaches

- stories, essays, and poems with a point of view

- stories, essays, and poems that are told in more than one language

- stories, essays, and poems about being or not being heard

- stories, essays, and poems about voices put on display, such as at concerts or events

- descriptive works of encountering new voices, cultures, or viewpoints

- writing that assumes the voice of another

- manifestos or statements of protest

In this issue, we hope to capture a diversity of student voices. We are looking for all kinds of writing from all kinds of writers and non-writers. If you have never written for yourself, we want to see what you can do. If you are interested in learning more, please join the creative writing club for the following workshops:

Collective, Issue 2 Writing Workshops  Wed, February 22^nd, 12:10 – 2 PM (L-117)

                                                                        Wed, Mar 1^st, 12:10 – 2 PM (L-117)

Artwork

In addition, perhaps you make art? Submit scanned drawings or photographs!

Submissions

Email final writing submissions, artwork, and any questions to Prof. Benjamin Miller at bmiller@qcc.cuny.edu  Please attach your work to the email. All writing submissions must be submitted as .doc or .docx.  Please do not submit .pdf files. Artwork can be submitted in .jpeg or .png. Be sure to proofread all work before submission. Works with significant grammatical errors will be returned for revision. Your submission will be reviewed and discussed by QCC creative writing students.

Final Submission Deadline                                   Mon March 20^th by midnight

We look forward to reading your work!

Possible ways to meet the Public Writing Project

Public Writing Project

To meet this requirement, you can go to a reading. Here are some listings:

http://www.bookforum.com/events/

And check out the Center for Fiction in Midtown:

http://www.centerforfiction.org/

They have frequent readings and even a literary magazine that you can submit to.

There's also the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the East Village:

http://www.nuyorican.org/

Bowery Poetry:

http://www.bowerypoetry.com/

And the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church:

https://www.poetryproject.org/

f you'd rather submit your writing to a publication, I'd suggest Newpages.com:

http://www.newpages.com/magazines/literary-magazines

or Poets &Writers:

http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines

Nowadays, many mags will allow you to submit your writing via the internet. We'll talk more about submitting your work, and I'd be happy to speak one-on-one w/ you about this too.

If you'd like to start a lit journal and publish yourself and your friends (inside or outside the class), I can show you how to set up your own blog on blogger (though there's lot of free platforms like Weebly and Wordpress). 

Other comments on the poems...

Which are your favorite poems in this week's reading and why? It might help to speak of the poems in pairs. It seems to me that "No Art" and "XY" are a certain kind of poem and "Life's Work" and "March of the Hanged Men" are another kind. I don't know if it's an accident that the first two are written by men and the last two written by women. What do you think? Is there such a thing as a gendered voice? Do these poems seem gendered at all?

"Life's Work" is pretty banal and its very banality is what, I think, makes it so thrilling. Fixing the pull--in fact naming the pull (how many of you knew those knobs were called that?)--is pretty simple, everyday stuff. How does Shaugnessy make it more than simply the act of fixing the pull (while, of course, never letting us forget that it's also about fixing the pull)?

March of the Hanged Men

This poem is what we call an ekphrastic poem. It's a poem inspired by art, in this case a painting. Check out the painting Resurrection that Youn refers to in the poem:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Piero_della_Francesca_-_Resurrection_-_WGA17609.jpg

Does seeing the painting help you understand the poem better? What is the connection between the ants and the painting?

Why is there no punctuation? What do the numbers do in this poem?

XY- Nick Laird

The poem I had the biggest challenge with understanding was XY. I took some notes while I was reading and it hasn't made it too much clearer for me. 
A theme of masculinity stands out. XY, the title, might refer to the sex determining chromosomes, Genghis Khan, a ruthless leader, and "maybe he goes in for all-in wrestling
but not for alternative medicine" all suggest a rugged masculinity but I am kind of stumped there. Anyone have any insight for me?

Brenda Shaughnessy, "Life's Work"

This poem stood out to me the most from our readings. I like how she focuses on this mundane task, the securing of the drawer pull, and transform it into a bigger metaphor, one that I understand to be that these little day to day tasks are what make life what it is.
"We used to say
that all the time to joke
we’d given up: “Screw it!”
But we hadn’t. Given up
that is."

In my reading of the poem, these lines to me are representative of the trying times of youth, where you just want to pack it all in, though you do not, you push forward, little achievements leading to a fruitful life. Though she fixes the drawer pull, she notes that the drawer falls open anyway, as though to say that try as she might to remedy some facets of life they continue to present issues for her, and instead of struggling and growing angry, or getting rid of the dresser all together, she gently pushes it closed with her knee. 

Inflluences

Aisling got us started on a good foot. Perhaps we should talk about our influences--either literary or not. I'm older than you guys, so for me there's so many, it's difficult to name them all, but I would say that a lot of late 20th Cent postmodern fiction--David Foster Wallace, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster--are big influences. But then also Latin American writers, 19th Century Russian, and Noir. And of course Toni Morrison. And Philip K. Dick. And don't get me started on film directors, song writers, and visual artists. Here's one of the best first lines in literature by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

--from One Hundred Years of Solitude