Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Oh I'm bored bored bored

Truth: boring
Binaries: boring
Reversing binaries: boring
Reversing hierarchies: boring and possibly not very effective
Cultural critique: boring but necessary
Handwringing: boring

1. I don't believe most of poetry and literature can have a measurable effect on politics, power, or violence.
2. I admit that I'm very interested in intangible effects, and admit that sometimes there are tangible ones, but that is not why I make poems.
3. I make poems for individual readers, not groups or nations or countries. Rather, I make poems for groups of individuals.
4. I'd like people other than my friends and would be friends to read my work, and I must constantly try to find new ways of doing this, but I'm super happy that my friends and would be friends read my work.
5. I admit that I wish I were independently wealthy.
6. I enjoy parties, teaching & exercise. Also, I like makeup and cosmetics.
7. I like poems to be investigations.
8. Love joy death sadness are still good topics for a poem.
9. I like to travel.
10. The idea of the lone romantic poet making it in the world alone against the world bores me. I could make a far-fetched but relevant argument connecting that idea to a US suburban love of privacy.
11. I like to go away and then write poems about the people I've left and hence better understand lyric.
12. It is impossible to completely know what another person is feeling, but I wish to make intelligent guesses and imagine it endlessly.
13. I like teaching. I think it's possible to teach people how to approach a poem. I prefer to use "difficult" work to do this, because difficult work calls more attention to the fact that it's something that was made. Once we can think about how something is made, we can think about ways of reading it. This doesn't always work.
14. I worry that I don't read enough contemporary poetry now. I used to get a lot of my new poetry through readings. I like readings. I remember things better if I hear them. I need to download more poetry and listen to it.
15. I am researching date farming.

1 comment:

mark wallace said...

Boredom: Boring to feel. Fantastic to write.