POST OF JAN. 22, 2012


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Remember, you're bringing additional poems, although
if you need extra time feel free to bring four to six pages
a week from Tuesday. As for tomorrow, again, we want
to take what's there and project forward--what will what
we have in our hands possibly look like when we stretch
it to 24 pages? Are we looking at a suite of poems that
vary in subject matter or something that is setting itself up
as a stylistic sequence? Compare Jeff's somewhat "slam"
poetry style to Karie's intense lyric. Maybe, just maybe, a
sonnet sequence is called for (I'll present an idea for
such a thing that's not old fashioned). Also, I want
everyone to do an Ashbery poem, and don't want you to
freak out. It's fun. I think it communicates something
important about poetry . . . Jessica and Rachel Barrett
have blogs (I noticed Jordan has one as well). I want
you to post your poems there BECAUSE . . . One of the
best ways to KNOW your work is to see it anew several
times. One way to do this is to put a poem away in a
drawer and let time erase the writing of the poem from
your memory. When you see it again it's almost like
"Who wrote this?" But this kind of remove from your
attachment to your work is achieved by 1. Reading
your poem outloud and 2. Posting your poem for the
"public" to see. Even if you choose strict privacy settings
it still works. So this isn't an empty exercise. It's a
new form of "publishing" after all.