Posted by Atticus on August 25, 2004, at 9:16:58
In reply to Re: poem ... Ned's Dead, posted by Jai Narayan on August 24, 2004, at 20:43:49
Hi Jai,
Sorry that you had a rough day yesterday. It's interesting that you picked up on my emphasis on rhythm, because that's an aspect of a poem that is important to me. For the poems about my teenaged years, I try to bring a rat-tat-tat, driving, punk-rock, staccato rhythm to the work; that's meant to reflect how my mind and emotions and perceptions seemed to operate at the time, and how I likely would have narrated the story if I was actually telling it back when it happened (I always use present tense -- I think it brings a greater sense of immediacy to what I'm trying to get the reader to experience). And for poems set in my "Tyrannosaurus Meds" period, I try to bring a quicksilver, angry beat to the lines and line breaks. Yet for "Ned's Dead," the rhythm is slower, more elegiac. And whenever a write about Pez, I notice later that the poems collectively tend to have some of the most elegant language and upbeat rhythms to them; that hasn't been conscious as much as a result of what thinking about her does for me emotionally. So I guess, ultimately, the rhythm of a particular poem is, as you suggest, in sync with the rhythm of my heart at that particular moment. But that changes day to day and even hour to hour. I mentioned before how I need to alternate tales of my misspent youth :) with pieces about life after 1996 when the depression really slammed me and took over my perceptions. Too many post-1996 poems can drag me too far down -- too much slow rhythm.
Actually, you set "Ned's Dead" in motion with your discussion thread about the wheat-based communion wafer in Social-Babble. That led my mind to drift to the last time I took communion, which was at Ned's funeral in late July. And that in turn elicited powerful emotional memories of how I felt at the event. The trigger was strong enough that this poem edged to the front of the line ahead of two other ideas for poems I had rattling around in my head. So I knew if I didn't get this one out first, it was just going to interfere with my ability to write the others. It's usually some little trigger that sets my mind on a particular event and brings me emotionally to a certain place; that's why the chronology is so helter-skelter.
The ending of a poem often takes me by surprise. I suddenly realize that I've laid out enough images to say what I wanted or needed to say, and so I wrap it up, and any unused images just end up on the cutting-room floor, so to speak. Hope you have a better day today. ;) Atticus
poster:Atticus
thread:381783
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040729/msgs/382072.html