Chemotherapy
Cindy SmithIt should look more
dangerous than this.
They should pierce your vein
with a rattlesnake.
They should fill your shirt
with snow.
All these bare-skulled penitents
know it’s true.
This is the new Inquisition.
They will do anything to save you.
Posted with the author's permission.
Poetry Thursday had a really great prompt this week, but I don't have the time or energy it deserves just now. I did do my usual snapshot poem yesterday, and I'm going to send you to a current, ongoing conversation at The Well with poet and novelist Mary Mackey:
Mary Mackey is the author of four previous collections of poetry and eleven novels. Some of her works have been published by small literary presses; some have made The New York Times bestseller list. The poems in her new collection, "Breaking the Fever" (Marsh Hawk Press; www.marshhawkpress.org) have been praised by poets Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, Dennis Nurkse, Marge Piercy, and Al Young for their beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. Sometimes lyrical and mystical, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes fierce, and at times even shocking, Mackey's crisp-edged perceptions are, as Hirshfield has noted: "set down with a sensuous, compassionate, utterly unflinching eye."
Non-members are welcome: Join us, or email questions and conversational contributions to the Inkwell.vue hosts. This is a great discussion so far, which is the standard at The Well. If, after hanging out there a bit, you would like to explore The Well further, drop me a note.
[Today - including the middle of last night: 2274 words. So far: 39,506 words.]
Saturday morning, tired but inspired from Friday's adventures, I headed out to our newly renovated Missoula Art Museum for Montana Poetry: A Conversation, with Sandra Alcosser, Tami Haaland, Kim Anderson, Rick Newby, Beth Ferris, Arlynn Fishbaugh, Lowell Jaeger, Megan McNamer, Mandy Smoker, and Corby Skinner.
I was especially looking forward to seeing Beth, a poet and person I greatly admire. A bonus was a conversation with B.J. Buckley, another poet I've crossed paths with over the years, and whose work I like.
What a great setting this was -- a line of poets sitting at a long table in front of several works by Rudy Autio -- facing a room full of poets. Introvert though I am, I felt at home.
I did take some notes, and will offer a list of websites to visit at the end of this post, but NewWest offers audio of this conversation -- you can go listen to it yourself. There are so many projects and books in process; now including a Missoula poetry critique group, the organization of which has been delegated to me. Those who signed up at the conference will hear from me in the next few days; if any of you are interested, email me.
Some links from the poetry panel, and a brief wander amidst the tables:
I was surprised at the late entry onto the web of many of these organizations -- and that there weren't more offerings at the conference for web-based writers. Perhaps because it's the Montana Festival of the Book. Still, lots of us are online, and I expect that future conferences will offer more on web-based writing and publishing.
Next time, let's arrange a bloggers' lunch. Yes?
This week's idea is to write like anyone but you. You might choose to write like your
favorite poet, your favorite actor, a relative of yours, or someone you
know whose worldview is very different from your own....
I may do this later today, but in the meantime, something better -- a pointer to visit one of my favorite poets -- and favorite people -- Erin Noteboom. THE RECORD just did a piece on Erin and her bright & brilliant family:
Literary powerhouse
WEB EXTRA: Literary excerptsFamily ties are only part of what pulls the Bows together. The writers are also bonded by creative energy and unbridled support for each other's passions.
BARBARA AGGERHOLM
Click here for samples of writing from Erin Noteboom and Patricia Bow.
(Sep 9, 2006)
They're always percolating, this "screech" of writers.
Fictional characters walk, skip, gallop through their imaginations.
When the baby's napping, when the coffee's cooling, when the full-time jobs are done for the day, poet Erin Noteboom and fantasy fiction writers James Bow and Patricia Bow let loose another part of their brains.
Then, the threads of ideas jotted in notebooks, details tucked away in memory, take shape on the computer screen.
Eventually, they become poems that grip the heart and novels mesmerizing enough to persuade even reluctant young readers to read into the night with a flashlight.
The three Kitchener writers -- this year's judges for the Grand River Life short story contest -- are linked by blood and marriage.
Still more, they're bound by a passion for storytelling, for reading and being read.
"There's a lovely feeling of connectedness," Patricia says.
Noteboom, 34, is an award- winning poet whose haunting poems, startling in their detail, about a Second World War infantryman took the CBC Canadian Literary Award in 2001, among other honours. Carol Shields and Alice Munro have also won the prize.
As Erin Bow, she's a physics graduate and writer at the University of Waterloo, where she translates technical engineering research, reports and other material into something the public can understand.
. . .
While writing is necessary and rewarding, it also costs.
A poem on Erin's website describes the creative life. It's called: "Things I don't say to the woman beside me in the bookstore reading How to be Creative If You Thought You Never Could.''
In part, it says:
"Be careful. A joy but not
a comfort. If you sew
you will wear needles, know
too much of seams . . .
Wait. Once you wake,
you wake to everything.
It is an eye stitched open."
. . .
ERIN NOTEBOOM: DEPTH AND DETAIL
People forget to breathe when they discover Erin Noteboom's poetry.
Her images are so detailed, so vivid, so honest that readers are startled by how much they feel. Having found Erin's works in progress on her website, in Canada's literary journals or her two poetry books, readers return again and again to relish her vision.
They see what they've never seen before -- the image of a woman thrusting white sheets into soldiers' arms to camouflage them in the snow. And they see themselves in everyday life -- celebrating a honeymoon, mourning a beloved sister, making sense of the divine.
"I think what really grabs me is her ability to create a sense of vast sadness and depth -- historical and spiritual depth -- with a very few restrained words," said Patricia Bow, commenting on one of her favourite poems by Erin, Brady's Ghosts, posted on her office wall. "And she has an eye for the one detail that will capture everything . . . ."
At 34, Noteboom's poetry has already won many awards. Her first book, Ghost Maps: Poems for Carl Hruska, is filled with "blood-warm imagery, the taste of a story, and a rare, hard-won wisdom," acclaimed poet Lorna Crozier says on the book jacket.
Noteboom's second book, Seal Up the Thunder, features biblical stories and characters. The poetry is sometimes playful, always respectful. It's "an elemental poetry of bones, salt, water, dust and at the same time a celebration of all things holy," American poet Jane Hirshfield said in a blurb on the book jacket.
The book received other good reviews. But it inspired strong feelings among some readers who objected to Erin's interpretations. They wrote her venomous letters.
But Erin isn't afraid of intense feelings. She doesn't flinch when she writes about war and faith, and she doesn't flinch when she writes about herself: about growing up in Nebraska; surviving a brain tumour; about the drowning death last year of her only sister, Wendy Ewell; about her passion for James and their 10-month-old daughter, Vivian.
She wrote in May:
"for one week, oak leaves
the size
of my daughter's feet"
After the death of Wendy -- a talented artist, "a gardener, a painter of wildflowers" -- Erin wrote powerfully, eloquently. Erin was six months pregnant when her sister died.
"There's a certain act of breaking the silence," Erin said. "People are reluctant to talk about grief almost as if they fear it will be contagious."
She wrote "yellow bird" -- a piece connecting grief and birth -- which she believes could be her longest-lasting work. It's written in haebun sequence, a Japanese form combining prose and haiku.
Recently, Erin has been writing fewer poems and more journal entries. Her editor wants to publish her thoughts over the first year of her baby's life. She's also working on a novel featuring a talking cat. It will be "like a fairy tale, a bit on the dark side," she said.
Besides her family, Erin relies on the wisdom of a group of women authors, The Hopeful Writers. The women are drawn together by shared skills and beliefs. "You can say: 'I wrote a seven-page poem about my sister's death and it's fabulous,'" and they understand, Erin said.
Erin continues to post poems on her website, a practice she admits is unusual for a published poet. But delighted new readers tell her they've found treasure.
"I'm trying to reach people who might not otherwise read poetry."
. . .
This is just a small part of the article; go read the rest -- but most importantly, go read Erin's blog.
The photo is from the article -- that little one? That's Vivian. A child I've never met, but who, through the magic of the internet, brings me giggles and joy on a regular basis.
what is poetry for?
this silence
A reminder: Jane Hirshfield is engaged in a conversation about poems, poetry, and other matters at The Well. This conversation is open to the public, and you are invited.
I've been reading Ted Kooser's The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets. Yes, I've been doing this for nearly twenty years, and I'm still a beginner.
I do recommend it for beginning poets; he offers lots of technical reminders they will find useful. He also offers some observations and opinions that I think apply to almost any creative endeavor -- and since I like what he says, I'm going to share some of it with you:
SB - sometimes after reading one of your "snapshot" poems, I feel a sudden, inexplicable desire for a cigarette...
Hmm. Enough for one day?
Linda, as always, was great. She speaks from a deep place. The title of her talk was A Spiritual History of the Living World. I took almost no notes, but Niki did, and perhaps she will post from them at some point; if she does, I will link to it. Also, public access television recorded it, so I will post when it airs.
Linda spoke of language, and how it influences the way we see, and live in, the world. She reminds us that the whole land has stories, and they are not all told in English.
She read some poems, some I know, and some new ones -- a new book of poetry, and a new novel, will be out soon.
She said: We are all a part of this endlessly creative universe.
She spoke of spiritual ecology. She says that poetry is helping us get there -- to a new way of being in and with the world.
This reminded me that the work I do -- the work I try to do -- is important.
And yes, I have noticed the synchronicity with what we are doing in this Artist's Way group.
The questions after her hour plus presentation went on for another hour -- lots of earnest, mostly young people. Just an aside: many of those young people stepped right out of the late 60's/ early 70's -- witness the photo below. We saw tie-dye t-shirts and macrame necklaces. If not for the high-tech room and the plastic water bottles, we could have been back in our own college years.
Later, at dinner, as I tried to evade questions about what I do, Linda said: She's a poet. She's a really good poet.
Continue reading "The Artist's Way ~ Linda Hogan & Other Poets" »
My friend Niki made this for me last year (the year before?) and it's been on my pinboard ever since. I wish the scan were better; this is so beautiful, color, texture -- that just doesn't show here. Those dots on the upper right sparkle. Click to see it larger.
This is a very special day for me -- this evening I'm going to go hear Linda Hogan read. Any of you who are in, or can get to Missoula for this -- don't miss it! I will never understand why every reader does not know her name.
May all of your days be as special as this.
A review of Erin Noteboom's Seal up the Thunder, at prairiefire. Not as good as reading the book, which is a marvelous gift, but still:
Petition, dramatic monologue, Psalm, sonnet, call and response, riddle, gloss, free verse, and benediction--Erin Noteboom plunders biblical and modern lyrical styles for this original, joyous book. By turns mournful, oracular, incantatory, and funny, she is never smug or preachy. Rather, Seal up the Thunder is remarkable poetry on scripture, which recalls the sinuous, odd lyrics of Pier Giorgio Di Cicco. . .
Ron Silliman notices that most of his commenters are men, and many persons of both genders respond. I notice that I rarely comment there myself -- or on other poetics blogs. I do read them fairly often, and do some thinking about the ideas they discuss. But I find, generally, that I am less interested in poetics than in poems, and far less confident of my thinking than the men who comment.
From bhikku, 18th november 2005
Thoreau's Journal: 27-Nov-1857
This most excellent canopy, the air
I must have more energy . . .
. . . because I've washed my teapot
& we end, again, with Erin, because I'm in love with this piece: Manna
Oh, yes -- and a note to Sour Duck: I think that stumbling into their blogs cursing and exclaiming how well they write is a fine way to make blog buddies.
I woke this morning to a note from Erin, that her beloved sister Wendy died this weekend while vacationing in Mexico. Wendy was thirty years old.
Erin has written about this here.
Life is seeming particularly cruel these past weeks; my small garden is not large enough to contain it, and far too small to balance it.
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