Contemporary poetry strays from traditional ideas of a poem: rigid structure, definitive rhyme scheme, commonly about nature or love. Poetry exemplifies and dissects certain internal states, tracing racial, political, and gendered themes of universality and solitude. At my university, I’m currently enrolled in a class dedicated to Contemporary American Poetry where we discuss the complexities of this genre. I’ve found studying poetry makes me a better writer. This comes from the emphasis on dissecting details, utilizing a larger context as reference, and reconciling metaphors with the reality which poetry embodies. Details: I understand poetry is not for everyone. It’s confusing, sometimes upsetting, and not everyone connects to it. Like any other form of writing, the participation of the reader is as important as the author’s. Poets and readers alike must make an effort to be conscious of the connections between words and their referents in reality. This sense of awareness also yields a better comprehension of the details in poetry. The most compelling part of poetry, in my experience, is the deep attention to detail. For example, Claudia Rankine uses her profound awareness of micro-aggressions to detail one moment’s “intended targets, all the meanings behind the retreating seconds.” Rankine develops in her poem these daily occurrences of oppression to turn the mundane into the profane. With every poem I read I am more astounded by the level of concentration to the details which she describes with such fervor. Noticing them in written works creates a distinctive awareness of including them…
I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart’s core. W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” Last Sunday, as part of the 9th Works-In-Progress reading at Buffalo Street Books, local writer… [Read More]
Filed Under: Bill Chaisson, Buffalo Street Books, childhood, landscape, Local authors, place, poetry
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Swenson Book Development, LLC works to match an author’s project with an agent or publisher. Our success in doing so makes many people wonder how we do it. Drawing back the curtain on the Wizards of Bookery, we reveal one of the methods employed in our toolkit to serve our clients’ objectives. Publisher’s Marketplace is the largest online network of publishing professionals. Our professional subscription… [Read More]
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