cal's comments (member since Jul 09, 2008)

cal's comments from the Dead Poets Society group.

In honor of Tom Disch, poet, the Dead Poets Society will be flying his photograph as our banner for a proper period of mourning.

Thomas M. Disch never had a large mainstream following but was considered one of the most important sci-fi authors of his generation. He wrote nonfiction and poetry, as well as "The Brave Little Toaster," made into a Disney movie.

Disch, 68, who has been called one of the most important science fiction writers of his generation, fatally shot himself in the head July 5, according to the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Friends said he was found dead inside his New York apartment.

Disch also wrote poetry, drama criticism, book reviews, opera librettos, plays, children's books and an interactive computer novel.

"Tom Disch is one of the few people I have ever met who I would consider a genius," said Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. "He was like a brilliant child in the richness of his imagination, although certainly no child had as dark and twisted an imagination as Tom did."

Critic John Clute once wrote that Disch was "perhaps the most respected, least trusted, most envied and least read of all modern first-rank SF writers."

The home he shared for years with his partner, Charles Naylor, allowed friends to see a whimsical, humorous side. Disch was "an enormously creative, infinitely amusing and often unhappy genius," said Gioia, who is also a poet and had known Disch for many years.

As a poet, Disch wrote in standard forms: sonnets, villanelles, epigrams, "always clever and full of wordplay," said Thomas Heacox, who teaches English at College of William and Mary, where Disch served as a writer-in-residence in the 1990s.

In recent years Disch suffered a series of problems: Naylor died, health and financial issues ensued, and Disch battled to remain in his apartment.

--Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2008

Dual language books are excellent. I once had a paperback anthology of contemporary European poetry which dual-languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish original facing their English translations. My favorite Neruda anthology is a dual-language book (I want to memorize "Los Enigmas," my favorite Neruda poem, in both English and Spanish). This Rimbaud anthology I recently purchased has French versions in the back, which is okay - I do prefer the facing pages!

That Mallarme book looks great. I'm definitely too ignorant of his work, so that may be a good intro for me.

I don't loathe the slam - but I do consider it the rough, awkward cousin of the proper poetry reading. A poetry reading ought to be approached much as a religious service - and I don't mean a stodgy Anglican mass or Methodist service, but rather an AME revival or a voudoun feast. Poetry is life, and poetry readings ought to be vital and full of life.

Back in the good ole days, I ran a number of poetry readings, and can even be credited with (or must share the blame in) the "slam-o-lution" of the 1990s. There are two keys to having a good poetry reading: the first is to schedule at least two "headliners," poets whose work - and performance - are above the median. The second key to a good poetry reading is to limit your "open mike" time (if you have any at all, that is). Allowing untested poetry performers to have free reign at a microphone is simply asking for trouble. That's of course the "original work" poetry reading.

The kind of reading Kimley mentions, where people bring and read works by other authors, carries a much greater return on investment. The participants are sharing their love of poetry; this often leads to new discoveries. But it's a good idea to load the group with a few ringers, people who consistently choose good work and who can read poetry well.

The performance part is not to be underrated. Too many poetry readings (of both kinds) are brought down by inept readers and performers. People who think the end of a line equals a caesura, for example. Or who force a false metre on the line, hammering the words. Or who stare at the page while reading, never once engaging eye contact with the audience. Or who read with blatantly false, rising and falling "emotive" qualities in their voice (like many bad slam poets).

This is where I can credit the slam for giving poetry an assist: long before I went to my first slam I was tired to near-death of dry, academic poetry performances. Slam revived the interest in poetry as performance, and being an old bard, fond of the traditional bardic ways, I consider the delivery of a poem essential to the full experience of the poem. I fully subscribe to the notion that poetry, deriving directly from chanting (cantos), is still akin to a magic spell, which when properly cast can provide the listener with an experience of the Otherworld.

The competitive aspect of the slam, where performances are scored and judged, does not appeal to me. I don't find that the scoring or contest aspects of slam do anything to promote poetry or enhance the performances. But then I am not a person who puts much stock in the competitive ways of humans.

Yes: Cole Porter was indeed a wonderful poet.

And a final note: cinema discussions in this group/thread will be flagged as abuse and deleted. Count on it.

My favorite dead poet is Rimbaud.