Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 55

'The fear of poetry'

 

“Breathe-inexperience, breathe-out poetry.” – Muriel Rukeyser

 

Bornon this date in 1915 Rukeyser started writing poetry while still in high schoolbut didn’t write it seriously until 1935.  That year her firstbook, Theory of Flight was published by the “Yale YoungerPoets Series,” selected personally by poet laureate Stephen Vincent Benét, whowrote the book’s introduction.   In her lifetime (she diedin 1980) Rukeyser wrote 25 books, 18 of them poetry.  For Saturday’s Poem,here is Rukeyser’s,

                       Reading Time: 1 Minute 26Seconds

                           The fear of poetryis the
                           fear: mysteryand fury of a midnight street
                           of windowswhose low voluptuous voice
                           issues, andafter that there is not peace.

                           The roundwaiting moment in the
                           theatre:curtain rises, dies into the ceiling
                           and here isplayed the scene with the mother
                           bandaging arevealed son's head. The bandage is torn off.
                           Curtain goes down. And here is the moment ofproof.

                         That climax whenthe brain acknowledges the world,
                         all valuesextended into the blood awake.
                         Moment of proof.And as they say Brancusi did,
                         building hisbird to extend through soaring air,
                         as Kafka plannedstories that draw to eternity
                         through timeextended. And the climax strikes.

                         Love touches sothat months after the look of
                         blue stare oflove, the footbeat on the heart
                         is translatedinto the pure cry of birds
                         followingair-cries, or poems, the new scene.
                         Moment of proof.That strikes long after act.

                        They fear it.They turn away, hand up, palm out
                        fending offmoment of proof, the straight look, poem.
                        The prolongedwound-consciousness after the bullet's
                                 shot.
                        The prolongedlove after the look is dead,
                        the yellow joyafter the song of the sun.

A Writer's Moment: 'The fear of poetry'

A Writer's Moment: 'The fear of poetry':   “Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry.”  – Muriel Rukeyser   Born on this date in 1915 Rukeyser started writing poetry while stil...

A Writer's Moment: A tried and true pathway into writing

A Writer's Moment: A tried and true pathway into writing:   “I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story.”  – Amy ...

A tried and true pathway into writing

 

“Ido feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentenceand then another, you end up with a good story.”  – Amy Hempel

 

Bornin Chicago on Dec. 14, 1951 Hempel is a short story writer and journalist whoteaches creative writing at The Michener Center for Writers in Austin, TX. 

 

Termeda “minimalist” writer, she is one of just a handful of writers who has built areputation based solely on short fiction; many of the stories published in her multi-award-winning,best-selling Collected Stories of Amy Hempel.  Her"In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" is one of the mostanthologized stories of the last quarter century.

 

Hempel’spathway to creative writing came through journalism and she continues to writefor both magazines and journals.  She recommends that journalistic path as a good way to enter the writing world, something I did myself.

“Istarted writing by doing small related things but not the thing itself,circling it and getting closer,” she said.  “I had no idea how towrite fiction.  So, I did journalism because there were rules I could learn. Youcan teach someone to write a news story. They might not write a great one, butyou can teach that pretty easily”

It's each nation's 'living memory'

 

“Literaturetransmits incontrovertible condensed experience … from generation togeneration.  In this way literature becomes the living memory of anation.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

 

 Bornin Russia on this date in 1918, Solzhenitsyn spent nearly half his life inprison, in work camps, or in exile for writing with honesty and a genuinewillingness to stand for those ordinary people depicted in the works hecreated.   After being exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974, helived for a number of years in the U.S. where he continued to turn out amazingliterature before he was finally able to return to Russia in 1994.  He died in 2008.

 

I’vebeen reading The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett and one of theinteresting side stories in Book 3 is about a Soviet dissident imprisoned inSiberia who not only finds a way to write down the experience but also how tosmuggle the story out to a publisher.   Thatis the story of Solzhenitsyn whose historic novels The GulagArchipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch providea deep understanding of the horrors that faced ordinary people daring toconfront the evil of totalitarianism. 

Awardedthe 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which hehas pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature” Solzhenitsyngave this advice to writers willing to stand for socialjustice: “Own only what you can always carry with you; (and) knowlanguages, know countries, know people.  Let your memory be yourtravel bag.”

A Writer's Moment: It's each nation's 'living memory'

A Writer's Moment: It's each nation's 'living memory':   “Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience … from generation to generation.  In this way literature becomes the living me...

A Writer's Moment: 'Embodying the human spirit'

A Writer's Moment: 'Embodying the human spirit':   “I strongly believe that literature can do something that nothing else can do, and that is embody the human spirit.”  –  Thomas McGuane ...

'Embodying the human spirit'

 “Istrongly believe that literature can do something that nothing else can do, andthat is embody the human spirit.” –  ThomasMcGuane

 

McGuanemay be the only member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters who’s also amember of both the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and theFlyfishing Hall of Fame – both subjects for his writing.  His workincludes 10 novels, lots of short fiction, and many screenplays, as well asthree collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors.

 

Bornin Michigan on this date in 1939, McGuane envisioned himself as a writer from avery young age, admiring what he perceived as an “exciting, adventurous life.”He began a serious devotion to writing by the age of 16, first studyingcreative writing at Michigan State and then playwriting and dramatic literatureat Yale.    His first novel, TheSporting Club, was published in 1969.   

 

AmongMcGaune’s best-known works are screenplays for The Missouri Breaks and 92in the Shade.  His treasure trove of papers, manuscripts, andcorrespondence are located in the Montana State University Archives and SpecialCollections, where they are available for research purposes.  In 1993 Montana State awarded him an honorarydoctorate degree and in 2023 its Award for Excellence in Service to the MSULibrary, recognizing him “for advancing scholarship and access to uniquematerials.”                                   

McGuane said he never wanted to be a celebrity, just a good writer. “I'm stilltrying to be a good writer. That's what gets me out of bed in themorning.” 

'The raw material of our craft'

 “Increase your word power.  Words are the raw material of our craft.  The greater your vocabulary, the more effective your writing.  We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world.  Respect it.”  - P.D. James

Born in 1920 and a high school dropout (who left school to support her impoverished family), James is one of the most celebrated crime writers in history.  Mostly self-taught, her works have been lauded by critics and readers alike, who rewarded her by purchasing more than 13 million of her books (to date).

Conferred with a life peerage by Queen Elizabeth (giving her the title of Barnoness)  for her contributions to literature and the British Empire, Jamess served in the House of Lords for several years and continued writing right up to her death in 2014.

"God gives every bird his worm," she said, "but He does not throw it into the nest."

A Writer's Moment: 'The raw material of our craft'

A Writer's Moment: 'The raw material of our craft':   “Increase your word power.  Words are the raw material of our craft.  The greater your vocabulary, the more effective your writing.  We wh...