Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 95

A Writer's Moment: 'For Dynamic -- The Play's the Thing'

A Writer's Moment: 'For Dynamic -- The Play's the Thing':   “A novel is a static thing that one moves through; a play is a dynamic thing that moves past one.” – Kenneth Tynan ...

Providing 'an interesting tension'

 

“Thepleasure that I take in writing gets me interested in writing a poem. It's nota statement about what I think anybody else should be doing. For me, it's aninteresting tension between interior and exterior.”– Marilyn Hacker

Bornin New York in 1942, Hacker often employs strict forms in her poetry: for example,writing in sonnets as in her acclaimed verse novel, Love, Death, and the Changing ofthe Seasons.    Among her 11 books of poetry is Presentation Piece, which won theNational Book Award, and the amazingGoing Back to the River.  Herwriting often speaks for the marginalized or for those who are suffering, especially from cancer.            “Good writing gives energy,” said Hacker,  “whatever it is about.”  

A Writer's Moment: Providing 'an interesting tension'

A Writer's Moment: Providing 'an interesting tension':   “The pleasure that I take in writing gets me interested in writing a poem. It's not a statement about what I think anybody else shoul...

A Writer's Moment: 'A recourse against the meaningless noise'

A Writer's Moment: 'A recourse against the meaningless noise': “Language is what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise and silence of nature and history.” – ...

'A recourse against the meaningless noise'

“Languageis what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise andsilence of nature and history.” – Octavio Paz
 

Born in Mexico on March 31, 1914 Paz represented his country as both a diplomat and a writer –primarily poetry.  He won three major awards, beginning with his own country’s Miguelde Cervantes Prize in 1981, then the Neustadt International Prize forLiterature in 1982, and capping it with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Paz’s,

 

                                                      TheBridge
                                                Between now and now,
                                                between I am and you are,
                                                the word bridge.

                                                Entering it
                                                you enter yourself:
                                                the world connects
                                                and closes like a ring.

                                                From one bank to another,
                                                there is always
                                                a body stretched:
                                                a rainbow.
                                                I'll sleep beneath its arches@font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

A Writer's Moment: 'Read, write . . .and wait'

A Writer's Moment: 'Read, write . . .and wait':   “There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call 'the breaks.' I...

'Read, write . . .and wait'

 

“Thereis no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinablewhich we call 'the breaks.' In order for a writer to succeed, I suggest threethings - read and write - and wait.” – Countee Cullen

 

Born in Kentucky in 1903, Cullen wasa renowned member of the Harlem Renaissance writing movement.  He began writing in high school, where heedited the school newspaper and literary magazine and won a citywide poetrycompetition.  He studied at NYU where he earned numerous awards for his writing and scholarship,graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1925.  Shortlythereafter his professional writing career was jump-started with the publication of his first acclaimedbook of poetry, Color.      

 

After publication of two moreaward-winning volumes, Copper Sun and The Ballad of the Brown Girl,Cullen was firmly established as a leading light among African-Americanwriters.   Also a novelist, children’sauthor and playwright, he was just starting to make a splash with histheatrical writings when he died suddenly at the age of 43 due to  complications from highblood pressure. 

 

“Remember,”Cullen said about writers, “we must be one thing or the other, an asset or a liability, thesinew in your wing to help you soar, or the chain to bind you to earth.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Powerful language, powerful feelings and images'

A Writer's Moment: 'Powerful language, powerful feelings and images':   “The kinds of things that poetry can offer are timeless - mainly the kind of compression it offers of powerful language...

'Powerful language, powerful feelings and images'

 

“Thekinds of things that poetry can offer are timeless - mainly the kind ofcompression it offers of powerful language, powerful feelings and images, and,you know, the inner experience becoming outer.”– Brenda Hillman

 

Born in Tucson, AZ in March of 1951,Hillman is the author of numerous poetry collections, including SeasonalWorks with Letters on Fire, named for the Griffin Poetry Prize and theNorthern California Book Award for Poetry.   Her newest book, just out this year, is In a Few Minutes Before Later.

 

A “writer” of poetry since age 9(“the first time I wrote a poem that I was proud of,”) Hillman is known forpoems that draw on elements of found texts and documents, personal meditation,and observation including about topics like geology, the environment, politics,family, and spirituality. 

 

 Among her many awards are The Pushcart Prize andFellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for theArts and the Guggenheim Foundation.   A longtime writing professor, she holds the Olivia Filippi Chair inPoetry at Saint Mary’s College of California.  

 

“The techniquesof contemporary poetry are probably the techniques of your daily life,” Hillmansaid.   “I don't know a single person whogoes into the grocery store and thinks in complete sentences.”

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A Writer's Moment: 'Genuine magic in what they do'

A Writer's Moment: 'Genuine magic in what they do':   “I love artists. I find them fascinating. To me, there really is a genuine magic in what they do.” – Elizabeth Hand ...