Monday, November 8, 2010

Some New Stuff



Here are links to some new work of mine if you're interested. In Kenyon Review Online, I have an essay/poem in syllabics on collective paranoia. The poem talks about the American tendency toward hyper-fear—and the excessive attempts to counteract any harm be it on a political scale down to a small scale such as knowing exactly what to eat to prevent cancer, exactly how to prune one’s hedges to thwart thieves, etc. And the footnotes almost serve as a paranoid voice commenting on the poem. Also, I have a new poem in Waccamaw that is a short character poem. And fellow poet-pal Stephanie Kartalopoulos has a poem in there, too, that’s a great read. And here’s an interview I conducted with novelist, poet, and memoirist Marge Piercy in Chapter 16. There's also a new interview with Loretta Lynn by Margaret Renkl up there now--and who can pass up hearing from Loretta?

21 comments:

  1. Such good stuff, C. Thanks for sharing! Coincidence? I'd just read the poems in the new Waccamaw yesterday, admiring you and Steph and the rest. Also coincidence? I just drafted a poem with annotations/footnotes. Are you my "sister from a different mister"? (My students just taught me this as the flip side to "brother from a different mother." How slow am I?)

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  2. Interesting piece, I've read through it several times. Strangely, I find your own comments on your poem far off the mark, but (and this is an insult) being in academia will twist most people.
    Some of the observations are a little too forced from the narrative, but that is a difficult problem to over come. Remember your own advice:

    It is quite tempting to write about the world in terms of dewy spider webs, deserted parking lots, and butterscotch-scented trees with the poet looking outward and turning these observations into moments of wisdom, meaning, and/or beauty

    The ending sentence of "Essay on Collective Paranoia" is actually a great example of how to avoid this problem. Although the Charon reference right before is out of place, awkward, and distracts from the otherwise paranoia-inducing image, the final bit, both literal and metaphoric, is fantastic. I want to dig into this line more but am (just a tad) worried (distrustful) that the efforts won't be rewarding given the looseness throughout the piece. Overall very engaging despite how problematic it is -- I feel that you have an amazing talent but are in great danger of spoiling it.

    I suspect we are teasing through a lot of similar reflections in our respective work at the moment. If you gave me a little of your time it would be appreciated. But either way, good luck in the future and thanks for the engaging writing.

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  3. wow new stuff... ok let me there now thanks for this post before ... :)

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