Comments on: A Struggling Poet

By: Faith

Faith — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:49:50 +0000

It’s so heartening to read this. I have nothing to do with the poetry “industry,” but I love to hear people say, “Fuck all you self-important, pretentious, snobs — I’m doing what I do because I love it, and I don’t care whether or not you approve.”

By: Seretta Martin

Seretta Martin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:10:47 +0000

Tim, thank you for writing this. It is a well written reminder to all of us. The struggle for me is the feeling that something is missing in my life when I’m not creating a poem or visual art. Art is an essential part of my spiritual connection with life. It is the magic, the beauty, the discovery that lifts me from routine, boredom and the mundane. This is what David Huerta’s words mean to me when he writes: ” We are missing ourselves” I struggle to feel a connection with myself when I’m not writing, painting, planting seeds, teaching children art, or whatever the creative act may be. I agree that the meditative process it essential to any good poem and I believe that by striving to reach a deeper place the creative process leads us to a greater understanding of ourselves, our relations to others, and the whole of life. When an poet/artist has been successful, that gift of incite can be shared with others.

By: E. Shaun Russell

E. Shaun Russell — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:56:56 +0000

Great blog topic, Tim.

I don’t think I could ever see myself as a “struggling” poet in the classical sense (the concept nauseates me, really), but in the way you describe it, I definitely feel much the same.

Very few people who know me personally (casual friends, co-workers etc.) know that I write and publish poetry…and I don’t particularly want them to. You know why? It’s because the very idea of “poet” brings to mind snooty bohemians with tams, spewing pseudo-intellectual jargon. And that ain’t me…by a long shot.

At the end of the day, we have to do what we must to garner some artistic fulfillment, and for my own part I realize, as I’m about to turn thirty, that I’m open to any audience who is open to me and the type of poetry I write. I think that if we all do that, there will be less artifice in our published output. At least, I hope so…

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:44:07 +0000

Mather–I’d argue that an emotional element is inherent to genuine experience. That’s not to say you have to be angry or happy or sad to write a poem, but rather, you have to have an experience and be reacting to it on some emotional level.

Cafais–My thinking is just the opposite, actually. I don’t want to write less, I want to write more. Because fuck it. Who cares if anyone thinks it’s good. That’s how I used to feel, and somehow professionalization made me start taking it too seriously.

Nicole–Maybe there is an essay there. I think it’s building an experience with language, words like bricks or like strokes of an artist’s brush.

Lois–Excited about the interview!

Sorry for being slow to reply, I forgotted.

By: Lois

Lois — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:01:52 +0000

“All that matters is the actual poetry. All that matters are the real poets, who actually exist as real poets for the hour or two that they’re living within a real poem. All that matters are the actual people, who actually enjoy reading real poems. All that matters is the joy of creating them.”

I think we all need that reality check. It gets way to $*%*% serious and then I want to unplug from it all and can’t simply because I am at a computer each day for my work.

Well…you’re on KPFK this Wednesday and here’s one poet who is tuning in to hear some of my favorite works read on radio by the author.

Lois

By: winterchild

winterchild — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:04:45 +0000

Poetry for me is a series of journey’s…like a big road trip with many side roads to meander along…. I explore the landscape of this journey sometimes with a wide angle lens and sometimes with a macro lens… and through my poetry I seek to learn more about me and how I interact with this planet and its inhabitants.

I write for noone but me… the best reason to write… is because you cannot NOT write…

Nice blog…

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:32:41 +0000

Much wisdom here, Tim…enjoyed the read.

By: Cafais

Cafais — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:12:54 +0000

I agree with the above comments. Great essay! To hell with the poetry industry. To hell with academic poetry journals. Don’t worry about being a poetry machine. Quality is important; not quantity. And quality means it must have something to do with actual human existence. (So much modern poetry has so little to do with real life situations. So much of it merely fills a page.) All true poets should be “struggling” poets. Writing a poem should be as hard as giving birth, and as glorious. (I’m a guy so – for me – I’m speaking hypothetically.) Elizabeth Bishop published only 4 volumes of poetry (about one a decade). T.S. Eliot’s collected poetry could fill maybe a hundred pages. (And he basically stopped writing poetry in the last 30 years of his life.) This didn’t hurt their careers, did it?

By: Mather Schneider

Mather Schneider — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:45:39 +0000

Tim, that had some passion in it! I liked it, felt it and agreed with most of it…You’re not even thirty yet, plenty of time for you…I’m forty and just now getting a couple books out…and I still don’t really “understand” poetry, don’t ever hope to.

I do agree about “genuine experience” being the key, but the experience has to be more than genuine, it has to be emotionally charged, for the poem to be very interesting.

By: Tom Bleier

Tom Bleier — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:13:26 +0000

First time I’ve ever finished reading one of your blogs Green. Not bad.