[New-Poetry] subject matters

[Halvard Johnson]

Seems to me that the best answer when someone asks
"What's this poem about?" would be, say, "Oh, about
fourteen lines long."

Q: How long do one's legs have to be?
A: Long enough to reach the ground when
      you're standing or walking.

Hal

"Cost of living now outweighs benefits."
                 --The Onion

Halvard Johnson
================
halvard at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/index.html
http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
http://www.hamiltonstone.org
http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/vidalocabooks.html






On Sep 6, 2007, at 11:40 AM, Skip Fox wrote:

> Could you have a poem without a subject? Seems
> impossible. Even a random list of words is
> about a randomization, the arbitrary, the
> projective/creative/pattern-making abilities
> of the reader, or whatever.
>
> Not to be silly, but if someone writes a bland poem
> about his or her religion, is not the poem about their
> feelings, fears, desires, will to believe, etc.
> (depending on the poem)?
>
> That's an extreme, but can't we wonder if the poet
> is in the best position to _know_ (in the way we
> we seem to be assuming that knowing might mean) what
> the poem means? That is, do we expect him or her to be
> able to know the poem's subject in an articulate,
> paraphrasable, and accurate manner?
>
> I would answer that by noting the question is too
> binary: either/or. I have work that I can parse its
> subject and meaning down to a surprising registration.
> I'm sure most of you have the same. Other poems resist
> my knowing. Others hover in between, and sometimes I
> think I know, but later find out differently.
>
> skip
>
>
> "Fiction Is Foreplay"
> (sticker du jour)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> [mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of James  
> Cervantes
> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 8:54 AM
> To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &amp,Views
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] subject matters
>
> Same goes for e-mails, huh.
>
> - Jim
>
> On 9/6/07, Halvard Johnson <halvard at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> The notion that poems must have subjects is equally silly.
>>
>> Hal
>>
>>
>> "What do I know of man's destiny? I could
>>  tell you more about radishes."
>>               --Samuel Beckett
>>
>> Halvard Johnson
>> ================
>> halvard at earthlink.net
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/index.html
>> http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
>> http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.comhttp://www.hamiltonstone.org
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/vidalocabooks.html
>>
>>
>> On Sep 6, 2007, at 8:52 AM, JforJames at aol.com wrote:
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 9/6/2007 8:39:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>> jeff.newberry at gmail.com writes:
>>
>>
>> I suppose I just bristle at the dismissive attitude some (not all)  
>> critics
> &
>> poets have toward the subject matter of a poem.
>>
>>
>> re that point...I post this to my blog last month:
>>
>> One of T.S. Eliot's sillier notions was that the poem's content  
>> was little
>> more than a bit of meat that a burglar carries with him to  
>> distract the
>> house dog while he steals away with the valuables. My mind-keep is  
>> guarded
>> by a beast that could tear the three heads off Cerberus. So that
>> poet-burglar better be dragging the carcass of a water buffalo.
>>
>> Finnegan
>> http://ursprache.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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