recs

“no matter what other life you live…”

I am sitting in the living room of a beach house overlooking the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which has been traveling past the picture windows at a formidable clip. We had planned to spend the afternoon on the water, courtesy of the owner and her kayaks, but there ended up being a bit of rain and a lot of wind, so here I am reading poetry and scribbling letters instead…

and while I would likely enjoy the poems on the page advertising Carolyn Miller’s forthcoming book regardless of the setting, they fit this place and afternoon very well indeed.

some for the measure of a poet’s song…

If I have a favorite poem out of my many favorites, it is the sonnet by Countee Cullen that begins “Some for a little while do love…” I first memorized it in high school, and while I cannot for the life of me ever remember whether its title is actually “Song” or “Sonnet,” it is the poem that best encapsulates my heart’s philosophy. I’ve programmed it into more than one church service, and I want it at my funeral.

Which brings up a question for all y’all: are there particular poems you’d like people to think of in association with you when the time comes? Or that have struck you as especially appropriate at other people’s memorial services? For instance, two of the readings that immediately come to my mind are Cavafy’s “Ithaca”, which Maurice Templesman read at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s funeral, and one of the characters in Four Weddings and a Funeral reciting Auden’s “Stop all the clocks …”.

My head is full of rhymes and rhythms this week, in part because I’m working on some sonnets and villanelles, and also because I’m at Christmas school. Although I specifically picked a non-speaking part in the mummers’ play, I fear I have nonetheless given myself away as a rhyming fool, since I couldn’t refrain from making suggestions during this afternoon’s review of (first draft) opening lines, resulting in exchanges along the lines of

ALEX (emoting as St. George):
It is I, the great St. George,
and yada, yada — nothing rhymes with George —

PEG (perkily):
Forge, gorge…

ALEX (roaring):
Shut up!

LEADER (grinning):
Hah! You should do it just like that in the actual play!

and

HOBBY-HORSE: …something about saying “neigh” and profit and greed…

PEG: “Taxpayer” rhymes with “naysayer”…

[Ed. note: A mummers’ play is sort of a melange of Christmas caroling, busking, SNL-style parody, and Monty Python-esque hijinks. In couplets. The one for Christmas School raises funds for attendee scholarships, and this year’s characters include the Big Three automotive companies, Sarah Palin and John McCain (each played by a kid of the opposite gender), and doctors representing competing healthcare systems…)]

two things…

First, the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s 2008 Halloween Poetry Reading is in progress. Hop over there to hear my dulcet tones (among others. Ann K. Schwader has a lovely, expressive alto…). 🙂

Second, if you live in or near Atlanta (or have other reasons to spend time there), you might consider applying for one of the free one-day McEver poetry workshops there. You’ve got until November 10 to request an application. The experience and skill level of the participants can be across the board (i.e., be prepared for complete first-timers as well as experienced critiquers), but the workshops are very well-run and I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve attended. (I found Thomas Lux very entertaining. He’s very opinionated.)

McEver himself sounds like my kind of guy, in terms of his insistence that commerce and art do belong together: I think this is a transcript of an interview with him and Lux. (A good deal of my income comes from corporate work, so I’m invested (you could say) in hearing about people for whom town and gown are not separate realms.) During my past visits, my local contacts expressed surprise that the workshops were being held at Tech; my own perspective is that Georgia Tech is on its way to becoming the Stanford of the southeast US (Stanford may be better known for its math and science programs, but its English department is top-tier as well).