Saturday, February 9, 2008

writing new

Am writing in a completely different style now, one that a critic recently called "false etymological wordplay."

But I love it. I love being freed up from narrative, or just having a thread of narrative in big, loose stitches that can be pulled out. I'm taking straight-up autobiographical images and events and making them non-stories. Not fake stories, not fiction (which is incredibly difficult). The non-stories form the architecture of the poem.

Maybe because I'm no longer in journalism, and no longer need or want to "translate" a work of art into digestible bits for the reader, that pressure of being earnest is gone. Maybe it's age, but writing poems that shout "please understand me!" -- which is what I did when I was younger -- is no longer interesting.

10 comments:

dork said...

"etymological wordplay" sounds like something a critic would have stored in their "Oblique Generic Phrases" data base. EVERYTHING sentence ever written started out as wordplay. It's the way language evolves(d).

So you are starting fresh- pushing yourself and not settling for the ordinary acceptable answer?

5 years from now the same critics may write "Innovative- courageous- extraordinary- never a dull word from Ms. Amy Sparks"

Sounds like you are onto something and giving the "intellectuals" something to write about.

Amy said...

Actually, Dork, it was "false etymological wordplay," which I subconsciously left out. Life is so odd, just writing down what you see, hear, and do creates a string of absurdities (and I live a pretty quiet life). Hope you're right.

Jennifer Sullivan said...

My brilliant Amy!

Virginia Konchan said...

Free from narrative! Yes!

Amy, I'm regretting doing my MFA in fiction- I miss poetry something awful!

How is 611 going? Had to drop- one class too many.

Hey, are you busy on V-Day? Would you like to be a featured reader at a 9 p.m. reading at Visible Voice books?

Have you read Canadian poet Christian Bok? If not, I'll get him to you- etymological wordplay is the name of his game- it's excrutiatingly beautiful stuff-

Ginny

Amy said...

Sullivan, you're my hero...

Ginny, what took you to the "dark" side? Have not read Bok... and yes, will read on Thursday--no one has asked me to read in a long time!

Meagan said...

The dark side indeed.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ame,
i'd like to see you read if you're doing so Thurs PM.

Lil Bro

mydisguises said...

post one of these puppies so i can see what you're doing!

Jennifer Sullivan said...

The weather is so bad and we can't get to Dumanis' class tonight. How am I going to get my Amy fix? :(

Erin O'Brien said...

I like it when you say, "Actually, Dork."