How is a poet shaped? How do you shape any artist?
I feel as though there is an organic quality to the art of shaping and growing.
Immediately, when I think about the qualities of shaping and growing and the process of I somehow relate it to one's youth and childhood memories. How does a second-generation upbringing and memories of that affect the poet's work and how is it exemplified in the work we read?
There's a connection between Sheryl Luna and Kevin A. Gonzalez and their "shaping" that really stuck with me as they both touched base through shifting memories.
Richness of vignettes and photo like imagery of their memories seem to jump within the line breaks. Stoic lines of celebration and moments where innocence dissipates through observation and realization.
Gonzalez's Cultural Stakes; or, How to Learn English as a Second Language
"When your father gives you a Coke
with two cherries in it, bite the sem
& bite the stem & swallow the juicy red wounds."
"When your mother asks what you did,
tell her you watched baseball all weekend
& bury your smoke-swamped shirts
in the bottom of the laundry."
The poem is one breathe; one swift recollection that creates a cinematic quality!
Luna's Two Girls from Juarez
"I am bitten. The girls want to know
about Plath's gasps, about her white
eyes in darkness. One wears an electronic
bracelet around her ankle.
The other's cheeks red with too much rogue.
I imagine they live nights dangerously"
How one grows up seeing the things that one sees and how it becomes solidified into poetry. How one sees/perceives experiences as a first, second, third, etc. generation poet and how the variations of the generations affect the shaping of a poet. The how and the process of the poet that is shaped constantly by different experiences. These are all things on my mind.
All good questions and two good poets to bring this analysis to although it's relevant to all of them. I hope we can make some inroads to the 2nd generation although we can't generalize! Good lens. More!
ReplyDelete"how one sees/perceives experiences as a first, second, third, etc. generation poet and how the variations of the generations affect the shaping of a poet. The how and the process of the poet that is shaped constantly by different experiences. These are all things on my mind."
ReplyDeleteI love how you put this and it brings to mind so many ideas on memory, witness, and experience. How the shape of witness, memory, and experience relates to poetry and the space of a poem on a page. I'm very interested in how this weeks poetry was rendered on the page which is fascinating when considering first, second and third generation poets.