Shaping a poet is both foreign and ridiculously close to me. Clearly, I identify as a poet, thus I have to have some sort of experience of "being shaped" as an artist, whether intentional or not. But what I have conflict with is does the poet shape the poem, or does the poetry shape the poet?
I'm led to believe it's a symbiotic relationship that can't survive wholly without both components. What can a poet write if life and environment and circumstance doesn't work as muse to inspire and shape the art? Also, what emotional recompense or personal transformation can the artist have if not shaped by her/his work?
This week's readings did not necessarily trigger this train of thought for me, but some of the pieces did make me explore other manifests of shape. Shaping of a poet encompasses the physical & mental, and as Casey has already mentioned, shape can be interpreted as literal or figuratively speaking. Let's look at Dempster's The Pink House in Four Variations. This poem is very much rooted in the physical AND in the memory. The narrator recollects experiences tied to certain memory markers within the house: the bedroom, inside the tub. Through this physical space, a story is told about ( stay tuned for my literary interpretation) child molestation and the silence in secrets kept. This poem's tone shaped my emotional response, possibly in a similar way that the experience shaped the poet to create the poem. But does this snapshot of memory, triggered response and creative output necessarily create a shape for the poet to "fit into"? What does that mean, exactly? Are these shapes set in stone or can we break free of them and re-shape ourselves in any fashion we choose? But then does that start to pick away at the authenticity of a poet's shape?
Great questions Chanel! Like Casey I sorta took this topic of the week literally but after re-reading your post I think I did that because even though Mercier is a mother and mental health counselor I'd like to believe that that's not the only thing that shapes her poems. But it does indeed shape them I suppose. Maybe I imagined being re-shaped back into a box. It's possible that "a snapshot of memory, triggered response"... and it triggers all responses no matter your background, occupation, gender or race.
ReplyDeletethis discussion brings me to point of entry on both the structural and emotional level--aLso I wonder about the tendencies to obacure the story that shapes the poet or the declaration of it. The truths of poetry are taken for elements of the speakers life
ReplyDeleteI was cut off, anyway does this limit the poet? Or give her power
ReplyDeletechile, i had a *stoner moment* when i read these questions: it was
ReplyDeleteWHOOOOAAAAA
after
WHOOOOOAAAAA
after
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just wonderful.
but seriously though, i think the two are symbiotic in nature. i think, in Dempster's case, these moments definitely defined elements of his life and his poetry -- he's older, and still writing out his pain. that's what poetry is for though, is healing, and through it we can be reshaped to not be held captive by our own pain/thoughts. nonetheless, we are all works in progress, and our writing is not in a vaccuum; what haunted me ten years ago, may (or may not) haunt me in 20 years. i love and respect poet's decisions to truly dig in and underneath the poisons in our lives, so we may become those songbirds, untrapped...
"But does this snapshot of memory, triggered response and creative output necessarily create a shape for the poet to "fit into"? What does that mean, exactly? Are these shapes set in stone or can we break free of them and re-shape ourselves in any fashion we choose? But then does that start to pick away at the authenticity of a poet's shape?"
ReplyDeletethese questions are so provoking to me. i feel like, especially in the case of memories and experiences like these, poetry can be a way for folks to attempt to re-shape themselves and break free, so as not to be eternally bogged down and shaped by experiences in a way that you don't have agency over them and the ways that they inform your identity and work. is there a way for us to take back how we shape them so that we have more power in it and it's not just our lives and experience shaping us?