tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29524574.post115940149460885851..comments2024-03-26T03:24:09.287-07:00Comments on On The Other Side Of The Eye: On Asian American PoetryBryan Thao Worrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14250802784254875765noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29524574.post-1159464919116425102006-09-28T10:35:00.000-07:002006-09-28T10:35:00.000-07:00Anonymous, I'm not arguing against the existence n...Anonymous, I'm not arguing against the existence nor the value of poems written within everyday existence or everyday experience.<BR/><BR/>Among the problems I see, however is both poets and readers who stop short of pushing their experience with a poem to another level, when it's possible.<BR/><BR/>Poetry should have more effect on a person than what could be as easily accomplished by reading a soup can label.<BR/><BR/>A simple surface reading can be done for most poems, but in many cases, that's like watching a DVD without seeing the extras. <BR/><BR/>You can certainly get a lot out of it as it is, but if there's more, how can you resist?<BR/><BR/>What's elitist is to suggest 'average' people can't try to challenge themselves, and better themselves by grappling with poetry and asking and expecting more from it, and from our languages, which I vehemently reject.<BR/><BR/>A poem like 'Roses Are Red,' for example, has inserted itself into language that most people only need to see the first few lines to know the rest, or at least, to think you know the rest.<BR/><BR/>We've become so numbed by the language that we often forget to contemplate the finer qualities of the poem and how the poem works.<BR/><BR/>The third line of 'Roses Are Red,' for example, is remarkably versatile- almost anything can be inserted within it and the poem still remains largely effective as primarily a courting poem (or in some cases an insult poem). <BR/><BR/>There's less latitude within the second line- oh, sure, you could replace violets with just about anything else that is blue, or some object that rhymes with you, creating a poem like:<BR/><BR/>Roses are red<BR/>Horses make glue<BR/>All life is amazing<BR/>And so are you<BR/><BR/>One of the things that makes me happiest about the present state of Hmong and Lao poetry I've run into is that so many people are taking it on with or without academic training. <BR/><BR/>It's so refreshing to see our community coming at it from so many angles.<BR/><BR/>Much like Neruda and others envisioned, poetry once more is of the people, by the people, for the people, and they grow from it.<BR/><BR/>While it verged on hyperbole, one of the most illuminating and gratifying comments I ever heard was from an older Laotian gentleman who appreciated our poetry that we're writing because its content brought him closer to the ideas he felt otherwise denied to him because he wasn't able to attend college.<BR/><BR/>And that theme has recurred frequently, especially among those who weren't able to finish their academic education for one reason or another. <BR/><BR/>They were still interested in learning and growing, in encountering new ideas and new ways to look at the world. <BR/><BR/>And they're doing it through poetry, which I see reflecting more of their lives and the fuller diversity of their experiences than what we typically see in other genres.<BR/><BR/>I find that wonderful!<BR/><BR/>But this is the point at which I should be clear too- I'm not an advocate of creating confusing, unreadable work just for the sake of confusion, seeing what happens when you randomly dump text on a page like a bag of moldy pretzels.<BR/><BR/>Today's spam does that all too well, surprisingly. There've been some rather amazing pieces that the spam-robots have been cooking, to be honest, that put some poets I know to shame. But that's a whole different post.<BR/><BR/>There are some poets I dislike because they're creating work that is just a big put-on like a James Joyce novel. <BR/><BR/>Overly accessible poets and overly inaccessible poets both have their place within poetry, and both have their detractors for good reason.<BR/><BR/>But far more poets are producing interesting work that falls between these two extremes.<BR/><BR/>And whatever you prefer of these multitudinous options, I hope that you're able to get something truly engaging and stirring out of it.<BR/><BR/>The larger point of this whole post in the first place was to posit that no one needs to be afraid of reading poetry for fear of 'not getting it'.<BR/><BR/>Even poets you would think are supposed to 'get it' don't, necessarily. <BR/><BR/>Five minutes with a truly good poem can do more wonders for the soul than a two-hour viewing of 'The Hot Chick' in my estimation, and I hope more people would seek that out.<BR/><BR/>And I hope they don't see it like eating broccoli and brussel sprouts because it's good for you, but to discover why humans have been reading and writing poetry for over 4,000 years even when so many other forms of expression are available.<BR/><BR/>From the humblest farmers in the fields of Vietnam with their Ca Dao to diplomats, business people and rocket scientists, poetry speaks to humanity in great ways if we're willing to listen.Bryan Thao Worrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14250802784254875765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29524574.post-1159458341353801602006-09-28T08:45:00.000-07:002006-09-28T08:45:00.000-07:00I understand your point about the need to "break t...I understand your point about the need to "break the mold" and resist mindlessness in literature and other forms of creative expression. But it's somewhat elitest to say the best poems are those that are unaccessible to the average person and difficult to understand. A poem is not "bad" just because everyday people can understand it. <BR/><BR/>Two of the writers I hated the most when studying English literature were Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. If they really had something that important to say, why not express it in a way that's accessible to as many people as possible?<BR/><BR/>Anyway, that's my two cents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29524574.post-1159418422258675722006-09-27T21:40:00.000-07:002006-09-27T21:40:00.000-07:00I feel like running into the other room (and proba...I feel like running into the other room (and probably will) to tell Y that I made an impact on you, after all, even though I thought I killed that post the other day.<BR/><BR/>An impact - and a good one, I think - on a good friend, wow.<BR/><BR/>Whether it's quite accurate, thank you for listening and considering (which you always do, I know, one of your best points, my friend).<BR/><BR/>Another thing, my response, before I forget the words it came in:<BR/><BR/><I>Poetry, to me, is letting what's inside, out - in language.</I><BR/><BR/>Which point funnily enough is just what I said, since the words came bursting out (whole and at once), and that's when my writing's best, no matter what the media may be.<BR/><BR/>Cbutterflybutterflyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11313111705278210958noreply@blogger.com