Poetry Home Repair Manual
Kooser says a poet should have an intended audience in mind for every poem.
Who's yours?
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Last year at the Loveland Public Library, James Galvin said, “Have somebody in mind that you’re talking to. To have a focused and vulnerable or tender voice, you have to have someone in mind that you’re talking to…. The point of making art is empathy.”
Who's yours?
***
Last year at the Loveland Public Library, James Galvin said, “Have somebody in mind that you’re talking to. To have a focused and vulnerable or tender voice, you have to have someone in mind that you’re talking to…. The point of making art is empathy.”
posted by Anonymous at 12:22 AM
5 Comments:
I find that advice puzzling. When I imagine writing to a particular person I censor myself. I limit the work to what I think would suit that person. That's a good idea?
I think of the audience of the poem as the poem. Is it satisfied? Have I done right by it?
I try to make my poems as entertaining, funny, and interesting as possible to me. I figure if I enjoy them other people might too. So, as a result, I'm probably aiming my poems at my Generation X cohorts, lit. grads who still enjoy "The Simpsons." Since I probably know many of the people who read my poems (it's a small audience), I guess those people, regardless of demographics, are part of that imagined audience also.
Hi, Glenn. Hi, Don.
Glenn, I like the idea of writing the poem for the poem, sounds like a version of art for art's sake.
I think you're right.
I also think Kooser's right to believe focusing on an audience can bring clarity. He says he views the poem as an instrument of communication.
Galvin believes writing for an audience makes your voice vulnerable. I think it depends on the audience, but I think he's right, too.
And yeah, Don, what you're doing is of course right.
I think anything that can help anybody write an interesting poem is right. And if it helps me with whatever I'm working on, I'll try just about anything.
This summer I met a teacher, Joan was her first name, who advocated using Bloom's taxonomy as a way to prompt better writing. And you know, it's kind of been working. When I get stuck, sometimes now I'll think about shifting from analysis to synthesis or application or whatever. It's weird how it'll help me keep writing and sometimes I even end up headed in the right direction.
Surely so many rights must make a wrong!
Probably.
But what the hell.
Right?*
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