Of course, there are no guarantees. John Lennon once quipped that life is what happens to you while making other plans. There have been many great writers who never won the most coveted awards despite their best efforts. There are other winners who had no intention of being a writer, but life led in that direction. Many writers end up on their deathbeds with a hundred books of mediocre skill wearing their name on the cover while others write one great work of art and nothing else. How does “greatness” arrive?

How Literary Greatness Arrives

First, we must recognize that greatness is a perceived value, not an actual one. One man likes Charles Dickens and another man doesn’t. Can you measure “greatness” by aggregation? If 200,000 book readers agree that Great Expectations is a world class novel, is it? Or can we measure greatness by some objective, quantifiable data?

While measures of worth are to a large degree subjective, I do believe there are some objective measurements that we can look at to determine literary worth. Prizes and awards are simply a judgment in the minds of those who award the prizes. But the time value of greatness is at least as valuable as the time value of money. As any accountant knows, invest your money in a solid vehicle with above-average earnings during the course of your lifetime and you can retire with a comfortable nest egg. But is there a “greatness” nest egg resting somewhere?

Literary value comes as a subjective lens with a nonmovable handle and frame. Using a magnifying glass as metaphor, what you see through the glass is what you possess in your own soul. The hardware of the experience, however, is built into the instrument by generally accepted artistic principles (GAAP). Accountants, once again, are familiar with GAAP, which stands for something completely different for the numbers guys. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are the widely recognized unwritten rules that govern how business bookkeeping is done so that money is handled properly and commercial paper is used to turn more profit.

Literary greatness comes as a result of similar principles. The study of those who have succeeded, and failed. Hard work, grit and sweat, over one’s own work. A dash of patience. And the smile of the greatness gods. It all adds up to a fanciful synchronicity.

Why You Should Read Greatly If You Expect To Write Great Things

Authors and other literary artists would do themselves well to read. Reading what others have written, both the good and the bad, trains us to see our own weaknesses. If you cannot judge good literature from bad then it is likely that you will not produce good literature. Likely, not impossible. The first “great” literary artist had no mentors so there is a level of flexibility in the principles.

Still, reading is as much an avocation of writing and the writer who doesn’t read and read widely is likely as not to produce words fit for naught but the refrigerator door. And while reading the winners of coveted prizes doesn’t guarantee a blue ribbon in return, it never hurts.

Poetry.LA is an online video showcase featuring established and emerging poets filmed at various venues throughout Southern California. It’s an up close look at a variety of poetic voices, including interviews with poets and publishers. The venues where poetry readings are held are also spotlighted to share with the poetry audience.

Poet/Artistic Director Hilda Weiss and Videographer/Producer Wayne Lindberg started Poetry.LA in January 2007 as a way to expose poets to a much larger audience beyond the intimate spaces of coffeehouses, cafes, bookstores and cultural art centers, where the readings are often taped. Poets can post the video links (uploaded to YouTube) in their emails and on websites, blogs, or social networking pages. Currently, there are more than 150 poets featured on Poetry.LA and the videos have received more than 70,000 viewings on YouTube.  

Special features of the site include: 2008-2009 U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan’s reading at the Casa Romantica Series, video interviews with Cobalt Poets’ host Rick Lupert, the Ruskin Art Club’s Literary Programs Director Elena Karina Byrne (2008 Pushcart Prize winner), Red Hen Press’ Managing Editor Kate Gale as well as hosts of The World Stage Reading Series and Redondo Poet’s Coffee Cartel readings, among others.

Hilda Weiss’ poetry has been published (or is soon to be published) in G.W. Review, Nerve Cowboy, Poem, Poet Lore, Rattle, Salamander and Westview, among other publications. She has also read her work at local venues and when attending readings found that, “I’ve often heard a good poem at a reading and wanted to listen to it again. So, Wayne and I started out videotaping open mics and it evolved from there. We now update the site typically every month with videos of a half dozen new poets reading their work. Before we tape a poet we like to read their work and look at their publication credits. Since our end product is video, we are very interested in artists who have engaging performance styles. For that reason, we keep our camera handy for strong open mic performances,” states Weiss. Weiss and Lindberg also work on Poetry.LA with their Associate Producer Michael Child, a Los Angeles-based musician and poet. They hope to establish Poetry.LA as a non-profit arts organization.

Wayne Lindberg is a Los Angeles-based writer and videographer. His short fiction collection, Cary Malone and Other Stories was published by Nothing Moments Press in 2007.

His plays have been produced by various Los Angeles theatre companies over the past 25 years, including Pacific Repertory Theatre Ensemble, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, Public Works and the Venice Mooney Company.

Hilda Weiss’ business experience also includes technical writing, PR writing and photography. She is an active Kundalini yoga student and holds a 4^th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate.

Poets featured include: Anne Carson, Luis Campos, Larry Colker, Brendan Constantine, Sarah Cruse, Jawanza Dumisani, Ghetto Priest, S.A. Griffin, Juan Felipe Herrera, Gina Loring, Rick Lupert, Sarah Maclay, Mike the Poet, Holly Prado, Luis J. Rodriguez, Amy Uyematsu, and Pam Ward, among others.

The Pennsylvania state Capitol building is an incredible work of art. Built in 1906 after the original building burned to the ground a few years earlier, it cost $13 million to build and furnish. In 1906, that was a huge chunk of change. Figure that amount in today’s dollars and you will likely have to scour the face of the Earth to find enough zeros and you’ll likely run out of ground to cover. Our tour guide said it is “priceless”. I suppose that’s a good word for it.

My only regret is that we chose to visit the Capitol on a day when the sun wasn’t shining. Both the Senate and House chambers are decorated with stained glass windows that would have absolutely shone brilliantly the 24-karat gold that decorates the walls inside. The paintings and murals on the walls also tell a unique story of the history of Pennsylvania and the principles that founder William Penn took great pride in. I really enjoyed the trip, as did the wife, and our three grandchildren, which act more like children since they live with us full time. The Pennsylvania Capitol is a true work of art to behold.

We were both looking forward to our third anniversary two years ago when we ended up taking the grandchildren in and spent the evening babysitting. The whole year actually. Last year was pretty much the same as they weren’t living with us at the time but the daughter-in-law was working so we were stuck watching the children again. This year I made it a point to get a night out and I’m glad I did.

I believe every man’s wife deserves a couple of hours alone with him on their anniversary night. A dinner and a little R&R to cap it off never hurts. Happy Anniversary, Theresa. It’s been a wonderful five years.

Epics have always been thought of as tales of heroic deeds, but that is really a narrow view. Not all epics are heroic in nature. You can also have epics of time, epics of place, and other types of epics as well. But most epics are long narratives. Even if the poetry is lyrical in nature as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” or “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” there is still a narrative strain throughout the poem. It is an essential characteristic of an epic in my mind. The narrative is meant to tell a story.

An epic poem, however, need not be long. Homer’s Iliad and Oddyssey, of course, are epics. The Aeneid and The Divine Comedy are epics, but so is Kubla Khan. And as far as epics go, Kubla Khan isn’t very long.

But just because a poem is long and narrative in nature, that doesn’t make it an epic. An epic must also possess some significant cultural myth. I don’t mean myth in a “non-true” sense. A myth may very well contain some truth, but it is a story of a culture’s core beliefs. And an epic tries to tap into that in some way. The culture can be a local culture or it may very well be a global culture, but whatever is the common myth of that culture, that is the backbone of the epic story for that culture. An epic poem plays into that whereas a narrative poem may just seek to provide an anecdote or to give readers a glimpse into a slice of life or a person’s character. Or it may be an essay on the human condition.

Epics do not generally content themselves with being narrative myths. They tend to explore what is spectacular about the common myth and may be take a myth and “blow it up” so that it can be seen with great glory or scrutiny. The narrative poem only wants to be good at sharing a tale.

Many modern narrative poems are not epics. They may be very good long narratives, but they aren’t epics. And this is not to say that an epic need be in some traditional form or structure. An epic may very well be experimental in nature, or contain experimental elements. Of course, this can also be a prominent feature of a long narrative poem except that the epic contains the elements of the common myth, which the long narrative may not strive for.

Whether a poem is an epic or a long narrative non-epic poem, it must be judged within the school or movement to which its author subscribes as well as be treated as an individual poem in its own right. For this reason, a poem may be considered an epic if it follows the traditions of one school and not an epic if it falls into another movement. That is, if, say, “Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror” were rewritten as a New Formalist poem then it wouldn’t be considered an epic at all, but as a Postmodern reflection of art it could very well be classified as an epic of self, or an epic ekphrastic poem.

To be sure, there is some crossover between the two forms. An epic by definition is a long narrative. Many long narratives are epics. But the classification of each may be disputed among poets from various schools and traditions. I am a firm believer that a strong epic is the highest achievement that a poet of any culture can create. A successful epic is a blessing to its audience.

But I’ve managed to kick out two new book reviews this week. Actually, one of them is a reprint from a book review published elsewhere. The other is a new review. And I’ve finished reading another book for which I still have to write a review. Look for it in the next few days.

The first review is of The Knot by Bruce Spang. This poetry book is a personal journey through the discovery of sexual identity. Personal and reflective, witty, and provocative. Read the review here.

Sonata for Rain, however, is the pick of the week. Every time I review a book I try desperately to find two things: Something good to say and anything wrong with it. Everything else is a personal reaction. To be sure, most poets make it easy to reach both goals. Occasionally, I find it difficult to find one of those two things. Sonata for Rain made it hard for me to find anything wrong. I eventually gave up. Read the review then buy the book and see if you agree.

Both reviews will be featured in the next Hyperbole poetry e-zine. Goes out tomorrow night.