Comments on: How Poets Innovate

By: the poet

the poet — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:30:06 +0000

Hypertext Poetry:
http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/poetry/hypelink.htm

On Google Sculpting, aka Flarf:

http://jacketmagazine.com/29/hoy-flarf.html
http://naturespoetry.blogspot.com/2006/11/further-history-of-flarf.html
http://lime-tree.blogspot.com/

By: Pam

Pam — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:11:11 +0000

I find a certain confinement to form only helps my writing. It forces me to be aware of the interaction of words, phrase, and rhythm.

By the way, what is Hypertext poetry and Google Sculpting?

Pams last blog post..Dawn’s Door

By: Antoine Cassar

Antoine Cassar — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:13:27 +0000

Indeed, as Umberto Eco says in the appendix to Il Nome della Rosa, an artist or writer must set himself constraints if he is to create freely.

The sonnet, for example, could be seen as a window creating an “effetto fuga”, channelling the imagination through density of meaning. Paradoxically, I often find that the sonnet is more flexible and malleable than free verse.

With regard to the sonnet being an “unnatural shape”, I cannot agree completely. According to the latest theories, Giacomo de Lentini´s invention of the sonnet is inspired by the golden ratio, or more specifically, on Archimedes’ fraction 22/7, known today as pi. The sonnet would thus be of a circular nature, imitating the perfect ratios found in nature.

Antoine Cassars last blog post..

By: Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:54:54 +0000

I've always through restriction was a good thing in poetry. Forms are necessary in order to place reasonable restriction upon a poet's boundaries in order to increase the potential for creative output. It forces you to think more deeply about your use of language, word choices, diction, and other poetic elements. Allen Taylors last blog post..Gettysburg Hits The National News

By: the poet

the poet — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:48:46 +0000

Thanks for reading Antoine.

Jim, good comments. You’re right about the broad canvas. I think that’s a good thing, overall, but it can be a sort of restriction to be expected to innovate. I suppose there is nothing wrong with working within the fixed forms or staying with convention as long as you keep the writing fresh. That’s the main thing with any medium – it’s got to be fresh and original in some respect.

By: Jim Murdoch

Jim Murdoch — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:37:29 +0000

Poetry is written on such a broad canvas these days that any kind of innovation feels like a restriction. There really is nothing new under the sun, whatever you choose to do be pretty much assured that someone out there’s had a go at it first. My own personal innovation, although it’s more of a discovery than an invention, is that poetry has a natural form, a rhythm that arises out of the writing process. That’s why I’ve never written a sonnet or a sestina because they are unnatural shapes, you have to bend your words to make them work which is why they so often sound forced. I’ve never come across anyone who works like me but then how many poets have I ever had a decent conversation with?

By: Antoine Cassar

Antoine Cassar — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:29:22 +0000

“Do you have any innovative ideas for your own poetry? What are you doing that no one else has ever done?”

I’m certainly not the first to write in multiple languages within the same poem, nor even the first to write plurilingual sonnets (17th century Spanish poet Luis de Góngora tried his hand at it before me). But I am as yet unaware as to whether anyone else has taken so-called ‘macaronic’ poetry away from the confines of cheap humour and banter, or combined their linguistic exploration and expression with a planetary conscience.

Keep up the great work. I’ve been subscribed to WCP for quite a while now, and I thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts on the art of the poetry.