Poetry Notes

Another Dip

Dipping again into Charles Bernstein’s intriguing book Poetics, I was delighted to read his resistance to ideology. Following the cultural shock of the Second World War, poetry composition and criticism fell under the sway of Postmodernism, as well as other literary schools of thought such as Black Mountain, and

Time and the Writer

Time. Aspiring writers complain they would write “if only” they had the time. Daily life can be crammed with distractions, deadlines, and too much to do, ironically often coupled with feelings of isolation. My favourite fantasy used to be ambling down a tree-lined avenue, quaint with wide lawns and Victorian

Bouncing Off

Bouncing off what someone else has written can be an exciting way to inspire a poem. I love what Kris Kaila has done in “Bearing Witness”, posted on a recent Poetry Pause. She begins by quoting Maya Angelou who wants her life to be “a poetic existence”. What a lovely

The Gift of Workshops

Over the years I was fortunate to lead many poetry workshops, including with the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, and more than a decade, the Toronto Board’s Continuing Education Department. Taking on the role was a humbling process. First, I had to become self-conscious. How did my

Quickie

Stunning images leap outside the predictable orbit of connotation, yet are surprisingly apt.

Where Is the Poetry?

I am always looking for poetry that transcends the flatness of everyday speech merely cut into lines. What is it that lifts a poem off the page? 1. It awakens multiple senses with imagery, as in from “Autumn” by P. K. Page:           Its stain is everywhere.           The sharpening air           of

The Substance of Space

Just as I am picky about the logic of line breaks, spaces in the middle of poetic lines often leave me wondering. Are they visual suggestions of something forgotten, unwanted, or better left unsaid? A slip of the finger on the keyboard? Might they even represent a gasp? If no

Above All

A thought for National Poetry Month... Despite moments of self-doubt and the inevitable rejections, never give up. Poetry is a lifelong pursuit, not a craft to be mastered in a year or two, or even through a Creative Writing degree. The poet open to the art’s twists and surprises

Of Place and Time (2)

As well as whirling our minds to the other side of the world, the click of a key on Google can help us look back in time. It’s not that we should compose historical poems, but that we have the learning resources to expand our writing through allusion. To

Of Place and Time (1)

The Internet is a reminder that poems need not be restricted to our own place and time. In what Marshall McLuhan deemed our tactile age, instant communications rub us against each other within a global village. Of course, we write of our own landscape and people, but why in isolation?

Exercise and the Muse

(updated link) When I was a child, on a sunny day, cold or warm, my mother would shoo me outdoors. “Go play. You need fresh air and exercise.” Most of us know that exercise is supposed to be good for us, but when a poem is unfolding well, it’s

2023 Posts

A List Arranged in Chronological Order To find a particular post, use the Search function along the top of the web page. Note: Hello Again Commentary: Endorphins and Poetry Commentary: A Little More Gauze (silly stuff) Note: Discovering Form (1), why triads Note: Discovering Form (2), four-line stanzas and pairs

Full Circle

As the months advance, more and more of a literary generation has been passing on—and on March 13, Rosemary Aubert. Rosemary was a prolific author of short stories and novels, and twice winner of the prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for her Ellis Portal Mystery Series. Her Obituary (link below)

Reaching Beyond

Volume 7, Issue 3, of the triannual Juniper has now been published. What I love about this online journal is its stated editorial focus, seeking poems that reach beyond a narrowness of self to connect with something larger: “Juniper seeks poems that bring the reader back to themselves and leave

Poetry at Work

A recent email from Brick Books announces another intriguing new application of poetry. It begins: “If you’re a poetry reader, you know that reading poetry can take you to a spacious internal place. To read a poem is to slow down to the level of breath, to pay close

NeuroArts

As we move beyond the Industrial and Technological eras, it looks as though science is catching up with confirming the ancient powers of poetry. “Because the brain is agile, exposure to arts of all kinds fosters interconnectivity across a vast and complex network populated by hundreds of billions of neurons,

Seen or Silent (2)

As our eyes silently read a poem on the page, at the same time inside our heads we may also hear our own voice. Whether this internal oral rendition is halting or flat, or conversely lovely and fluid depends on the complexity of image and thought, but even more on

2024

Welcome to a new year of Poetry Notes. As a happy way to begin, the emerging science of neuroarts offers hope for a path toward a better world, and within it, a greater appreciation for poetry in our lives: “The oldest archeological discoveries reveal the longstanding human pursuit of self-expression

Greetings

Best wishes for a blessed Holiday Season and a healthy and creative New Year. Poetry Notes looks forward to resuming in February 2024.

Seen or Silent (1)

Many a poem has sounded grand for its few moments on air, only to disappoint on the page, stripped of its theatrics. While a rousing performance can bring a poem to life, it is never a substitute for good writing. In this sense, at least, treating the printed poem as

Sequence (4)

Another kind of sequence draws the reader on by arousing curiosity. It may tease with a provocative statement, purposely omitting a physical context to waggle a conundrum in the air. For example, consider Ralph Gustafson’s enigmatic lines opening “On the Island of Torcello”:           Everything is eating everything:           It is

Sequence (3)

Talk of sequence is all very well, some may argue, but is it even a valid concept in an era of hypertext? When websites are navigated by jumping around from link to link, why should the reader have to follow a single path throughout the poem? L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poets will juxtapose

Sequence (2)

Rather than building a sequence through space, some poems move through time by telling a story. What will happen next, the reader wonders, and keeps going, to find out. A good example is “The Fat Lady’s Dance” by Lorna Crozier. The fat lady, who can’t get out of

Sequence (1)

Once the opening line of a poem has set the reader off in the right direction, the next challenge is to keep him or her involved. A coherent sequence is important, every line leading clearly into the next. A comparison with camera technique helps. Especially in description, the poet needs

Wordless

Twenty years ago, an elderly member of the Toronto Arts and Letters Club asked me if I still wrote poetry. “Of course!” I blurted, startled by her question. With aging, I know better. This past week, one difficulty in growing older was captured on The League of Canadian Poets’ Poetry