Su brought a poem to a creative writing class when she was in college. The professor “rewrote” it for her. When she suggested that it no longer said what she wanted to say, he said, “What’s important is that I made it better.” Su suggested he write his own fucking poems and walked out, and never went back.
The professor was an idiot, but Su learned something important; you can teach craft, you can teach mechanics, but don’t tell an artist what to communicate. She’s carried this lesson forward her entire life.
White, crystalline, cloudy sky, I’m tucked inside… I am tucked inside– so snugly tucked `neath a blanketed world, a quiet world… The moon glares sharp on the frozen fields! My spirit yields, My spirit yields. The cold won’t bite– it gently squeezes the breath out of my lungs. To touch…
Mechanics are the tools you use to construct a poem. Craft is the practiced skill a poet uses to employ those tools. Viewpoint is the message the poet wants to share. Of the three — mechanics, craft, and viewpoint — viewpoint is most vital to any work of art. Viewpoint…
“I’m glad you’re such a little cock,”Said Rosa to her rooster bird.“If you were big, I’d have to takeYou walking on a leather leash.But since you’re small, I’ll stuff you inMy pocket as we stroll the beach.” She did just that, but took him outTo sit with her upon a…
The beat back bust of age scrapes fingernails against this blackboard we call life, Like water running uphill,The beat back bust of age spits nails in joints and cement in feet, beat it back and squeeze another year from fate The beat back bust of age really bites, daddy-o.