Monday, April 23, 2012

CONTEMPORARY LIT Recipe for the New York Poem

Recipe for writing a New York School poem (mainly associated with Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, & co.)
Read all poems and biographical information on Frank O'Hara,  as well as this piece on NY School painters and poets.

H--04/26  Come to class and be sure you sign the roll sheet that Nanette will have for you.
After she announces it, go to any of the galleries and use a piece (title, images, etc.) to help you write a poem in this style. Remember, it can be about NY but the NY school is more about an attitude, a set of  particulars.

This is your writing assignment (below) follow as many of the "rules" as possible (at least 90%). You can skip any that offend you or make you uncomfortable. Somewhere in the piece include the painting or piece of art that you found in a gallery or over at the museum.  (The buildings are full of great stuff right now--all through campus.)
Recipe for writing a New York School poem (mainly associated with Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, & co.)
--THOM DONOVAN
Other NY school poets include: James Schuyler, Bernadette Mayer, Charles Bernstein, and Dorothea Lasky—a heterodox selection, Eileen Myles, Schuyler, Robert Creeley, and Ron Padgett via PennSound).

Students are encouraged to use as many of the following "ingredients" as possible:

1. at least one addressee (to which you may or may not wish to dedicate your poem)
2. use of specific place names and dates (time, day, month, year)--especially the names of places in and around New York City
3. prolific use of proper names
4. at least one reminiscence, aside, digression, or anecdote
5. one or more quotations, especially from things people have said in conversation or through the media
6.a moment where you call into question at least one thing you have said or proposed throughout your poem so far
7.something that sounds amazing even if it doesn’t make any sense to you
8.pop cultural references
9.consumer goods/services
10.mention of natural phenomena (in which natural phenomena do not appear ‘natural’)
11.slang/colloquialism/vernacular/profanities
12.at least one celebrity
13.at least one question directed at the addressee/imagined reader
14.reference to sex or use of sexual innuendo
15.the words “life” and “death”
16.at least one exclamation/declaration of love
17.references to fine art, theater, music, or film
18.mention of genitals and body parts
19.food items
20.drug references (legal or illegal)
21.gossip
22.mention of sleep or dreaming
23.use of ironic overtones

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Gallery of the Timeless

Review of The Heaven Rain by Pandora Devil

It is the water rainbow pouring down to the moral world. The smell of the sacred aroma from scarce herbs washing off the angle’s tears into glittering pearls.
From the tender beam of translucent moonlight, the goddess was penned up in the crystal garden. Grass in purple was abused by the hungry snow leopard hunting behind the red shrubs. All lives that touch the earth, touch our soul as they always have, except, we are too blind to see and too deaf to hear the spirit of the voice from the mother land. The lonesome ocean greets the clouds with a moan, that is, her singing of goodbye to the unmoved wind.


Fly away, don’t stay
There is no song here they would play
The fallen leaf yearned for the starving homeless child with its sway
Wait! Wait!
The stubborn swing is begging the dandelion to sent his one last pray
Just believe, it will be ok
Flames in the dark would no need to be afraid


“The Heaven Rain” portrays a teared world where ancestors once lived in was missing love. The over saturated red shouts out loud for the madness of the sea. To reveal an inconvenient truth of life, the faded green in this painting was telling a story that no one dare to admit their guilt, their guilt of losing dreams. The wilted yellow silk depicts a distant glory that all warriors sacrificed themselves for. The dramatic brush strokes depress the viewers in a sense of loneliness. Yet, far in the sky, to your amazement, the bright cheerful stars are just smiling to you.
-----

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Ekphrasis

Just a reminder about your Cornell boxes and poems. If you haven't sent them to me, please do so.

Also, your class did a beautiful job on those projects and I was very pleased. I do want to say that your grades rely on doing the work (which is not excessive) that you are asked to do. I was, frankly, surprised at the lack of books and/or completion of the reading today. It is noted and it will affect your grades. That's only fair to those who are prepared.

As for the letter assignment, it is a warm-up for your larger, final project. It is also a mandatory assignment. I had hoped everyone would be prepared to share their letters and then mail them off. Towards that, I would like everyone to bring in their letter in an e envelope and turn those in to me on Thursday. As you lucked-out this time and it appears the site will not be exchanging any more letters (they filled up) we will do the exchange amongst ourselves. This means you can do a postcard or a letter version of the piece. I thought the assignment would be a fun way to engage with poetry month while also giving you a weekly assignment. I don't think our class has been more work than it should be and I have tried to make the work interesting and fun for you. I was a little disappointed that the simple act of reading and writing a letter to actually be mailed (and to allow you to receive another letter from another writer/artist) was met with resistance. Anyway, we'll adjust accordingly and maybe have time to even reply to our letters from our own artist's perspective.

Your class is always a joy to teach and I feel it only fair to tell you that good work is being rewarded and that slacking too, will not serve you well. Thanks.

Monday, April 2, 2012