often an absurdist, sometimes a trickster. In "Mummy's Curse," he has a mummy ride a bicycle as the deus ex machina to resolve the poem's crooked plot. Often beginning poets tell me they know exactly what it is they want to write about, that they can almost see it. What I'm thinking to myself is, no you don't. Because as soon as you begin to write -- for that matter, draw, paint, sculpt -- you're imagination overwhelms your certainty, and the object itself, the poem, say, lurches toward discoveries you didn't know you intended to make. It's a curse of a sort, a mummy's curse, perhaps, and a good one.
Mummy's Curse
from David Biespiel: The Oregonian: Walking, to let the mind wander
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1 comment :
A poet is often what I call a "blind swimmer." I've written fiction, drama, criticism and poetry. With the first three, a great deal of planning is involved, after the initial inspiration. A poem can simmer almost wordlessly for days before the happy accident occurs that carries it from its beginning to its end. It is not always what we originally intended. An unforeseen door suddenly looms, and opens from the other side. Rereading a poem a day or two later, I find correspondences I hadn't realized were there. Simic has always been an Olympic blind swimmer, a great poet. It's not about what he feels. It's about what he can make others feel. For me, that's the essence of great writing, period.
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