After his craft talk this morning, I am convinced that, if he wanted to, Marvin Bell could levitate a space ship with his mind. He used the alphabet (why not?) as a framework for rattling off his abecedarian thoughts on poetry, nugget after nugget of invigorating advice interspersed with his own quirky humor. He read two poems that had nothing to do with the basics of successful lyric poetry–image, language, attention to specific detail and scene–and everything to do with transmitting poignant sentiment through casual tone and nuanced observation. He described them as “poems which don’t care if you think that they are poems.” By that time, we had reached the letter “B.” What followed were twenty-four equally subversive, insightful forays–all told with a twinkle in the eye. Having him act as my faculty advisor in the coming semester is nothing short of a privilege.
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Poems that don’t care what we think of them….
An intriguing thought….thanks
Indeed, one of many from Bell. It’s like drinking from the fire hose.
Any samples of letters you can show?
I recall “B” was for “Banana,” after which he read his poem, “The Politics of an Object.” No mere mortal could have written it all down.
p.s. another thought that has haunted me since Bell’s talk is his idea that elegies are poems written too late — and that we should write more love poems to the living instead.
Love this p.s., Robert.
What, you had no pocket tape recorder? Sounds like something you could listen to many times. < !!>