Book of Poems

[Late]

A lot of people here advertise and/or discuss (which I think is great) their own books on jazz, or recordings of jazz, so I hope it's not too out of line to list a recent book of poems, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Here or here.

No poems on jazz, but Louis Armstrong does get mentioned once.

Edited January 20, 2005 by Late

[maren]

For me, it's not out of line at all! Glad to know about it!

[JSngry]

Think I'll give it a shot pretty soon. Thanks for the heads-up?

BTW - when you read them yourself, so you do the drone thing?

[JSngry]

Actually, "pretty soon" turned out to be now. Just ordered your book + the Dan Morgenstern.

[Chuck Nessa]

Fantastic. Thanks for the alert.

[Late]

BTW - when you read them yourself, so you do the drone thing?

Aha ... I did read your "drone" thread.

To answer — no, I stay away (as far as possible) from droning. I think we might be able to thank Pound and Eliot (and even cummings) for establishing (and perpetuating) "the drone" in modern American poetry. To be honest, I just don't hear the purpose it serves. For me (and one of my very favorite poets, Louise Glück, does this to an extent), "the drone" distracts from the content of the work, as if a listener is supposed to notice some kind of mantra, rather than the very meanings of the words used themselves. I just can't get with any of The Beats, but that's another thread ...

To my ears, Yusef Komunyakaa is one of the most musical of contemporary American poets on the scene today. His work, when read aloud, actually seems to benefit from the cadence of his speech.

The only poet I can think of, off the top of my head, that I'm not bothered by "the drone" when hearing his poems read aloud is Theodore Roethke. Every syllable counts with that guy ...

Edited January 20, 2005 by Late

[Late]

Have you heard LOVE NOTES FROM THE MADHOUSE? CD he did with John Tchicai in Chicago about five years ago?

No, but as I'm a fan Tchicai's, I'd probably enjoy it ...

Yusef's latest book, Taboo, just came out recently. Haven't read it yet.

[Chuck Nessa]

Not a "highjacking" but I wonder if more poets lurk here. We have Late, David Gitin and my friends Art Lange and the departed JB Figi are/were poets/jazz fiends as well. Any lurkers?

[Leeway]

Late, I suppose one could say that a poet's work is influenced by everything that is a part of the poet's life, but does jazz have a particular influence on either what you write or how you write about it? I'm curious about the kind of artistic cross-pollination that might be at work; perhaps you could shed some light on how jazz might inform the poetic process. Also, congratulations on your book, and I look forward to reading it.

[Late]

Late, I suppose one could say that a poet's work is influenced by everything that is a part of the poet's life, but does jazz have a particular influence on either what you write or how you write about it? I'm curious about the kind of artistic cross-pollination that might be at work; perhaps you could shed some light on how jazz might inform the poetic process. Also, congratulations on your book, and I look forward to reading it.

Thanks, Leeway.

I'd agree: a person who writes poems is going to be influenced by just about everything that person sees or hears. I would say, however, that jazz, at least demonstrably, actually does not have an influence on my writing. Or, I hope it doesn't. For me, a poem is just about the polar opposite of the spontaneity one is moved by when listening to improvised music.

A poem, as I understand it, is the result of a long process of (often painful) revision, such that every line, when the thing is finally done, has been determined — it's "written out," which I would consider the opposite of improvisation. It may contain, when read aloud, patterns of rhythm that are themselves lyrical, but I would never want for a poem to rely on the success of chance, as an excellent improvised solo sometimes does. I'm happy to let jazz music do that ... because I think it does so a lot better.

I've written poems about musicians, and jazz musicians in particular, but their flaw, in my opinion, is that they always can only defer ultimately to the music itself, as if to say "Man, ____'s music is great." I'd simply rather listen to the music (which is part of the reason I can't read liner notes any more).

At one time, Oxford University Press was putting together an anthology of "Literature on Jazz," and decided to include a poem of mine on Eric Dolphy. I (happily) agreed to this, but now the anthology appears to have hit its final roadblock (it was in the works six years ago) ... and I can't complain. To me, the poem (an old one) is more narrative than anything else, and I'd rather just listen to any Dolphy album than read it.

I hope that answers your question some. Thanks for indulging me!

[Leeway]

Thanks late for your considered answer and your insights into the poetic process. The "determined" quality that you speak of reminds me of Wordsworth's thoughts on poetry:

"poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility"

Emotion recollected in tranquillity-- that is, I take it, a form of the "determined" poem. It deals with powerful feelings, but is composed after the act, "tranquillity" being the deliberate artistic process. Is that right?

As you know, I'm sure, a lot of the Beat poets, like Ginsberg and Kerouac, took (or tried to take) the opposite approach. They tried to write in the heat of, or the moment of, that "overflow of powerful feelings." I suspect there remained, still, a deliberative process.

It also occurs to me that perhaps jazz might be said to enact itself in the act of "spontaneous overflow."

I'm not sure I made any of that very clear. B-) Hard to explain, but I feel that poetry and jazz share the same kind of ineffable power to attract and beguile and inspire.

[Late]

Emotion recollected in tranquillity-- that is, I take it, a form of the "determined" poem. It deals with powerful feelings, but is composed after the act, "tranquillity" being the deliberate artistic process. Is that right?

I'd say so. In the moment of initial composition, a poem might feel like (or should feel like) improvisation, but I myself would be very hesitant to leave a piece of writing unchanged after its initial pressing out onto the page. Here is where, I guess, I choose to differ from the presumed aspiration of The Beats. Just as with a lot "free" playing that could readily benefit from some self-editing on the improviser's behalf, I think The Beats could have managed with some of that themselves ... but that doesn't seem to be their goal (so, moot point).

For me, the two art forms (poetry and jazz) stand distinct of each other, but are equally capable of moving an involved audience to similar highs. Thank goodness we have both!

[Joe]

Not a "highjacking" but I wonder if more poets lurk here. We have Late, David Gitin and my friends Art Lange and the departed JB Figi are/were poets/jazz fiends as well. Any lurkers?

Nate Dorward, a semi-regular here, runs a literary magazine, THE GIG, that concentrates on contemporary poetry of a more experimental cast

http://www.ndorward.com/poetry/

[Leeway]

Nate's got a nice site with much interesting content and links.

[Late]

Our own Mr. Gitin is in this one!

Very nice looking chapbook, Nate. I'm interested in poems under the "sonnet limit."

[Late]

Look who made it on the cover of Philip Levine's new book of poems:

Just picked up a copy today.

[Spontooneous]

Someone down in the tunnel had just asked him, "Where is Brooklyn?"

Edited January 26, 2005 by Spontooneous

[Joe]

Late -- please, who is credited with that photograph?

[Late]

The photograph's by Ole Brask, from Jazz People (New York: Abrams, 1976). Can't say that I've heard of Brask before.

Spon — you beat me to the punch-line!

[JSngry]

I am very much enjoying this collection.

[maren]

Laton,

Really liked "Pest Control Man" -- read it in Chicago Review online. As soon as cash flow permits, I'm looking forward to reading your whole book.

[Late]

Thanks Jim and Maren. That poem you mention isn't in the book, but it was very kind of the editors at Chicago Review to put it on their website.

(I think powells.com and/or alldirect.com might have the cheapest prices!)

[ghost of miles]

Laton,

I hadn't checked out this thread yet b/c I figured it was a recommendation... so I did want to check it out, but just wasn't in a goldurned hurry. Congratulations! I'm going to order it ASAP. Are you familiar with the work of Dean Young? He lived here in Bloomington for a long time and now teaches at Iowa... I knew him through his wife, the novelist Cornelia Nixon. There's another Young here now, Kevin Young, who did some reading for my Ellington special... very cool guy and a great lover of jazz. Komunyakaa taught here for awhile but got a better gig after he won the Pulitzer. He used to come in and buy jazz at the CD store where I worked, and I was always a little bit in awe of him.

Again, congrats! Keep us posted on new publications, etc.

[Late]

Thanks, David. I'm very humbled that people here are willing to try out my book.

Yusef went to UCI (twenty years before me), and I've actually studied with him briefly at a writers' conference. Very friendly, soft-spoken ... and all we really did was talk jazz! He's a lover of Dolphy and Julius Hemphill. I believe he's at Princeton now.

I only know the Youngs you mention by name. (I've read good things about Dean Young's workshops at Breadloaf, though.) The Young I'm currently into is David Young, who's just done a brilliant translation of Petrarch. The introduction alone is a great entry into this (sometimes unfairly-read) poet's work. I'm learning a lot.

Petrarch

[Late]

I think Pinsky still plays, no? Say, are you going to Irvine in March? The (creative writing) program is having a 40th anniversary celebration, and Pinksy is going to be one of the featured readers.

The celebration is ostensibly to honor James McMichael's work — as he established the program (I think with Oakley Hall) in 1965. McMichael, along with Killarney Clary, is my favorite poet writing in English. His new book Capacity, not quite yet out in stores, is to me on a level of technical mastery and inventiveness that equals Joyce.