Suggested Readings

Not for you...for me! I met with Greg on Tuesday and I asked him for a list of poets whom he would suggest I read based on his knowledge of my poetry. Here's who he gave me:

Thomas Lux
Gerald Stern
Philip Levine (Not this Pig & They Feed They Lion)
Gerard Manley Hopkins "Spring and Fall"

That's all I need--direction and exposure. I haven't read any of those poets except Hopkins. I want to buy all of each of their books right now.

Greg sent the workshop a sample from Joe Brainard's book length poem "I Remember" and gave the only assignment he said he would give us: write 10 pages worth of I Remembers. I'm on page 8. I actually did this in undergrad workshop with Denise and I included a 3 page I Remember poem in my writing sample that went to schools that wanted a longer sample so that was pretty interesting.

Speaking of Denise, why is Greg really familiar with her work as in having read all of it pretty in-depth? Hearing that just made me feel like I'm in the right place, like it makes sense to go from one person's workshop (hers) to the next (his). I'm not explaining that the way I want to. But the point is...that's cool.

Oh and Thomas Lux (whom Greg suggested I read) was one of Denise's teachers.

It seems like even though these people chose me to be in their program, I still always look for little signs that tell me they were not mistaken. That was a huge sign!

What else? He also suggested that the workshop read Whitman's "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" aloud.

Hart Crane's "Voyages"- can't remember why it was suggested, I just wrote it down.

There was mention of Randall Jerrell who didn't write autobiography (except for The Lost World)and instead used a woman's persona as in "Next Day".

(In the voice of Ricky Ricardo) JayTeeeee...you've got some readin' to do!

I'm very excited. Exposure to poets whose work I'm unfamiliar with is exactly the type of guidance I was looking for from an MFA program.

Getting to know Roethke

Of course I've started with wikipedia, because I want the most accurate and scholarly info. First thing that catches my eye is this:
"an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm and natural imagery."

*gasp*

I want to be an American poet who publishes volumes of poetry characterized by rhythm and imagery! lol So I think I'm headed in the right direction by choosing to look more closely into Roethke's work after being exposed to a few of his pieces in workshop this week.

His bio on PBS.org states that his influences were Blake, Yeats, and Auden so I could look more into those poets as well. My professor had a great family tree analogy about poets and I can see it at work here. Just pick a poet, find their influences, and go from there. Then your own work becomes influenced by their work and you become the newest extension on the family tree.

So now I'm reading his Collected Poems which has the full text of all of his books. UVA has it for free on e-text! Yay!

First impressions: His first book "Open House" has some rhyming, sing-songy, dare I say even emo stuff so far lol. The poems the professor handed out in class were all from his second volume, "Lost Son," and did not rhyme like the few I've read so far.

We'll see where this goes.