Christian poet Mary Harwell Sayler invites you into poetry
Showing posts with label vox poetica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vox poetica. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2016
Picking poems for Earth Day
For Earth Day, I wanted to select a poem from my book Living in the Nature Poem published by Hiraeth Press to celebrate the occasion and also speak for year-round concerns, but that just didn’t happen! It took at least that whole book to speak and celebrate, but, eventually, I picked four poems with four perspectives, reminding me somewhat of the four corners of our round Earth.
As a Christian who believes in one Creator and Creative God, Who can do anything in any amount of time yet likes to include Creation in Creating, this poem honors that perspective.
Having the First Word
Into first being God uttered water,
broke open the night,
spilled light and water everywhere.
The earth took God’s Word
to heart,
pumping great cardiovascular
veins of rivers, oceans,
light.
Air performed lively aerations,
breathing into plants,
boosting inhalation, waiting
to lift us, buoyed, out of the water –
wailing and gasping for breath.
by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2012
In addition to including the poems above and below in Living in the Nature Poem, the next lines originally appeared in the April, 2012 issue of vox poetica.
The Recipe
I am made of stars, sand, rain.
My fingers flicker
birds,
my feet fins,
my head
an acorn.
If stars implode,
a black hole sucks me.
If rains wash sand,
I am moved.
This earth,
this universe
does not shelter me
like
a building but like
skin, bones, blood,
a single cell.
by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2012
The above two poems come from theological and biological perspectives intended to show our oneness with one another and nature, whereas the following poem talks about the physical concerns of our present-day society and the neighborhood where I lived at the time this true incident occurred.
Also from Living in the Nature Poem, the piece first appeared in the November 2010 issue of Creekwalker – a lovely online journal that, unfortunately, ceased publication.
Pause in a Hard Week, Working
Even the early oranges were not in, nor
ripe blackberries in their thorny vines.
The loquat had dropped its oval fruit,
and, already, the wild plums’ white
blooms had gone.
The tomatoes green, the squash
in yellow blossoms, and beans
still the dream of green leaves
as the small black bear wandered in
and up an oak without one drop
of water nearby or one brown acorn....
To the hope of wild plums, he clung.
On the other side from where I stood
succumbing to his charming presence,
our neighbors animated their alarms,
and dogs barked,
and a helicopter
from television news
circled and circled
a noise of war
as I ducked beneath a shelter of still
leaves and whispered,
wait,
please wait until the dark.
by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2010 & 2012
So, what do we do with these perspectives and the concerns we have about situations that threaten our environment – and our lives? That’s the fretful view of a tragedy in the true sense of the word since that refers to something that started out beautifully, but ended badly.
Conversely, a genuine “comedy” in literature and life has nothing to do with the jollies of a sit-com or stand-up comedian but, literarily refers to something that’s awful yet has a happy-ending or upbeat purpose in the overall scheme of things. And so, I’ll end with:
The Marvelous Comedy
Something’s wrong with me.
I cannot seem to stop myself
from seeing something good.
Everywhere you look – poverty,
despair, wars, and the stealth
of a cat burglar, stalking floods
of saltwater pearls. Can you see
how to free me from this wealth
of wonder? Even if I should
be aware of the jail-striped bee
blundering around me or the
arsonist ant’s fire-lit breath,
my thoughts drip not with death
but honey, and I cannot help
but see the choreographed crawl
of the ant or sprawling pattern of
bees in the beautiful buzz.
by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2012
Living in the Nature Poem, paperback
Living in the Nature Poem, e-book
…
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Poetry Insights from The Poetry Editor of vox poetica
The Poetry Editor blog began in hopes of helping poets to become their own best poetry editors, and with experience and practice that will indeed happen, but the New Year offers a timely time to take another tack and revise the initial intent. Therefore, in this article, and, hopefully, others to come, The Poetry Editor will bring you interviews with real-live poetry editors to give you a realistic view of the editorial work that goes into poetry-making and poetry publishing. If you’re a poetry editor who would like to participate, I’d be glad to hear from you. At present, I'll start with poetry editors I’ve worked with – ones who accepted my poems for publication (thank you very much!) and, preferably, ones who write their own poems in addition to editing ours.
This naturally brought to mind Annmarie Lockhart, whose words appear in fine journals, online and in print. She’s also the founding editor of vox poetica, an online literary salon dedicated to bringing poetry into the everyday, and the founder of unbound CONTENT, an independent press for a boundless age. A lifelong resident of Bergen County, NJ, Annmarie lives, works, and writes two miles east of the hospital where she was born, but her creativity and innovative work on behalf of poets and poetry is, well, unbound.
Annmarie, how did you get started with vox poetica?
I think the same way a lot of editors get started with journals: I was looking for something that didn't seem to exist. I wanted to read a journal that published daily poetry content and that spoke to a wide variety of readers. I was reading amazing work on personal blogs, so I knew there were tons of good writers looking to be read. I wanted to create a space where those writers and others like them could come to share their words. We are lucky to live in a technological age with few barriers to entry. Creating the website was simple, sending it out into the world was exciting, and watching it grow has been a creative life source beyond my expectations.
That’s wonderful to hear! Sometimes expectations limit us, for example, when poets expect or, perhaps, fear that revising and editing will ruin their poems. As a poetry editor, how would you help poets to see the value of good editing?
Editing can be the difference between a good poem and a great poem. At the very least, it can help ensure that the words are all spelled correctly and that any unconventionalities of grammar/ usage/ punctuation are intended for artistic merit and not mistakes. Sometimes editing reveals where a writer might have gone off point or, inadvertently, composed a second poem somewhere within the first. Or it can clear away the redundancies that many of us build into our poems because we're so focused on words and not meaning. It's hard to learn to cut mercilessly. Sometimes it's easier to let someone else do that, but whether it's oneself or another set of eyes, an edit stage is crucial to all poems.
A great example of this is a work-in-progress at unbound CONTENT where Alice Shapiro's manuscript Saltian became a living editing experiment. Alice wanted to explore the idea of there being many views of the same poem, so we assembled a board of editors and assigned them all individual poems from the manuscript to critique. We then posted those at unbound CONTENT's blog to open the poems and the critiques up to readers. After that Alice took the work back and revised each poem based on the collected feedback. As the author she reserved the right to make any, all, or no changes to her original poems, of course. But the result is a collection of work and a sampling of other ways to render that work. It really speaks to the creativity and wonder of the editing process. I would encourage writers to have fun with editing and definitely not to fear it.
Does a poetry edit or revision risk any loss of the poet's voice?
It shouldn't. If the voice fades in the editing process, the editor failed the work. It's very important for the editor to hear the voice of the narrator within a poem. That voice may or may not be the poet per se, but it is the teller of the story in that particular poem. If anything, voice should be stronger at the end of the editing process. For writers who edit their own work this can be difficult as sometimes a writer hears a different voice when editing than when writing. This is where the ear and the gut really matter in the process. Read the work. Listen to it. If it doesn't sound right, chances are it isn't.
What about the spontaneity of a poem? Do revising and editing mar the lyrical impulse or emotion initially captured?
That's a great question. Many poems come from a very in-the-moment inspiration and seem to write themselves. These poems are often quite complete in a first draft. I know several writers who use this technique exclusively. But again, editing shouldn't change the inherent energy of any poem. It's still important, though, to read for spelling, inconsistency of image and voice, word choice, and tone. Many writers who work this way find the editing phase useful for minor revisions, a word here, a line break there. Editing doesn't have to be extensive to be effective.
How important is style or form?
Style or form is as elemental to a poem as voice or selection is key. Certain poems lend themselves to formal construction, while others fight against rules. It's important for a writer to know the difference. Sometimes a phrase within the poem is the determinant. It calls for language that fits a sonnet format possibly, but it seems stilted and undirected in a free verse format. Sometimes a writer is using a form as a prompt or a creativity challenge. When that works it's great, but when it doesn't, the writer might try applying a different style or form to it to see if that alters the viability of the poem. I've seen great results when a writer steps back and alters the construction of a poem just to see what happens. Trying something new is good for creativity essentially all the time. The worst thing that could happen is if you don't like the results. So you scrap it and you keep the original structure as it is. You have nothing to lose in trying.
True! And experimenting eventually helps poets to improve the literary quality of their work. What else can poets do to take their poetry to the next level?
Improvements in writing can only come from two things: reading and writing. You want to write better? Read more and write more. Discipline yourself to do both of those things. Read with a critical eye, absorb what you're reading, write just for the sake of writing, apply techniques of craft to your work. Above all, mimic what you like and experiment.
Excellent advice! Before we close, is there anything else you would like to say to poets who want their poems to be published?
If you want your poems to be published, you have to submit them. Often. You will get rejection notices. Embrace them. Use them as an opportunity to take a fresh eye to the work. Sometimes the work really needs some revision. Research the outlets you're submitting to. Don't send Goth poetry to a romance poetry journal. It will not be accepted there. Read what a journal publishes. Does your work fit with what you read there? If not, try another journal. But be persistent. If the guidelines say send 3-5 poems, don't send one. Don't send ten. Send five. Give an editor a chance to see something she likes. Send your best polished work, not your first drafts. Keep track of where your work is being considered. Be respectful of your work and the editor's time. Apply yourself to the task of writing and the goal of publishing.
Thank you so much, Annmarie, for giving poets a better understanding of poetry, the work of a poet, and the vitality of the editorial process.
~~
~~
© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler
~~
This naturally brought to mind Annmarie Lockhart, whose words appear in fine journals, online and in print. She’s also the founding editor of vox poetica, an online literary salon dedicated to bringing poetry into the everyday, and the founder of unbound CONTENT, an independent press for a boundless age. A lifelong resident of Bergen County, NJ, Annmarie lives, works, and writes two miles east of the hospital where she was born, but her creativity and innovative work on behalf of poets and poetry is, well, unbound.
Annmarie, how did you get started with vox poetica?
I think the same way a lot of editors get started with journals: I was looking for something that didn't seem to exist. I wanted to read a journal that published daily poetry content and that spoke to a wide variety of readers. I was reading amazing work on personal blogs, so I knew there were tons of good writers looking to be read. I wanted to create a space where those writers and others like them could come to share their words. We are lucky to live in a technological age with few barriers to entry. Creating the website was simple, sending it out into the world was exciting, and watching it grow has been a creative life source beyond my expectations.
That’s wonderful to hear! Sometimes expectations limit us, for example, when poets expect or, perhaps, fear that revising and editing will ruin their poems. As a poetry editor, how would you help poets to see the value of good editing?
Editing can be the difference between a good poem and a great poem. At the very least, it can help ensure that the words are all spelled correctly and that any unconventionalities of grammar/ usage/ punctuation are intended for artistic merit and not mistakes. Sometimes editing reveals where a writer might have gone off point or, inadvertently, composed a second poem somewhere within the first. Or it can clear away the redundancies that many of us build into our poems because we're so focused on words and not meaning. It's hard to learn to cut mercilessly. Sometimes it's easier to let someone else do that, but whether it's oneself or another set of eyes, an edit stage is crucial to all poems.
A great example of this is a work-in-progress at unbound CONTENT where Alice Shapiro's manuscript Saltian became a living editing experiment. Alice wanted to explore the idea of there being many views of the same poem, so we assembled a board of editors and assigned them all individual poems from the manuscript to critique. We then posted those at unbound CONTENT's blog to open the poems and the critiques up to readers. After that Alice took the work back and revised each poem based on the collected feedback. As the author she reserved the right to make any, all, or no changes to her original poems, of course. But the result is a collection of work and a sampling of other ways to render that work. It really speaks to the creativity and wonder of the editing process. I would encourage writers to have fun with editing and definitely not to fear it.
Does a poetry edit or revision risk any loss of the poet's voice?
It shouldn't. If the voice fades in the editing process, the editor failed the work. It's very important for the editor to hear the voice of the narrator within a poem. That voice may or may not be the poet per se, but it is the teller of the story in that particular poem. If anything, voice should be stronger at the end of the editing process. For writers who edit their own work this can be difficult as sometimes a writer hears a different voice when editing than when writing. This is where the ear and the gut really matter in the process. Read the work. Listen to it. If it doesn't sound right, chances are it isn't.
What about the spontaneity of a poem? Do revising and editing mar the lyrical impulse or emotion initially captured?
That's a great question. Many poems come from a very in-the-moment inspiration and seem to write themselves. These poems are often quite complete in a first draft. I know several writers who use this technique exclusively. But again, editing shouldn't change the inherent energy of any poem. It's still important, though, to read for spelling, inconsistency of image and voice, word choice, and tone. Many writers who work this way find the editing phase useful for minor revisions, a word here, a line break there. Editing doesn't have to be extensive to be effective.
How important is style or form?
Style or form is as elemental to a poem as voice or selection is key. Certain poems lend themselves to formal construction, while others fight against rules. It's important for a writer to know the difference. Sometimes a phrase within the poem is the determinant. It calls for language that fits a sonnet format possibly, but it seems stilted and undirected in a free verse format. Sometimes a writer is using a form as a prompt or a creativity challenge. When that works it's great, but when it doesn't, the writer might try applying a different style or form to it to see if that alters the viability of the poem. I've seen great results when a writer steps back and alters the construction of a poem just to see what happens. Trying something new is good for creativity essentially all the time. The worst thing that could happen is if you don't like the results. So you scrap it and you keep the original structure as it is. You have nothing to lose in trying.
True! And experimenting eventually helps poets to improve the literary quality of their work. What else can poets do to take their poetry to the next level?
Improvements in writing can only come from two things: reading and writing. You want to write better? Read more and write more. Discipline yourself to do both of those things. Read with a critical eye, absorb what you're reading, write just for the sake of writing, apply techniques of craft to your work. Above all, mimic what you like and experiment.
Excellent advice! Before we close, is there anything else you would like to say to poets who want their poems to be published?
If you want your poems to be published, you have to submit them. Often. You will get rejection notices. Embrace them. Use them as an opportunity to take a fresh eye to the work. Sometimes the work really needs some revision. Research the outlets you're submitting to. Don't send Goth poetry to a romance poetry journal. It will not be accepted there. Read what a journal publishes. Does your work fit with what you read there? If not, try another journal. But be persistent. If the guidelines say send 3-5 poems, don't send one. Don't send ten. Send five. Give an editor a chance to see something she likes. Send your best polished work, not your first drafts. Keep track of where your work is being considered. Be respectful of your work and the editor's time. Apply yourself to the task of writing and the goal of publishing.
Thank you so much, Annmarie, for giving poets a better understanding of poetry, the work of a poet, and the vitality of the editorial process.
~~
~~
© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler
~~
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