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Knitting and poetry: kindred arts ...

7/27/2019

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Picture
Occasionally, a friend, an acquaintance, or even a passerby inspires me to compose a new poem. One such friend, named Sandi, is a brilliant fiber artist who designs the yarn that she knits.

She carefully selects the wool she will use, decides which color it should be, patiently dyes the fiber, spins it into yarn, knits it according to whichever pattern she has chosen, and blocks it into shape. 

It occurred to me one day, while marveling at her work, that Sandi and I share rather analogous  skills. The poetry that I write involves more than merely knitting words together into usable sentences.

Poems require that I select the sound, the texture, and the hue of each individual word, subtly nuancing and otherwise abridging them as needed, and ultimately weaving them all into a specific shape.

Both Sandi and I have developed our skills over several decades.  Yet, for all of our diligence to design she and I are often surprised by the finished products of our work.  Formula is merely a frame.

Within that rigid frame unanticipated tinges can appear within the form, which usually help to enhance what was intended.  Which begs a question: “Is the art itself more competent than the artist?”

In truth, both Sandi and I have found that there is a fluid dialogue between the tools we each apply and the work at hand.  We have learned to appreciate this and to allow the art to take part as well.



Image: sheknitsandpurls.wordpress.com
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Connective tissues notwithstanding ...

7/13/2019

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Since my last blog post, I’ve tried to spare my thumb the irritation that excessive typing brings on, and my ears the noise of this thin, small, plastic thumb brace tap, tap, tapping on the spacebar.  Still …

Time to give it another go.  This brings to mind the many connective tissues involved in writing verse: meter, rhyme, alliteration, and the many tiny balancing points that must be accounted for in poetry.

If any one of these points is out of round, the entire poem suffers an acute pain which nags until it gets sorted out.  Resting the poem awhile, untouched, can sometimes refresh it and help it to mend.

Otherwise, one tends to overwork it, which can break the natural flow of the poem and render it a stiff, obviously forced piece.  It has to relax, to breath, and to become pliable enough to work with.

It requires intuitive skill to properly perform surgery on a badly mangled poem.  Occasionally I’ve been unable to resuscitate a piece and have had to let if go. Nothing I did could bring it back to life.

Often, certain lines and the intended meaning of such a poem will re-emerge as a totally different piece than was intended, or even regenerate years later into the very form it was meant to be.   

Sometimes, merely allowing an adequate and thorough resting period is the best medicine one can apply to a broken poem.   So, too, with my healing hand, which is just beginning to ache now.

Until next time ...


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Image: ohmyarthritis.com


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    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

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