STORIES


We will do both Mike's and Terri's stories. Go through them
line by line--mark what works, mark anything that feels
awkward or cliche or sentimental. Does the dialogue feel real.
Are the images appropriate? Is the setting utilized
in a way that adds to the overall reality of the story?
How is the voice made unique, as opposed to any other voice
could be "telling" the sequence of events that make up
each given story. Is the author too close to the material?
Are the characters complex? Is the period of time covered
right for the story (Is it trying to cover too much ground?).
Is there a sense of scene over summary? Pick THREE spots
in the story that you think really work well. Underline
sentences that feel like they could be improved. It's possible
I'll ask for the edited stories--have you hand them in to
me before they go to the author. So make sure to
mark them up and express a few ideas about each story.
It's not a test--intuition is important--your gut feelings--
but think as well.

BAXTER ON RURAL WINTERS

There could be a quiz on the asterisked
stories just below on Wed/ Thurs.

Thurs, class 2, we'll do Jake's prose poem and Ayesha's,
and Jayme's. and Shanea's and we'll see what else . . .

(Lacey--I graded poem 6--great poem!)

for wed/thurs (11-18/19)

Read "Happy" (p. 112)
*"Dinner Time" (p. 115)
*"The Hatchet Man to the Lighthouse" (p.109)
*"The Signing" I added this (p. 205)
"Things I Did to Make it Possible" (p. 129)
*"The Sock" (p. 177)
*"The Bank Robbery" (p. 94)

I'll be asking you to read "Say Yes" (p. 74) for next Tuesday.

Read "Voice" Chapter in Burroway for next Tuesday, 11-25/26

In February, the overcast sky isn’t gloomy so
much as neutral and vague. It’s a significant
factor in the common experience of depression
among the locals. The snow crunches under your
boots and clings to your trousers, to the cuffs,
and once you’re inside, the snow clings to your
psyche, and eventually you have to go to the doctor.
The past soaks into you in this weather because the
present is missing almost entirely."

— Charles Baxter (The Feast of Love)

NOV. 16/17

We will look at Mike's prose poem from the old packet
("The Judgement of the Righteous")

How does it succeed, but how could it be better?

Also, we'll, if we get to them, do Carrie's, Jeff's,
and Joe's prose poems in the packets of prose poems
I handed out previously . . .

In Tuesday's class we'll look at Ly's prose poem, and Alicia's,
and Amanda's, and the two flarf poems--Jayme's and Alicia's
again . . .

Okay, mostly for you to know . . . the same old same old . . .

There could be a test on this fiction chapter, so . . .

Read of the fiction chapter and the story "Snow" in Burroway.

And Jayme, I wasn't snapping at you! And Tarl, if you have a
question interrupt and ask it. Not only that--but the class
has had some start and stop energy in it due to schedules . . .

I'll hand the rest of the poems back in both classes
and we'll look at prose poems (on Mon/Tues), and now
we are looking for some odinary narrative
logic, though you CAN write an elliptical prose
poem . . . but we'll get more of a sense of telling, story, plot . . .
and this will be even more evident with the longer story.

The Burroway Chapter really does do a good job at getting
at what's essential--but it also is saying in different ways
what I said about "Reunion" and "No One's a Mystery."

November Has Just Started


The Word Cage

Kelsey Hueni brought this up, and Ayesha in today's class--
namely, how much can you edit the four poems you'll be
handing in. The answer is: a lot. Or a little--as much as
you would like. But I'd like you to forget original guidelines
and just make the poem better. If that means going over
the original line limit (or under) so be it. If that means
cutting a word that you used originally from the word
grid, that's fine. Change the title, alter the stanzas, whatever.
Go for it . . .

I updated some dates--the Burroway chapter and story "Snow"
now to be read by Nov. 11/12.

The Sudden Fiction stories and revised poems still due Nov 9/10

Sudden Fiction Stories: for Nov. 9/10th:
No One's a Mystery, 47
Reunion, 14
Sunday in the Park, 20
Twirler, 17
Popular Mechanics (already did in class)
A Lost Grave, 219
Any Minute Now Mom Should Come Blasting Through the
oooDoor, p. 196

For Nov. 16/17:
Happy
The Hatchet Man in the Lighthouse
Dinner Time
Things I Did to Make It Possible
The Sock (Lydia Davis)
The Signing
The Bank Robbery

For Nov 11/12:
Fiction Chapter in Burroway
The story "Snow" by Charles Baxter in Burroway
The story "Bigfoot Stole My Wife" in Burroway

Link to flarf

and another link

and this, at Jacket

A link to some thoughts on Narrative and the Lyric.

TO SUMMARIZE (and addendums):


Bring Sudden Fiction book to class every day!

Please revise and turn in your first four poems on
November 9/10--that's poems 1 through 4.

Hand in story starters--fill in blank exercises.

Schedule here remains--I've been off line, for various reasons,
choice, but also technical problems. We'll simply look at more
poems today. If you emailed me a prose poem, well, why did
you do that? Please just bring the hard copy in to class on
Wednesday/ Thursday. Thank you.

(I know sometimes the e-mails are a case of exuberance, so it's no
big deal.)

Prose Poems due Nov. 4/5

First four poems revised by Nov. 9/10

Select Stories from Sudden Fiction to be read by Nov. 9/10

Fill in story starters done by Nov. 2/3

Fiction Chap. in Burroway by Nov. 11/12

Read Charles Baxter's story "Snow" by Nov. 11/12
(it's in the Burroway book).

PLEASE

read the post below. It has germane info for class, tomorrow
and generally upcoming. I'll be providing many examples of
prose poems, many of which I cannot go over in class. But you,
I think, will get the idea. I will go over several. Here is a link
to one of my prose poems (I already read this in the Tuesday
class). PLEASE, go through your folders and organize them--
get rid of old useless stuff, or find an appropriately large
folder so everything is organized. I'll be bringing a zillion
handouts on the morrow. The prose poem assignment is in the
post below, by the way.

In Sudden Fiction
For Monday/Tues., November 9/10, read the following stories:
No One's a Mystery, p. 47 (this one especially)
Can-Can, p. 5
Reunion, p. 14
Sunday in the Park, p. 20
Twirler, p. 17
Popular Mechanics, p. 68
A Lost Grave, p. 219
Any Minute Now Mom Should Come Blasting Through the Door, p. 196
The Personal Touch, p. 135

More Stuff


(Also, bring Poets Picking Poets after reading pages 174,
165, 139, 79, 66, and 67, 50, and 13 (again).)

These are all short, and interesting--so it's not like work.

Also, read Dybek's "Sunday at the Zoo" in Sudden Fiction.

Okay, enough with my little pop music revery. Remember to
read the chapter "Voice" (page 37) in Burroway. Any one of these
chapters could be pop quizzed, though I'd make it simple.

I'll share more prose poems on Monday/Tuesday. How you
approach it is up to you, though I want it cleanly written,
punctuated the way you'd punctuate a paper in English 131.

Remember to bring Sudden Fiction to class each day.

Write a prose poem, and hand it in on November 4/5. It must
be under 275 words, but more than 200 words. It should be
in first person (see Voice chapter). Extend an idea the way Lydia
Davis does or tell a small story the way Dybek does. Use image;
be aware of sense of place. Making a piece ACTIVE can liven it up.
Use dialogue if you wish. Details, details. I'd like you to note on top
of the page which of the prose poems I handed out influenced you
(a little or a lot). Just type the author's last name and the title
of the piece: "Dybek: 'Lights'" . . . I do want clarity in this piece--
it should be clear what is happening. However, this is your story--
it will have its own title and create its own little strange universe.

NOTES


Here's a shamelessly romantic song. It's unabashedly
moving. If you can figure out a way to fill your lines
with this emotion without allowing it to spill over
into bathos--using irony, velocity, etc.--you'll
find you can do anything you want on the page . . .

Here's just a Mott the Hoople thing.

Quiz for class one (and 2) completed--people did well generally.

Here is a link to some odd prose poems by Russell Edson.

Quiz in a couple of hours. Bring the book Sudden Fiction to
class from now on (starting today). You can leave
the Capps book home--we'll continue with Burroway.
We'll workshop poems through the 26/27. Please revise
and turn in your first four poems on November 9/10--that's
poems 1 through 4. Just staple the four together with your
name and the old first draft and the new poem (so eight
sheets of paper all together). I'll assign your prose
poem assignment on Monday/Tues (250 words max.), the 26/27
of October. Remember to read the Voice chapter in Burroway.

OCTOBER 19

Quay Brothers link.

Other ones.

Link to a poem.

Tuesday class, same as below--we'll do poems after short film
and Denis Johnson intro.

Sorry, I found myself stranded from computer--actually a
Godsend kind of thing, but I've been silent, and now class begins
in an hour. It's Oct. 19, and your 6th poem is due (the last poem)
and when I get back we'll work on prose poems, or small fictions.
So poetry until then. The quiz is Thursday--12 questions. Pretty easy,
but KNOW every word on the list . . . Today we'll look at some poems,
including Matt's rather colorful one, which is more of a TV script,
though one could find a place for it in the poetic history of
the monologue . . .

LEFT BAG

Ly, you left your bag in the room--it's in 3179 Wiekamp
for the next hour--then it will be in the English office.

For Wednesday/Thursday

Those poets I wanted you to read in PPP: Dean Young
and Mary Ruefle.

Tomorrow, Tuesday class, that quiz. Look at the post below as well.

Oct. 12/13


Quiz time--study the pages I pointed out. First thing
we'll do is take the quiz. It will be graded on a curve.
There are 14 questions but more than 14 correct answers.

Quiz clues--Auden (two)

In very basic terms a metaphor differs from a simile, right?

***

Also, your poem about "work" is due. I'll mention prose
poems again, which is a term off our list of words.
I'd like to workshop at least six poems.

In poem six you will assume the voice of someone
you are close to--a parent, sibling, lover, friend. Or someone
anyway, in dramatic relation to you--a doctor,
a neighbor. If there is anger involved don't go overboard.
If there is giddiness involved, don't go overboard.

Show, show, show. Detail, detail, detail.

Yes, Capps' Crop Dusted Wedding Cake is a good example.
Notice how you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference
between Capps' voice and her father's, tho details make it
quite clear. In other words, don't fall into caricature.

The poem should be written in 6 to 8 tercets or 5 quatrains.
Use One Word from the word grid. Title should be at least
six words long.

We'll workshop--I'll hand back (with many comments) Ashley's
and Kelly's poems from last, and include their new ones today.

The word today is "Speaker."

I Wave

By Johannes Westerink

As my feet sink into the sand
I take a breath
and my lungs dance.
And my legs begin their task
of carrying me through the waves.
Starting somewhere and
ending somewhere else.
I do not care.
Some of the waves are invisible.
The air softly explodes, a pulse
that engulfs.
Some of the waves are wet.
They launch themselves up,
over and across the shoreline,
peacefully foaming madness.

Now I sail on waves of sand,
slowly spawned by the others.
Billions of tiny rocks,
quietly meditating
as they morph towards the sky.
These waves too, find their shoreline.
I cross over the shining peaks,
swimming into a sea of green.

FURTHER NOTES


Remember, a quiz on October 12/13, or Mon/Tues.

For Wed (14th) and Thursday (15th), have read in Burroway
pp. 320 through 325.

Otherwise we'll do poems. I'm going to ask each author
to reveal the subject of the poem first, a new strategy,
and we will focus on how that end is achieved (successfully
or not). It's not a matter of FAILURE, it's a matter of
effective use of the tools available to the poet--image,
music, metaphor--the expanding of reality via the concrete
for the most part (and orignal metaphors etc as opposed
to the old standards . . .). How many times in a poem
that does communicate clearly it's subject are we indeed
startled, surprised . . .?

Wednesday/Thursday (10-7/8)


Oops, had the wrong post for the wrong class here.

By the way, Class Two, I will gone on the 29th of October.

For everyone, that is the 28th and the 29th.

We'll workshop, poems from the new packet . . .

Poem 4 is due (Mike, you already handed this poem in--
don't hand poem five in until due date).

Read pp 317-319 in Burroway.

The word for the day is "lyric" . . .

Poem Five is due 10-12/13 . . . (this is updated)

Poem Five should be a poem about work, or the idea
of work as obligation, or as something loved, or as opposed
to vocation . . .

I want the same kind of spontaneity we've
been generating--write the first draft quickly,
automatically, and let the PROCESS guide you.
Capps' "The Sign Said" is about all the above
things in its own way . . . Be concrete, use
active verbs . . . DETAILS

The poem should be between 18 and 30 lines long,
and use two words from the word grid--use your imagination
and make them fit.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY


words: (poetic line)
end rhyme
enjambment
end-stopped

wed: poems by Cliff, Joe, Crystal, Mike . . .

thurs: poems by Ly, Justin, Alicia . . .

Poem Four


*remember, quiz on Poetry Chapter Oct. 12/13

Poem Four is due October 5/6.

The title of this poem should be an address, your own
or something found randomly in a phone book. Thus:

"1763 Cushing Street"

OR, the title can be a "Fictitious name" of someone you know.

Say "Canton Freewell." Or "Mary Lou Sneed" . . .

In other words, you are using this name to "protect the innocent."

You can use humor, but don't go silly on us--really do
use the Capps poems as a guide. Urgency is what I want, plus
perhaps some dark or self deprecating humor . . .

Be aware as well of Place, Tone, sense of Scene, Details.

Name a color at least once . . .

It should be written in four quatrains and end with two
sets of couplets. Use the poem on page 6 in Capps'
book as an example. Use two words
from the word grid. Twenty lines long.

I want you to write this as if you are addressing
someone, pointing out flaws, arguing your side
of things, venting, figuring things out; again, use
page 6 as an example. Or page 22, which is also
twenty lines long. Or the poem on page 42.

End of September


The word, or concept: free verse

For class, use that workshop sheet, and in each poem
identify place, determine who is speaking and attitude
via tone; identify the action (is the poem active, is there
a sense of time passing, does it record a single scene?),
and what are the images/details (things)?

Class One: We'll do Ashley's "Loss of Love . . .," Caring's
"Shackled Adolescence," Carrie's "Anne"--the titles
are very telling so far--Johanne's "Seeker,"
Cliff's "Relative's Without Relations," Joe's
"The Basement," Crystal's "Opened," and Mike's
"In Hona Mortis Nostrae:" . . . I want to get through
more poems now . . . Remember, poem three is
due . . .

Class Two: Amanda's "We Kissed Tomorrow Good-Bye,"
Tarl's "The Wrong Place," Ben's "Pilgrim," Lacey's
"Consequences," Ly's untitled poem, Justin K's "No Place,"
Alicia's "Chicken Wings" . . .

for Wed/Thur


The word is metaphor/simile (we already know this)

Actually, read "Poem on the Occasion of My MRI,"
and "Conventional Red," and "Coffin Birth (One Theory, Lord)"
in Mistaking the Green Fields . . . we'll close out
Capps for the semester, though I'll refer to it
still, so keep it on hand . . .

And yes, I'll go over the Denis Johnson thread in PPP.

Robert Hass on economies.

Louise Gluck on Youtube.

Thomas James link.

NOTES FOR NEXT CLASS


Monday/Tuesday's word: Diction. Here's a link about it.

Instructions for poem three (due next Monday/Tuesday) are below.

Keep bringing Capps and Burroway books to class . . .

We'll look at three poems (Capps) on Monday/Tuesday . . .

I have gotten some early poems--from Terrie, Kelly, Kelsey
and Matt (all in Class One), and Justin, Jayme, Shanea, Ayesha
(in Class Two), and so we'll workshop these . . .

I'll copy them and bring them to class, and Class One, I forwarded
them, via email, so if you could please print them and make a comment
or two, that would be great. Class Two, will ponder the poems a bit
before speaking about them . . .

I will bring copies.

Three cheers for these poets for the early poems though . . .

We also have Kelly's first poem to go over, and Jake's . . .
(and Jake--can you bring a copy of your longer version--
I seem to have misplaced it . . .)

***

POEM THREE


Write a poem that uses a landscape as a framing device,
which is really just me saying, write a poem about a Place,
and let that place connect to you. Let it determine mood,
let the FEELING of the place, described, pour wisdom into your
world.

“Public, Scenic” on page 39 in Mistaking the Sea from Green Fields
is a good example. Yes, it is oblique, a bit wild. BE wild. But in the
end Capps’ poem is about a park.

“What constitutes a Proper Planet” is another example, on page 67.

I simply want you to think of a place first, let the poem TAKE
place there, and just let it take you where it will.

“All the Invisible Animals” (page 64) is another example.
The fact is, of course, that Capps uses PLACE in most
of her poems.

***

Also, include one word from the word grid.

The poem needs to be either twenty-three lines long,
using short lines (like “Public, Scenic”), or 16 longer lines,
in quatrains, like Capps’ “I Used to See Her in the Field
Beside My House,” another “place” poem.

The first word in the title should be “I”

This poem is due Monday, Sept 28/29.