VRZHU bullets of pure love

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

How green is the poetry world?  You could say not much since the overwhelming majority of poems do not use the full surface area of the paper upon which they are written.  But you could counter this by saying that more and more poetry is showing up on the Web, thereby saving loads of paper.  Certainly a calculus can be done here for someone who’s interested and is pretty good with algorithms.

What is the environmental impact of a poetry reading? Of a chapbook? Is innovative poetry inherently more green than neoformalist poetry? What about the means of production? Is on-demand publishing better for the environment than traditional publishing? Are DIY productions more environmentally friendly than poetry contests, no matter how prestigious?

These are questions and areas ripe for study. We here at the Vrzhu Research Bureau share most Americans' worries and concerns over the environment, global warming, and the need for grant money. I don’t know if the EPA has any plans, but the Bureau is considering modestly funding an initial study within the next 3 or 4 years.

In the meantime, there is one area of waste in the literary world that has so far escaped attention, an area where the need for the 3 R’s could not be clearer.  That area is the literary interview.

And within literary interviews, there is no item more disposable than the question.  With rare exceptions, an interview question is asked once, and once only, and then only of one person. Each year, hundreds, perhaps thousands of interview questions are used once and then discarded.  What an enormous waste of time and energy, let alone raw material!

Interview answers are nearly as wasteful, but, on the whole, I suspect answers get recycled much more often.  And, even if not recycled, they are reused in different context, such as quotes, or biographies, or studies, or dissertations.  I doubt anyone ever has the need to quote the interview question in and of itself.

How can we conserve this [precious] resource?  I believe, given the millions of questions asked in interviews over time, a small effort to recycle can be made.  Some of this is already taking place. Think how often you’ve heard the question about where does a poet write, what kind of pen, et cetera. But more needs to be done.

The VRB is taking a bold step forward by planning to recycle ALL the questions asked in an interview.  Ideally, if in print, the re-questions would just be indicated by number or some other designation, or perhaps not referred to specifically at all.  In this case the re-answers would only be printed, with a reference to another interview from which the questions have been taken. 

Depending on the ratio of Question Word Count (QWC) to Answer Word Count (AWC), this could result in a dramatic reduction of the total carbon footprint for the interview genre as a whole.  For example, a ratio of 1QWC:1AWC would mean a 50% cut in the paper (and energy) used in producing the interview for readers. Eventually, a bank of questions could be established where all interviewers would be able to access previously used interview questions. The interviewer could draw questions as needed (appropriately identified by serial number) from the question-fund, and use them in a re-questioning context.

The VRB has produced a prototype sample of a Re-Question Interview to show how it might work.  Note that this RQI includes the text of the original questions as they appeared in the source interview. This is for demonstration purposes only, and to familiarize readers with how the process would work.  Once in production, the Re-Questions would be indicated by some referential sequencing. The whole original interview can be found in Poetry Daily’s archive, which, along with Gulf Coast, Matthew Seigel, and Bob Hicok, the VRB thanks profusely.

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Interview Test Case 1.0

RE-QUESTION: Some of your newer poems seem to be much more meditative and less "witty" than your earlier work. Also, I've been told that you are trying to turn away from this perception of you being a "funny" poet. Is this true? If so, what do you find troubling about being called a "funny" poet?

VRZHU: The same thing I find funny about a troubling poet.  I think my biggest motivation for trying to shed the funny moniker is that, though I’m funny poet, no one ever laughs. Ever.

RQ: So many contemporary artists seem to scoff at the idea that art might still be able to change the world. What is the best thing a book of poems can accomplish today, in 2006? Can poems be catalysts for change in the world at large?

VRZHU: I think the best thing a book of poems could accomplish would be to broker a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine.  That would be pretty cool. That, or get published. One or the other.

RQ: This past summer, you were part of the Wave Poetry Bus Tour, traveling and reading with the likes of Joshua Beckman, Gillian Conoley, Carrie St. George Comer, and Matthew Zapruder. How do you feel about the energy of these and other young, up-and-coming poets?

VRZHU: I was part of that? I have no recollection whatsoever.  I…(puts hand to forehead)…maybe we should just go on, ok?

RQ: Years ago, you used to organize poetry slams in Ann Arbor. Did slam poetry in any way affect your own work, and if so how? Do you think there is anything publishing poets could extract from the spoken word community?

VRZHU: Look at this. Slam. I slam. I. Slam. Put them together. Eyeslam. Islam. Islam. See? Get it? I personally would be happy to extract a couple benjamins from the spoken word community.  I mean, think of all the money they’re saving on paper.

RQ: It seems that much of contemporary poetry is compartmentalized into cliques, groups, schools, etc. Why do you think this is? Do you see it as a good thing, a bad thing, or simply a function of the poetry business?

VRZHU: The...what? Poetry business? Cliques? What…do I…think about…what? About little compartments for poetry? That click shut? What? Like in your belly button, you mean? What?

RQ: It seems as though you are really pushing your voice forward with these new poems. Who is influencing your work at this stage of your career?

VRZHU: At this very moment, Bob Hicok.  After this, who knows? Wendell Wilkie.

RQ: Your poems are often ambitious, as in, you seem to jump around in terms of subject matter while keeping a consistent narrative thread running through them. Do you find yourself ever pushing a poem too hard to get it to do what you want it to do? If this is at all possible, does it occur during the revision process?

VRZHU: Man, you have no idea. I had this poem once. Jesus. It would not f[-----]g budge. I was ready to put the electrodes on that sucker, I mean. Of course, I didn’t put electrodes on it. I’m joking, really. Ha-ha. That would cruel. Um…on the hand I’ve had poems go on to successful careers in paralegal professions and retail sales management.  Does that count as ambitious? No electrodes, no sir.

RQ: Oftentimes writers will begin a piece knowing where and how it is going to end as well as having a clear goal of how they want the piece to function (in the world and/or on the page). Do you find yourself setting out to accomplish something specific when you begin to write a poem? How much do you think about your audience?

VRZHU: What is this stuff on my pants?

RQ: In 2002, you abandoned a successful die design business, one which you built from the ground up, to teach in the academy. Do you have any regrets about this decision? Was this ever a goal of yours?

VRZHU: Dye? You think it’s dye? Well, it’s…yeah, I’m regretting wearing this right now.  Maybe I should get it dry cleaned.

RQ: I find it comforting to know you came on the poetry scene without any glittering degrees. How do you think this influenced the direction and velocity of your career? When did you find your work started getting the attention it deserved?

VRZHU: Gee, that’s swell that you find it comforting, because, yeah, it influenced the way my career has been accelerating toward the toilet big time. I’d be happy to get a simple, form letter of rejection instead of my poems all torn up and smelly, that would be a start. Is that what you mean by the attention it deserves?

RQ: What was the strongest physical reaction you've ever had to a poet/book of poems? What about to a reading?

VRZHU: I’m not allowed to talk about that.  And that wasn’t me, it was somebody else.

RQ: To whom have you reacted this way?

VRZHU: Hey, I mean, like next question, alright already? Can we move on here?

RQ: What was it like studying in an MFA program after already having published four books of poems? How did it change your own work?

VRZHU: Do you blah blah blah blah? What was it like blah blah blah blahing? How did it blah blah blah? What *is* it with you, man? What is this? The third degree? [pauses] Hold on a moment, give me a moment. [put head between legs] Okay, okay, get a grip on yourself. [sits up] Sorry. What were you saying?

RQ: So many poets are rushing to get that first book out, spending hundreds of dollars on contests and reading fees. Do you believe this is the best way for young poets to get noticed?

VRZHU: No.

RQ: What message, if any, do you have for the several thousand people who are going to graduate this year with MFAs?

VRZHU: Dear several thousand people: You are the future leaders of the world, and, together, you can set the world on fire!  It’s a bold new dawn, the air is fresh, and the herring are running. Seize, catch those herring with your bare hands, laddies! But remember: catch and release. For he who releases shall himself be released. But he who guts and packs in ice shall himself be gutted and packed in ice, and then fried up with onions and butter.  I say to you: remember to give back. Remember to uphold what’s good about the past, and forge what will be good about the future. For you are the future, our future, the future that awaits this still young nation, this emerald continent still in onesies. Wait, did you say MBA or MFA?

RQ: What would Bob Hicok launch from a giant sling shot?

VRZHU: Bob Hicok. [waves] Thanks, Bob!

Vrzhu Press

Just a reminder that Vrzhu Bullets of Love Blog -- the blog that picks you up as it calms you down -- is a support mechanism for our Vrzhu Press. 

We currently have two books and two more coming this summer. 

Vrzhu Press -- because Vrzhu is pronounced "Ver-zhoo."

The Millay Project

A Classic Vrzhu Post (Vrzhu Reprint Series #1)

A Note on Poetic Thought Disorder

Poetic Thought Disorder (or PTD) has traditionally been applied to a variety of ill-defined speech acts, poems, and poetic forms which are assumed — and it is an assumption — to be secondary to a more fundamental disturbance of versifying or writing poems. These practices were first noted by Hecker in 1871 but they were studied and described in much more detail by Bleuler who regarded them as a direct consequence of ‘metaphors and poetic associationalism’ which he thought was fundamental to poetry. Thus the long-lived assumption that Poetic Thought Disorder was of cardinal importance, aetiologically and diagnostically, being exhibited by all poets and by no one else. However, no one has ever succeeded in producing a satisfactory definition of the term poetry, or in identifying any fundamental psychological or linguistic term capable of accounting for the various observable qualities of a poem. Worse still, few of the qualities have proved to be specific to a poem, and none to be manifested by more than a proportion of poems in what in other respects are typical examples of the genre. Indeed, large studies of the symptomatology of poems show them to be rare in comparison to delusions (“this is a great poem”) and hallucinations (other poets envy me”).

Preliminary Classification of Poetic Thought Disorder (PTD)

The following definitions are taken from authoritative texts, and are widely accepted.

Derailment

Derailment occurs when a train jumps off the track. Andreasen (1979) defines derailment as “A poem in which the ideas slip off the track onto another one which is clearly but obliquely related, or onto one which is completely unrelated”.

Each is truly a unique piece,
you said, or, perhaps, each
is a truly unique piece.
I sniff the difference.
It’s like dust in an old house,
or the water thereof.
Then you come to an exciting part.
The bandit affianced
to the blind man’s daughter. The mangel-wurzels
that come out of every door, salute the traveller
and are gone. Or the more melting pace of strolling players,
each with a collapsed sweetie on his arm, each
tidy as one’s idea of everything under the sun is tidy.
And the wolverines
return, with their coach, and night,
the black bat night, is blacker than any bat

-John Ashbery, The Burden of the Park

Derailment is one of a number of types of PTD. However, it is a basic type and at least some of the other types of PTD appear to be elaborations of derailment.

Tangentiality

This term can be applied when a question is asked in a poem and the poet gives an answer which has “slipped off the track” and is either obliquely or even unrelated to the question.

An example of tangentiality:

It doesn't seem as though we could die up here, does it?
The Acropolis is so old that death on it seems superfluous.
So we can afford to take some chances—
Leap off the wall! Bash statues with our heads!

-Kenneth Koch, On the Acropolis

At first glance it might appear the writer is making a mountain out of a mole hill, as this is the sort of response we all might make, sliding off the question and communicating other important information. However, this answer came early in the poem. In this setting, such a response suggests, but does not prove, PTD. As mentioned, isolated examples of derailment occur in the writing of normal individuals as well as poets.

Flight of ideas (includes clanging (rhyming, alliteration, etc.))

The central feature of the flight of ideas in a poem is rapid, continuous verbalisations which are associated with constant shifting from one idea to another.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

-John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale

Wing et al (1974) describe three types of flight of ideas: 1) where there is rhyming or clanging, eg, “pards, retards” above, 2) where there is an association by meaning, including opposites, eg, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”, and 3) where there is distraction, e.g., “O for a beaker full of the warm South,/Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,/ With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,/And purple-stained mouth.”

Alliteration:

CLOUD-PUFFBALL, torn tufts, tossed pillows ' flaunt forth, then chevy on an air- built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs ' they throng; they glitter in marches.

Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, ' wherever an elm arches, Shivelights and shadowtackle in long ' lashes lace, lance, and pair.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins, That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection

Under the heading of clanging, Andreasen (1979) has drawn attention to punning, as well as alliteration. Not surprisingly, with high mood elevation the punning of flight of ideas can be frequent, amusing and apparently clever.

Punning:

The wasp and all his numerous family
I look upon as a major calamity.
He throws open his nest with prodigality,
But I distrust his waspitality.

-Ogden Nash, The Wasp

Andreasen (1979) states “flight of ideas is a derailment that occurs rapidly in the context of pressured speech”. (“Objectivity and again objectivity, and no expression, no hind-side-beforenesss, no Tennysonianness of speech - nothing, nothing, that you couldn't in some circumstance, in the stress of some emotion, actually say.” –Ezra Pound, known to have suffered from PTD (emphasis added)).

Perseveration and Echolalia

Perseveration is the repetitive expression of a particular word, phrase, or concept during the course of speech.

have they crushed an aluminum can.
have they crushed an aluminum can.
have they crushed an aluminum can.
have they crushed an aluminum can.

have they bent an aluminum can.
have they bent an aluminum can.
have they bent an aluminum can.
have they bent an aluminum can.

-Robert Grenier, Sentences.

Echolalia is the repeating of words or phrases in the poem:

Then tell me, what is that supreme delight? Echo: Light
-George Herbert (1593-1633), Heaven

This by no means exhausts the typical manifestations of PTD in a poem. We have yet to cover Poverty of thought, Poverty of content, Illogicality, Incoherence , Blocking (Thought blockage), and Neologism. There is much of interest here (e.g., a remarkable feature of neologisms is that the poet usually seems unaware that they lack meaning to the listener), however, these topics will be covered in a later installment, where we hope also to elucidate neopoesis, exceptionalism, revisionology, Williamloganism and Billycollinsism.

Review of The Kimnama and More Than Anything

Please take a moment and read these fair and balanced reviews of The Kimnama by Kim Roberts and More Than Anything by Hiram Larew in the Montserrat Review, the two inaugural books of Vrzhu Press. Congratulations, Kim and Hiram!

Kim Roberts at Weirding Word

Gaea Honeycutt has just posted a wonderful interview with Kim Roberts on her blog Weirding Word: Writing, Writers and the Power of Words. 

In this conversation, Roberts speaks about her work and The Kimnama. She also talks about the interaction between the poet and the reader:

"Poetry is an interaction that depends on the reader. In poetry a lot of the process of reading depends on the reader working with the writer. For that reason, poetry is more difficult. It requires more. So, people get scared of it, but it also has the potential to be so much more powerful than the other arts. Poetry can actually change the way you see the world if you let it. But I think, often times, people don’t trust themselves to make meaning."

Please visit her blog and enjoy more from this fascinating conversation.  The interview is in two parts.

• Part One
• Part Two

VRZHU Reading at Minas Gallery in Baltimore

On Sunday July 1st VRZHU Press held its first reading in Baltimore when Kim Roberts and Hiram Larew were guest readers at the delightful poetry series held at Minas Gallery.

There was a great turnout for these poets with all the seats filled.  Both Hiram and Kim are returning guests to this long running poetry series. 

Right before the reading I learned that Minas has hosted a poetry reading for many years dating back to their earlier location in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore.  The gallery moved two years ago to their current location in the funky Hampden neighborhood north of downtown.  As anyone with experience with readings knows, you don't last as a series without establishing a reputation and the Minas reading is certainly respected for its knowledgeable and enthusiastic crowds.  So we were very happy to have a reading there.  The group received Kim and Hiram's work very warmly.

The second half of the reading was set aside for a small open mike for area poets and a few folks took part.  Running through the reading, both Hiram & Kim's and the open mike section, was a desire to pay homage to the life of Barbara Simon who was a pillar in the Baltimore poetry scene.  Every reader shared a few words about this very committed and socially-engaged poet and a few read poems in her honor.

Many thanks to Minas and our terrific hosts.

Here are a few other photographs from the reading.