2015 begins! On resolutions, writing, reading, and heroes

Happy 2015!

It's my last semester of my undergraduate degree and the year that I will turn a quarter of a century, and needless to say, I have (until this moment) not set any resolutions that have to do with writing. Because 'write better' is kind of a constant goal, it is hard to want to set a solid resolution, of number of pages or poems, or published pieces or what have you. Setting resolutions from a place of quantifiability seems like setting myself up for failure. I do, however, think that resolutions on a theoretical level are important. (More a question of who I want to be, than the number of times that I want to go the gym this year.) The first thing that comes to mind is 'be kinder to people', which is not all that interesting in terms of writing goals for the new year, but still important.

In terms of writing, writing better should include reading. Reading is one of the most important things that a writer can do (besides writing and publishing, of course!). Reading should deepen the scope of a writers language and help to develop voice and themes. So, to this list I will add 'read more'.

--And so far I have been, whiling away the class and study free hours re-reading the seventh Harry Potter book. Which gets us to the meat of the matter. What is it about Harry Potter that entranced my generation? What is it about the series and its characters that has made me and so many of my friends go back to it over and over again? I have read each book in the series probably about a dozen times and I still want to go back every winter and re-read one of them. 

Certainly, there is the nostalgia of the thing. I received the first three books one year for Christmas, and, while I always liked reading and being read to, it was the first time I really felt sucked into a world on my own. Even now, I wish that I had magic but, who doesn't in one way or another? It blows me away that one series of books could so inspire a generation of readers, that the bowels of the internet are filled to bursting with fan-fiction (which is another blog-post for another time), a theme park has been created and vacations can be planned to Polish castles where guests can experience Hogwarts. 

Then I think of the hype over Tolkien's, Lord of the Rings, that I certainly also felt entirely enthralled with as a kid (and still do), and the comic book heroes that are so important and prevalent in writing and media.

It strikes me that all of these stories have a kind of ethos in common: the reluctant hero. Through the whole Harry Potter series, all Harry wants is to be a normal person with a normal family and friends. He certainly never asked to be special or famous, and we readers, get the sense that he would trade all of it to have his parents back magic or not. Bilbo too, in the Hobbit never wanted to go on any adventures or do anything out of the ordinary, and yet he ends up on an adventure where he wishes often that he was safe at home in his nice warm hobbit hole. The more I think about it the list seems endless.

There is something about this reluctance that resonates with us. Sometimes, the thing that seems the scariest for me is getting what I want, having an opportunity for success, because that means that I actually have to do something about it. It means that I actually have to get up out of my comfort zone and try something new, take a chance on something that could fail, really put myself out there. 

The fact that we love characters that are forced to push boundaries, says something about what it means to be human. Maybe what it means to be human is in that getting out into the wide world with strange companions and making the best of it, no matter how dark or complicated things are. In so many ways I think that, these stories and their reluctant hero's resonate because the thing they have in common is hope.

Finding A Good Sentence

The first thing that we have been asked to do as a class is look for sentences. The assigned readings are out of a book recently published by Stanley Fish, How to Write A Sentence. The book begins by relating the reason for looking at and loving sentences as a writer. Sentences, says Fish (and Annie Dillard) are the paint used by writers. In order to be a writer one must first love sentences, in the same way painters must love paint.

Naturally, I completely agree. However, I want to focus on the advice that Fish gives at the end of the first chapter in which he explains that a study of good sentences requires the imitation of good sentences. This is the same I would argue for all art. Imitation is key to a practice of writing because it teaches you about form and style. This is the same advice given by Austin Kleon in his book Steal Like an Artist. 

"Once you get the hang of it -- " says Fish (pg 10), "zeroing in on a form that can then be filled with any number of contents -- you can do it forever."

I see this as fundamentally the work of poetry. Take a form, understand it, break it down and use it. Perhaps this is the way with all art, but I think that it is especially important to the crafting of poetry because you are working specifically with form.

Take a sonnet. Writing a sonnet has rules: It must have 14 lines (except when it doesn't), it must have a particular rhyme scheme (except when it doesn't), it must have a turn or volta somewhere in the middle (except when it doesn't), and it most often discusses love (except when it doesn't). If we take the sonnet form and zero  in on what those aspects mean, we poets can break it, use it, change it to being something different and new. In this way Fish seems to be saying, every sentence must be a poem.

The sentence that I collected for this week is:

"I thought myself as a city and I licked my lips." 

I absolutely love this line. It is an excellent reason to subscribe to the poem-a-day from the Academy of American Poets. I took it from the poem Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors, by Richard Siken.

I think I like it because it does something to the brain. It is more powerful still because of the rejoinder on the next line:

"I thought myself a nation and I wrung my hands"  

Hello out there!!

I have created RUMMAGE as a journal of writing experiments and an exploration of my writing life and practice.

The weekly posts for this blog are a project for a creative writing class at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, taught by Anne Fleming (2014). The content will come out of the exercises and musings, brought about by this class.

Where to start? 

First, a little bit about me: I am primarily a poet and print maker. In my work, I am exploring visual art as a medium for the expression and exploration of poetry. My work in creative writing in the last three years has lead me to regard publishing and the creation of books, as a fundamentally visual practice. 

Throughout this summer I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to self-publish Genesis, as a handmade work,  (You can see more of this book making project here) which, in turn, has lead me to think of myself as a printer, or, (although the definitions differ) a print maker. Although I am fundamentally a poet, I am very interested in how the form of the book and its content come together to create a cohesive whole. 

I am interested in what it means to live in a place and a body, I am interested in the innocence of objects and how humans make meaning of the things around them, and I am interested in how art impacts and reflects culture. 

My major project for this class will be the creation of a series of about four chapbooks of poetry and experimental fiction. I will also be creating an art series of prints that reflect these writing projects. I want to explore and experiment with different things, especially the juxtaposition of form and content. 

So, hello and welcome!