in an interview the painter/filmmaker julian schnabel was asked how long it took him to make a painting/drawing. he replied his age plus 5 minutes.
can that be the same for poems too. my hero jose kozer says in a poem that writing it should not take more than 20 minutes.
do we place too much importance on how long a thing is labored over? can a thing of simplicity and direct expression be measured in the same way as a thing of great ornament and artifice.
was it not thom gunn who said, even in bed i pose. knowing full well that the posture of sex is artifice and authentication should a poem not be expressed here now in whatever fashion and style that seems appropriate to its author.
must a poem sing beyond its line or can it stop when the line stops.
these are the questions i ask myself as i face these foreshortened years.
2 Comments:
I like this post.
The one thought I have on the topic: time taken in creation is not a measure of the thing created.
Ditto Glenn. If it takes 20 seconds or 20 years, no matter, the important thing is to get it right, or at least as right as possible. And of course right can mean very wrong ...
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