tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post9220043093523392253..comments2024-03-29T14:45:32.326+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: Three Cool CatsDr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-29585411886067453222009-07-25T09:04:25.437+12:002009-07-25T09:04:25.437+12:00Well, Bronwyn and I recently watched our way throu...Well, Bronwyn and I recently watched our way through all 12 episodes of Ken Burns' <em>Jazz</em>, which is maybe some kind of a help - though it's probably something a bit more recent than that you have in mind ... good safety tip, though.Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-8571948489564716282009-07-24T16:40:47.255+12:002009-07-24T16:40:47.255+12:00"relaxing adn [sic] letting the tendrils and ..."relaxing adn [sic] letting the tendrils and the twines do their work" I like that.<br /><br />Think jazz - I'm big on Cecil Taylor at the momentRoss Brightonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04917759678804057979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-58826675634617769992009-07-23T01:42:30.972+12:002009-07-23T01:42:30.972+12:00I even think that the writers everyone knows about...I even think that the writers everyone knows about are not discussed with or in any depth - I think criticism in NZ literary world is seriously lacking with some exceptions.<br /><br />There are some good exceptions to this. Martin Edmond on Brunton and<br />going back to Parallax and Loney himself, and foreward to (various) and Brief... Bill Direen, Jack Ross, maybe Ross Brighton, Michael Steven and Brett Cross. Others. But a lot of it needs to be less general and more explicative. Scott Hamilton is very good - perhaps there are some new (mostly young and keen minded) writers coming up who will fill the gaps.<br /><br />The desert may yet bloom again!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-71247450510908824042009-07-23T01:32:34.759+12:002009-07-23T01:32:34.759+12:00Brett helped me - firstly my own work (work?) can ...Brett helped me - firstly my own work (work?) can be obscure (so I was somehow caught there!) - not because I want to fool people but I often see poetry as much more than just a story - although that is one valid way - it can be - there are great poems of the narrative or the "normative lyrics" that "explore" subjects relatively clearly (Or alternatively they have structures or 'philosophies' or some driving ethics or ideas) - I have written things (poems to subjects with a fairly clear 'message') myself especially when I started out about 1988 or so - but I wanted to approach the condition of pure art or music (and to, more or less successfully, resist being understood!);probably that was said, more or less in those terms, by Valery) - the "difficulty" is often how one engages into a work. Smithyman is useful to "work out" as well as to 'read through' ; Ashbery is closer but not 'like' Jen, as we are all unique of course. I can read Ashbery much in the way someone might listen to music or look at an art work. Sure there is, under his work, a sense of loss, love, and so on, but it is not 'coded in' - it is latent; although Randall Jarrell is an interesting writer as well, as he has the intensity (perhaps of the hurt in) of some of Jen Crawford's work and sometimes Olivia Macassey (say of that Abelard poem) or even Olwyn Stewart's or David Brown's - I don't know Ross's or Jill's work. I know Jen mentioned Roy Fisher (to me). He is certainly 'on the edge'.<br /><br />We always look for 'influences, but it is just a way of 'navigating' and organising these writings in our - hmm - not sure. We humans just like to classify and organise things.<br /><br />Brett Cross also suggested ways to read into or through or with Jen's work. And that includes relaxing adn letting the tendrils and the twines do their work - somewhat. <br /><br />A deep study of writers ranging for say Smithyamn and Baxter to poets in Titus and others (there are many writers both 'recognised and less so, to those who have not got much acknowledgment at all) needs to be made. I see the publishers focusing on dead artists and writers - not always bad - but what about attention to living writers?<br /><br />And not only but also those we hear about already. My feeling is that books about Brash and Hyde et al (both important writers) should not preclude books - well about me and you Jack! But seriously - there are so many young and not so young in my and Ted Jenner's case ! - writers just not being recognised or even 'tackled with' in a deep way; by academics or literary people, who should be onto it...<br /><br />And 'Bad Appendix' and 'Napoleon Swings' are seriously radical - we need a Charles Brasch who recognised McCahon's genius, and who he helped to promote - he also privately financed many other artists and artists and probably musicians [Peter Simpson today on the Concert Programme] - to recognise living geniuses.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-73523844904596830672009-07-22T08:51:06.254+12:002009-07-22T08:51:06.254+12:00Yes, I agree, Richard. I'm extremely impressed...Yes, I agree, Richard. I'm extremely impressed with what Jen is up to in these sequences: "Pop Riveter", "Napoleon Swings" and the earlier "Admissions" - there's a real sense of engagement about her poetry, an urgency and momentousness which belies any "difficulties" in reading them - the difficulty is part of the point, but not at all in an arbitrary way.Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-2236557233750195502009-07-21T23:34:39.795+12:002009-07-21T23:34:39.795+12:00Re Jen Crawford's latest book - it helped me (...Re Jen Crawford's latest book - it helped me (as well as letting the vines grow, that is for me letting go and letting the poetry happen) to read closely her previous book "Bad Appendix" esp. say the poems such as 'Hippocampus' 'the long boats', where the reference to Randell Jarrell is important I think, and the poems in that book got me to feel more "in synch" or whatever with those in "Napoleon Swings" - there is, in both books, a great concentration of language, a near surreal intensity of ideas, words, and lyricism. It is great poetry.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.com