tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post6144085259235881175..comments2023-12-27T22:26:20.552-05:00Comments on synch-ro-ni-zing: Diane Wakoski's poetry lessonsRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-73568251801647444912011-04-22T20:08:17.576-04:002011-04-22T20:08:17.576-04:00Phenomenal.
And overwhelming.
And inspiring.
As yo...Phenomenal.<br />And overwhelming.<br />And inspiring.<br />As you always are.<br /><br />I am so very humbled... <br />and as always , grateful to be in your class.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15924061349390319473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-7380791324133732812011-04-19T14:22:36.566-04:002011-04-19T14:22:36.566-04:00What a memorial to Diane!What a memorial to Diane!Loring Wirbelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11764834150305763077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-71499533492602002152011-04-19T07:39:08.628-04:002011-04-19T07:39:08.628-04:00Ruthie, you may have earned her spankings when you...Ruthie, you may have earned her spankings when you first began writing poetry under Diane's tutelage, but you certainly wouldn't "get the belt" now. She must be the most excellent of teachers, because her star pupil shines brightly. <br /><br />I love that you all will be serenading her under her window. So much more poetic than standing on a podium.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201860227400017841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-23002005043187841122011-04-18T19:46:36.902-04:002011-04-18T19:46:36.902-04:00Although you have written often of Diane Wakoski I...Although you have written often of Diane Wakoski I never read any of her poems until now...and now I am so happy I have...I love this ode. How wonderful to have a mentor like her.GailOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09556665956317683667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-45668661885643684112011-04-18T14:28:07.331-04:002011-04-18T14:28:07.331-04:00First of all, thank you for introducing me to this...First of all, thank you for introducing me to this amazing woman and her work. What an experience to enjoy workshops with Diane and learn from what looks to be the skills of a master. I must say as an olive lover, this poem got me where I lived, and I loved when she wrote about how she wondered if she had looked differently she ever would have learned to eat so well! So true! Thanks, Ruth!Jeaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17482528482559445943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-51456585334792259072011-04-17T16:54:19.910-04:002011-04-17T16:54:19.910-04:00PS I love the story you told George.PS I love the story you told George.Barbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04984171407726520584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-56877676165977925522011-04-17T15:53:00.564-04:002011-04-17T15:53:00.564-04:00No argument here, simply because simplicity is eno...No argument here, simply because simplicity is enough in the beginning: lyrical, metaphorical, cliche-free and (to put a different word to Williams' point) concrete.<br /><br />I'd add one more word for the process, rather than the product. "Patience". Letting the poem bubble up, as I said to ds, letting it percolate, letting it simmer until it's ready to have its own say.<br /><br />All of this is hunch, rather than conviction, but it's a hunch I'm willing to play.shoreacreshttp://shoreacres.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-13129624093577428822011-04-16T15:54:12.731-04:002011-04-16T15:54:12.731-04:00There's this idea of abundance, of contrasts a...There's this idea of abundance, of contrasts and unities in beauty, isn't there? Wakowksy has brilliantly captured the essence of beauty. Thank you for introducing her to me, Ruth. <br /><br />I could read her along these lines: <br />Oh! beauty, though you never gave yourself to me completely, I still managed to appropriate something of you.<br /><br />~Odysseus Elytis from Elegies of the Oxopetra(meaning a rock in the Aegean Sea/ also a play on out=exo)More Than Meets the Ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17904789091298274078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-74372641920742253312011-04-16T13:42:14.211-04:002011-04-16T13:42:14.211-04:00So cool, Robby!So cool, <b>Robby</b>!Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-28220081468745328152011-04-16T13:01:48.112-04:002011-04-16T13:01:48.112-04:00How I love Diane Wakowski.How I love Diane Wakowski.Robbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08235433845392023886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-4344209933689552502011-04-16T07:58:50.094-04:002011-04-16T07:58:50.094-04:00Erin, funny you used that image of a shell breakin...<b>Erin</b>, funny you used that image of a shell breaking off, for just yesterday I was thinking of you in the same terms, but differently. I was the cracked-shell egg trying to hold myself together while I listen to you (marveling). I came to Diane and university almost 20 years after first going to college, which I was not ready for either when I was 18. One of the challenges of being a nontraditional student is that you are so into the learning, and the other students often are not. They look at you with furious eyes as if to say, <i>Stop it. You're making us look bad.</i> But in poetry classes, the students there really were into it, and that was a gift.<br /><br />Blogs are strange and wonderful. We share what we wish, and we discover what we think we know of one another. Yes, what would we see beyond this veil?Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-5255948938496158502011-04-16T07:28:35.322-04:002011-04-16T07:28:35.322-04:00i smile for all kinds of reasons through this post...i smile for all kinds of reasons through this post. i smile to know you better, to see poetry through someone else's eyes (or was that mouth or nose or mind?), to see the world, other women. what an opporutnity to study poetry. i laugh. all my years ago in a dark dense haze of halls - i learned very little and studied even less, but never with such an opportunity. and then i smile too for the myth of you that i have created, for we all do this for and of one another, don't we, is tapped upon just a little more and a little more. perhaps one day the shell shall break off and i will see you as you really are. <br /><br />the poem itself is a marvel. as are you.<br /><br />xo<br />erinerinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16636371927224076866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-69831173239904421812011-04-16T06:20:28.361-04:002011-04-16T06:20:28.361-04:00Hello, Linda! I was thrilled by your comment becau...Hello, <b>Linda</b>! I was thrilled by your comment because it is so rich and so precisely expresses just what I felt this week! That we can experience small miracle-orgasms (yes, I used the same word <i>orgasm</i> about this) every day if we only tap into the energies that are right here. It is astonishing what is here in depths and riches, just as you said so beautifully.<br /><br />I hope you have a beautiful weekend, Linda.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-1635952438980021512011-04-16T06:17:25.713-04:002011-04-16T06:17:25.713-04:00Murr, so true. I have found a wonderful essay by S...<b>Murr</b>, so true. I have found a wonderful essay by Sidney Hall Jr. called <a href="http://webpages.charter.net/hobblebush/pages/marble.html" rel="nofollow">The Poem as a Marble, or How to Read a Poem</a>, in which he says, "We have to hear the sound. The words might make sense or not make sense. That's not important. You can go lots of other places to get sense." I love it!Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-74540996468414682552011-04-16T06:09:50.629-04:002011-04-16T06:09:50.629-04:00Thanks, Terresa. Diane is one of those people who ...Thanks, <b>Terresa</b>. Diane is one of those people who has lived so many lives and so abundantly that to spend time with her is a real treat, even if we don't talk about poetry!Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-2182946678987494302011-04-16T06:07:06.693-04:002011-04-16T06:07:06.693-04:00Vagabonde, thank you. And you know those cheese we...<b>Vagabonde</b>, thank you. And you know those cheese well, I bet. (And how to pronounce them.)Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-7124517413288795422011-04-16T06:06:11.121-04:002011-04-16T06:06:11.121-04:00Thank you, Deborah, and how great to read it aloud...Thank you, <b>Deborah</b>, and how great to read it aloud, which is how poetry should be read!Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-56829502897458978622011-04-16T05:57:35.255-04:002011-04-16T05:57:35.255-04:00Thank you, George, I'm glad you enjoyed this p...Thank you, <b>George</b>, I'm glad you enjoyed this post and Diane's tasty poem. I have to be sure I can pronounce those French words properly before reading it aloud. Because I think you will come back to read my comment, I will tell you a little story. It's not my story, but I love it. One of the former <i>Sapphos</i> who moved to NYC was riding on the subway going to her job at Knopf. The subway car was packed tight, people standing and sitting of course. Suddenly a loud voice strikes up, reciting something. My friend Laura realized it was Diane's poem "Blue Monday" which he recited all the way to the end. It was one of those situations when the man was perhaps a bit mentally disturbed, and so everyone was uncomfortable. While he recited it by heart Laura thought, "I am the only one on this train who knows this is Diane's poem and knows her!" When he was done he said, "That was Blue Monday and I bet you're glad I'm finished."<br /><br />:-)Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-7220947704476045442011-04-16T05:43:25.834-04:002011-04-16T05:43:25.834-04:00Barb, yes, her poetry is much this way, quite full...<b>Barb</b>, yes, her poetry is much this way, quite full of her story and rich with her rich life. I love to sit and listen to her talk about her days at Berkley, and in NYC with the avant garde poets in Greenwich Village.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-86179156407603716932011-04-16T05:42:21.661-04:002011-04-16T05:42:21.661-04:00Thank you, Maureen. And seriously? You just bought...Thank you, <b>Maureen</b>. And seriously? You just bought <i>The Butcher's Apron</i>?? Now that is just crazy. So much food food food, I think you'll enjoy it.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-81365750007124931712011-04-16T05:41:17.189-04:002011-04-16T05:41:17.189-04:00Gratzi, Rosaria! You're so right. What is a po...Gratzi, <b>Rosaria</b>! You're so right. <i>What is a poem?</i> is a big topic worthy of long discussions, among other things . . .Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-67660651120282776742011-04-16T05:40:06.615-04:002011-04-16T05:40:06.615-04:00Shari, I am glad you enjoyed Diane's poem. It ...<b>Shari</b>, I am glad you enjoyed Diane's poem. It really is great to work where I do, I wish we could just sit and talk about poems and literature and not work so hard on other stuff. :-)Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-74890009728302097222011-04-16T05:25:53.384-04:002011-04-16T05:25:53.384-04:00Boots, maybe muse is only the half of it. Mother a...<b>Boots</b>, maybe <i>muse</i> is only the half of it. <i>Mother</i> also comes to mind.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-59756407260195149722011-04-16T05:24:40.480-04:002011-04-16T05:24:40.480-04:00And thank you, DS! Diane is sometimes criticized f...And thank you, <b>DS</b>! Diane is sometimes criticized for her long "blousy" lines. But I find them languorous and beautiful, and they always are tight in spite of their length. (Thank you for the compliment. I love these ladies, who were always much more adept at workshopping poems than I was, besides which I got very sleepy by 9pm and they were still going strong . . . )Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-42169652853328211952011-04-16T05:22:25.857-04:002011-04-16T05:22:25.857-04:00Bruce, cool! She's not a household name, so I&...<b>Bruce</b>, cool! She's not a household name, so I'm pleased you know her work.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.com