Vice-Versa

Creative Works and Comments

1. markysparky 11.4.09 / 3pm

   I can’t really say that I’m a writer, though I still get creative blocks. I always allow myself to freak out about it for a little bit and then I just let go of it completely.

   Then, I take time looking at other things completely unrelated to take my mind off it and sometimes you never know, you may find something inspiring within that unrelated piece, or not. But in the end, it’s just a good idea to take your mind elsewhere when it’s all clogged up.

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2. seanathon 11.5.09 / 12pm

   For the past several years, I’ve been trying to organize all my my creative efforts under a unified common cause (recently, it has been mitigating environmental degradation). I guess I could consider this a limit, since it has been very difficult to determine how seemingly unrelated things can fit into a unified cause. But I find I have benefited from this sort of self-imposed limit. When I say limit, I don’t mean to imply an edge, or end point, but rather a parameter within which anything is possible. My background is in architecture and I have learned that creative works are like buildings–they arise from parameters set forth by the site, materials, budget, form, and function.

   Because I have decided to dedicate my work to address the problems of environmental degradation, my pieces automatically become inherently political. I find that the underlaying tone is usually difficult for me to specifically identify, because from different perspectives, the same piece can feel both comical and angry. If anything, i think a preferred tone would be one of urgency balanced with optimism (if that even makes sense?)–with multiple interpretations between the lines.

   As for writers block, I think i am too self-critical, which makes me stall. I’ve learned that the best remedy for me to overcome my writer’s block is to remember that I, myself, do not embody creativity, genius, or talent…but rather am a vessel through which I experience moments of expression pass through me. Sometimes I am lucky enough to precisely capture this moment in a photograph or a poem. There is an interesting talk on TED regarding this very issue: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html. Another thing that helps me overcome writers block is to remember to that true creativity is a learning process, not an effort to produce something “great.” It really takes the stress off

   Thank you for the thought provoking questions!

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3. michy-jamaica 11.15.09 / 5pm

   Though I hardly consider myself a writer (for me, writing business articles isn’t “real” writing I get writer’s block all the time. I place so much emphasis on each sentence that it could take me hours just to complete one paragraph! The best advice that I got in regards to this was from my husband, who is a “real” writer He tells me to just continue – not to focus on each sentence; let it flow and eventually my voice will come naturally. If I dont like it, I can always go back to it.

   If I didn’t listen to him, my journal would have a lot of empty pages

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4. AI 11.16.09 / 7am

   For me, the two questions you raised are really interconnected. I think there are some specific struggles encountered by political poets in trying to break past blocks. On one hand, writers with political passion and a consciousness of injustice have a huge amount of possible subject material. As you put it so well in your poem “No Can Sleep”: “You always going get someting fo say. | Da world not dat good.” On the other hand, we also often aspire and challenge ourselves to actually participate in the transformation of the world with our art, and so we add another level of intensity to the struggle for successful art. It doesn’t help that some schools and social groups encourage us to take the “I” out of our writing and not talk about the politics of power and oppression. As we use our art for liberation, we find ourselves confronting the people opposed to that goal.

   This to say, the coming-to-voice of a political poet/writer is not just a personal journey against writer blocks, but a political project to be supported and celebrated by community. It is an organizing project– building a community and connecting to the community that wants to, needs to, and is able to hear your words. The answer to how to overcome the barriers– for me– is only partially a question of how to personally get motivated. As an example, let me share a recent experience of “political art.”

   I was recently at a performance Matsuri (festival) of the Yamato Drummers, who specialize in “wadaiko” drumming (Japanese drums, including the giant 10 ft. diameter o-daiko). The theme of the concert was “resonance” and each of the twelve drummers wrote a paragraph in the program about what their performance meant to them. Almost all of them wrote about how they felt their connection to audience was crucial and that they hoped that they could create more harmony in the world by resonating their feelings with the audience. The wrote about the metaphor of resonance: the drumbeat physically moving from the mind and body of the drummer through the drum, through the air, and into the body and mind of the audience, and back into the drummers. I thought to myself as I read the program– “Ah, this is a nice thought.” And then the performance began, and I felt myself surging with energy and motivated to re-engage in the struggles of my life. Their artwork really felt like it was a political act– the performance was filled with subtle inversions of gender, of leadership, of following-along immediately contrasted with individuality. I could feel in front of me the resonance between the drummers and the audience– a conversation. Yes, a conversation initiated by the artists, but a conversation that involved them listening and feeling us as well.

   Like Sean, I also think that this idea of the artist as a vessel for inspiration is an important way to confront the pressures of self criticism. I would add that seeing the artist as a member of a larger conversation is also another facet of the truth of powerful art. An important part of the artwork is the other people in the conversation.

   For me, this is an ideal for a political artist: to awaken the subjectivity and passion of the audience as fully as possible. To that end, I think the “tone” of the poem should resonate as honestly as possible with the heart of the poet and the hearts of the people she is in communion with. If you can tap into that resonance, you can take your audience to all kinds of emotional places. I think you do such an excellent job of that already: from the claustrophobic feel of “Stereotype” to the surreal, dark, but hopeful tone of “Roses.”

   Thank you for starting such an interesting discussion with such excellent poems.

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5. PreapeLoole 12.11.09 / 6pm

   I really enjoyed reading this blogpost, keep on posting such exciting stuff!!

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6. Angles 1.23.10 / 9pm

   I like your questions!

   Re: the content of poems and stories—honestly, up until recently, I never much thought about limiting the content of what I was writing. I was aware of the implications of writing hurtful things (of course! ☺ ), but because my writing usually germinated in journals—and tended to stay within the confines of those little pages—I just wrote what I wanted. As I’ve tried to take my writing more seriously, which for me means sharing it publicly, I can feel my family’s ears pricking up a bit, and I am more aware of how I describe them/which words I chose to sketch our experiences. You asked about political writing, though. I s’pose I should’ve said from the start that I tend to write very close to home, if not of home, and my politics come from there. If that makes sense

   Re: my preferred tone for political writing—I just feel like it has to come from some place real. Meaning: If the writing is angry, I want to understand and feel that anger too. If it’s comical, I want to laugh while I’m also being nudged to take, perhaps, a different viewpoint on an important issue/historical event/etc. Maybe that’s what people mean when they say a text is “effective” ☺

   And, lastly, re: writer’s block, I agree with Mark. If I can’t write, my trick is to read, preferably something by an author who I know and love. There’s nothing like the jolt of a hauntingly beautiful turn of phrase to get the waters flowing again. I like your idea about vessels, Sean!

   I am fully of mixed and cheesy images tonight. Forgive me! And thanks again for sharing your wonderful poems, Ann!

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7. makaaiko 3.6.10 / 12pm

   Ann–
   Thank you for sharing your poems and your questions (and the ensuing discussion–great!).

   For me in thinking about the “limits” to my content when I write…I often write about people and places I know. When I try to write them, I find myself struggling to portray them accurately (if that’s even possible), to do honor to them. I find this sense of personal, real-world obligation exhilarating actually, and it drives me to keep going in a way that I wouldn’t be able to sustain by myself.

   I found the end to “No Can Sleep” interesting in relation to this–the idea of being motivated to write in order to combat or shout (?) back at a world that’s not that good. What can poems do against that kind of adversity (I wonder and also hope)?

   Reply

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