Poems

Links are a good thing.

Freditor_G — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:56:28 GMT

By all means, please do.

Re: No need for permission.

Angel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:38:04 GMT

Oh -- I think you may have misunderstood -- or maybe I said it wrong. I meant I'd like to put a link TO Poems at Slate on my website so people who visit the website and may not know about Slate's Poems on Tuesday might be able to link back and see the Pinsky thing and go to PFray.

As to just posting a link, you know how I run my mouth. I'll be including information about the site, etc. I'm hoping to put together an online reading there for the Poems Fray gang.

I've posted one of my own readings so people will see where it goes and how it works.

I will email you with info so you can take a peek.

Angel

No need for permission.

Freditor_G — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:29:37 GMT

There is a need, however, for content.

If I run into a top post with nothing but a hyperlink, I'll remove it.

Will do - Angel

dwnny1 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:48:37 GMT

Good luck to you.

d;-)

Re: Great job Angel -

Angel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:39:14 GMT

Thanks, Denny. My website goes up Monday. I'll be announcing it on PFray, so look for it and lmk what you think.

Angel

Re: Thanks, Angel.

Angel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:37:29 GMT

This is also how I felt. I felt a raw emotion in this poem that had begat strength in this daughter who had grown beyond. I found that quite powerful. I think we can give this poet credit for avoiding the maudlin background piano music of the after school special on Lifetime.

Also the "suburb turning into the modern exurb" -- that is congruent with my own thoughts, as well. As for the title, I viewed "I consider my mother's mind" to mean almost -- "what were you thinking to have allowed a child to grow up this way, or what caused you to be so cold?"

Thanks for adding this to the thread, Geoff. I know you are busy -- I do those 50 hour weeks, too -- more, if you count what I do when I get home. So I know you don't have time to comment often. I'll send you an email when the site goes up. Would I need any kind of special permission to link it to PFray for anyone who might stumble across it and be interested?

Angel

Thanks, Angel.

Freditor_G — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:52:28 GMT

I'd be happy to take a look at your site, though I encourage you to shoot me an email. I don't have the opportunity to see nearly so much as I'd like, and I can't guarantee I'd notice the announcement.

It may be a function of my own brain scramble... I've been logging nearly 50 hr. weeks (i.e., volunteering) since the Fray re-launch, and it's hard processing so much random information so quickly... but, my own take on this week's poem more closely matched yours than the school which saw it as a meditation on a mother's senility.

To me, the imagery spoke of a paradox - of the author as a shoot sprung forth from a barren earth. The Ursa constellations (which never set from the night sky) locked into the sky, the parks and benches which don't disappear... as the suburb of one's youth turns into a modern exurb with six-lane highways and light industry. My experience of my own childhood is vaguely like what I thought the author was getting at - monuments stripped of context without ever being moved in place. And, that the memory of the childhood home - of the cold and angry mother likewise fixed in place but denuded of content - fit this theme (no similar issues with my parents).

It seems like the title does suggest it could be a meditation about Alzheimer's and the cracked and broken brains of advancing age... a lot of posters made excellent cases for such a reading. But, if that is what the author intended, it would make me kind of sad. Such a reading reduces the poem, for me, to a kind of lyrical after-school special when I found it a powerful meditation on growing away from one's roots, and discovering one's identity in the lost hairs entangled on an angry mother's comb.

Great job Angel -

dwnny1 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:03:37 GMT

A woinderful analysis of the poem and an even better discussion and thread.

TLG

d;-)

Re: "I Consider My Mother's Mind"

Angel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:15:36 GMT

Thanks, Doug, and congrats to you, too.

Angel

Re: "I Consider My Mother's Mind"

Bratsche — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 01:01:13 GMT

Angel;

'bout damn time they gave a blue check to some one who has deserved it for too long. This last poem was a good stir, good to see, properly kick-started by your post. Vrooom!

Out here.

Re: More background to "homunculus"

Angel — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:20:25 GMT

Yet another interesting element to add to the many angles of this remarkable poem. (Although I didn't realise my poem would receive a sperm donation.)

Thanks for dropping in, Geoff. And thanks for the checkmark, also. It's so great when we have a poem this fascinating to dissect, and this one really brought out the best in all of us, I think. Lots of great comments all over the board and earnest discussion.

I will be announcing my new website on PFray on Monday. I'm having it proofed over the weekend, and then I'll launch it.

I hope you'll give it a look sometime.

Thanks again for dropping by my thread.

Angel

More background to "homunculus"

Freditor_G — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:44:25 GMT

In medieval medical theory, the "homunculus" was the term used for the genitive principle believed to exist in male sperm.

Take, for example, this image. I thought, since she was describing the "winter garden" from whence she came, that she might have been tapping into that back-history of the word.

Not sure what it adds or subtracts to the interpretation... but probably worth noting.

Re: this has been possibly the most successful thread

Angel — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:16:38 GMT

Thanks, waltz! I'm looking forward to the OPP tomorrow.

Angel

this has been possibly the most successful thread

waltz n capsize — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 02:23:30 GMT

i've ever read on PoemsFray.

thanks so much to all who have participated. it's been an entirely edifying read.

waltz

Re: My ear is with your ear, A Angel.

Angel — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:27:36 GMT

Did not care for the sound of this poem myself.

Building the website has been a blast. I have the online coffeehouse working, and it's the most complicated part. It's been a lot of fun, and maintenance should only adding and removing poems, readings and slideshows, which is fairly simple.

When I publish it to the Web, anyone will be able to read it and listen to readings. However, those who perform readings on the site will be invitation-only because I have no intention of letting it turn into a war zone.

I am not activating anything that would allow comments to be made on the site, so any conversation would have to be done here or elsewhere. Readers won't be subjected to negativity on the site. There will be no email links on the site.

This has been a pet project for some time, and I decided to add an online coffeehouse for readings.

Angel