Yet More on Poet Hound!

Poet Hound's current discussion on advice for poets is on submitting poetry for publication. Read it here. (Yes, I'm quoted in these discussions!)

Dream On - poetry by Chrystos

I have long been a fan of Chrystos' beautifully sensual love poetry and am currently reading her collection Dream On. Chrystos is an activist for lesbian and native American rights and often she is angry but she never lets her anger overwhelm her poetry. Her words are well controlled and she writes with true craft as well as passion. Images from the natural world pervade many of Chrystos' love poems, including Night Visits:

A path opens: My feet are rainbow wolves running

calling a cool song through the caves

down to the crystal blue pool

Dream On also includes a number of poems that specifically address environmental issues, including Impact:

I wish I could give you the moment when
Eagle came back into view trailing Crows with the sun dancing
on the water near the very still meadow then you'd know
even one more building anywhere in america or the world
is too many


and Going Through

We can no longer see the wild grasses
whose love flew into our baskets
Trees weep brown who have always been green
their songs hunger for bears
We're lonely they cry
with no-one to rub their backs on us.

Chrystos is an important poet I think because she shows that craft does not need to be sacrificed in the face of strong emotion and that campaigning messages are better addressed through well crafted lyricism and heartfelt emotion more effectively than through slogans and rants. She also writes the most beautiful love poetry ever (really, you need to read her work!).

Haiku

dolphins swim
in pristine fish-rich seas -
oil reserves below.

How all Writers can learn From Haiku

My article about how all writers can learn from haiku is now up at Epiphany. You can read it here.

Edited to add: the article linked to is not a guide to writing haiku.

The Rings of Saturn by W G Sebald

This book is difficult to define, as I think are most books by Sebald. It's a mix of travel and memoir with a fair amount of history and philosophy thrown in. The starting point is a walking tour of coastal East Anglia but the narrative is easily diverted for example the outline of a dragon on a bridge takes us to Imperial China, where the bridge had been originally built for a young emperor. All the seeming disparate elements of the story are connected beautifully and the whole runs together in a dream-like stream of consciousness style. The overarching theme of the book is the transience of everything and the repetitive nature of history, how human progress is marked by the forests we have chopped down; how certain villages are fighting an endless, futile battle against coastal erosion; the thousands of trees destroyed in the 1987 hurricane that swept south east England.

The haunting atmosphere is enhanced by the eerily beautiful black and white photos that dot the text. Sebald was considered by many to be a major European writer and certainly his intelligent commentary is well worth reading, though some of his attititudes and style quirks can be annoying.

Techniquest at the Science Festival

The second area I'm working in at the Science Festival is Techniquest, a drop in area of games, puzzles and other activities that all have a scientific explanation. You can test your reaction time, find out how unique you are, launch a rocket, try out a resonating bowl, watch Skeletron the robot climb her rope and many other activities. Its great fun for all ages!

Dig Up a Dinosaur at the Science Festival

One of the activities I'm working on at the Science Festival is the Dino-Dig. In the covered lane next to the Assembly Rooms a dinosaur has been buried and our task is to help the visiting children dig this up and work out what sort of dinosaur it is. There are other sorts of fossils buried in there too and we'll talk about those and how they were made before helping the children to make plaster casts in the shape of ammonites.

If you are visiting the Science Festival, you'll need to book in advance for the Dino Dig. I think there are still tickets left for some performances but hurry because they'll sell out fast! Also remember to wrap up warm for the Dino Dig, its freezing in there!