Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Critique, Discussions Able Muse - a review of poetry, prose and art

Forum Left Top

Notices

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #21  
Unread 01-21-2021, 06:25 AM
Catherine Chandler's Avatar
Catherine Chandler Catherine Chandler is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Canada and Uruguay
Posts: 5,857
Blog Entries: 33
Default

100% What Susan said. And yes, Max, the person (Sen. Roy Blunt?) who introduced Gorman did err in not saying "youth" before "poet laureate."
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Unread 01-21-2021, 07:49 AM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 4,197
Default

.
Last night, near the end of the two-hour inaugural celebration activities that were streamed and broadcast on TV networks, Tom Hanks (the MC for the event) introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda to recite a passage from one of Seamus Heaney’s poems that is one of Joe Biden;s favorite poems. It was the poetic highlight of the day for me — in what was surprisingly a very poetic day. Here it is (Ignore the poor quality and strange table of medicine bottles, etc. in the foreground — it’s all I could find). If you haven’t seen it, be sure to see it through to the end.

(And Here is Biden reciting the passage by himself and used in one of his campaign commercials.)

I think Mark's bird's eye view characterized the poem and the occasion best. Sam and Susan, too, put the poem, the poet and the occasion in perspective.Amanda Goram shows bright promise. Time will tell.

Mark, as you well know, for lack of any semblance of royalty here in the States, the presidency/first family is our disposable equivalent of that. it's our version of a crowning/coronation. It generally turns me off because it is covered/presented like a major sporting event. But yesterday's inaugural was like a long-awaited (and nearly stolen) springtime for us who have endured and overcome the withering winter storm that was the Trump administration. It was a surprise, though, to feel a tangible lifting of the heaviness of the past four years. It really caught me by surprise.

Whoever was responsible/credited with the production/decision-making/ orchestration of the inaugural events of the day (and night ) deserve the highest praise. All the others were actors in the performance who played their roles beautifully. But it was the script they developed and produced (along with the backstory we all lived through) that made it unique among presidential inaugurations. It caught me by surprise. It was like getting a gift when you least expect one.

—And no Balls! No Balls! But it was a ball to watch events unfold. As I said, I usually don’t pay much attention to ceremonial events like this. I don’t like parades or fireworks either. But yesterday was different. It hit the spot where others always miss, imo.

It is back to reality today. Back to figuring out how the hell we rhyme hope with history. Ha!
.
.
.
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Unread 01-21-2021, 09:09 AM
R. Nemo Hill's Avatar
R. Nemo Hill R. Nemo Hill is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Halcott, New York
Posts: 9,870
Default

It was oration, rather than poetry. The prevalence of rap, seeping into poetic circles, has blurred the line between the two. Oration is an art form in itself, but it is not what I consider to be poetry. She was an excellent orator, her delivery was clear and confident. My only misgiving, is that people will confuse oration and poetry so thoroughly that poetry will be eclipsed further and further: for poetry has no object the way that oration does.

Yet the eclipse of poetry can play in its favor, keeping its objective ephemeral, ambivalent, an inexplicit thing of the shadows, of reverie rather than utopian reason.

Both stir the soul, but in different ways.

Nemo
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Unread 01-22-2021, 11:42 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Connecticut, USA
Posts: 7,563
Default

"Amanda Gorman Is Giving Americans Hope"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNZfYnBsEdM
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Unread 01-23-2021, 02:41 AM
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin's Avatar
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin Duncan Gillies MacLaurin is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saeby, Denmark
Posts: 3,227
Default

Colin Ward's take.
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Unread 01-23-2021, 07:00 AM
Chris O'Carroll Chris O'Carroll is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 1,826
Default

Colin Ward's "[c]rap lyrics" is a racist pseudo witticism that severely diminishes his credibility as a commentator on any black poet's work.

At least, though, Ward is discussing the issue of whether "The Hill We Climb" is a good or bad poem. That's a discussion worth having. The question is one on which experienced poets and readers can differ intelligently. But I see no point in proclaiming that the piece isn't a poem at all, that it has to be saved to some other file in our minds. Defining poetry is usually a thankless endeavor, and it seems to me there would be a lethal dose of soulless mumbo jumbo in any definition carefully crafted to distinguish "poetry" from "oration" while excluding Gorman's work from the former category.
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Unread 01-23-2021, 12:16 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Connecticut, USA
Posts: 7,563
Default

We lay down our arms

So we can reach out our arms

To one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.


The double meaning of “arms” and the rhyme “arm(s)/harm/harmony” is brilliant.

I also like the point she makes generally in the poem about America not being perfect but a work in progress.

Added in:

Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate at Summer Academy 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMbCbKR1Lew&t=216s

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman Performs At The Forbes Women's Summit | Forbes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZojzZ-BivEQ

Amanda Gorman, Activist and National Youth Poet Laureate | Amanpour and Company
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpR7iELvVrI

Her voice in the inauguration poem was musical with a nice cadence. What struck me the most was how she rarely paused or took a breath between lines or sentences. It kind of reminded me of those YouTube videos that are edited and spliced so that the speaker never once takes a breath. You’ve heard those I’m sure. It doesn't give the listener much time to digest and reflect on the sentence before the next one comes.

It also reminded me of how some clarinet players can do what’s called circular breathing, where they can play long passages without stopping.

PS - In the above videos, Amando does take pauses between sentences.

Last edited by Martin Elster; 01-23-2021 at 03:49 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Unread 01-23-2021, 03:45 PM
Andrew Mandelbaum's Avatar
Andrew Mandelbaum Andrew Mandelbaum is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Portland Maine
Posts: 3,693
Default

Her words are acting in the world at the end of a series of events that toyed with opening a door to a more murderous ideology than we may ever fully realize. The nation has always been a mess of unlived promises and unexamined violences but something more openly hostile with more freedom of movement was trying to be born. That all just seems to close to find any taste for analyzing the moment. It felt good to me in all senses of the word and it was good in the most important sense.
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Unread 01-23-2021, 03:55 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Connecticut, USA
Posts: 7,563
Default

Her poem felt good to me, too.

Amanda appears in this video from 2017, when she still had a hint of a speech impediment.

Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith Inaugural Reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaDoAq0XPI

Last edited by Martin Elster; 01-23-2021 at 04:48 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Unread 01-23-2021, 04:28 PM
John Riley John Riley is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 6,241
Default

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-c...rm=TNY_Fiction

Maybe that was the point and not gaining the approval of some internet poets?
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



Forum Right Top
Forum Left Bottom Forum Right Bottom
 
Right Left
Member Login
Forgot password?
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Statistics:
Forum Members: 8,399
Total Threads: 21,840
Total Posts: 270,804
There are 1667 users
currently browsing forums.
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Sponsor:
Donate & Support Able Muse / Eratosphere
Forum LeftForum Right
Right Right
Right Bottom Left Right Bottom Right

Hosted by ApplauZ Online