Working Along the Edges

"Poetry, and all art, is a very dangerous, life‐changing enterprise if it’s done with heart and seriousness‐of‐purpose." - Jack Myers in the interview posted below...


Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me the link to an interview Jack had about Richard Hugo, his mentor. I feel compelled to share it with you: Kent McCarter interview with Jack Myers about Richard Hugo.


At the interview's conclusion, Jack says, " I wouldn’t want to take responsibility for directly influencing the way someone has chosen to lead his life." He believed he had a different way of teaching his students, one where he remained in the periphery, working "along the edges, hoeing and weeding, alongside them."


He didn't just help me to tend and trim the perimeter, Jack taught me about the importance of the seed before it ever gets planted. And I think he deserves more credit that I know he would ever give himself. (I wish I could have thanked him myself.)


If you haven't read The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo, I highly recommend reading it. And if you haven't read Jack's The Memory of Water, I'm giving away a free copy of his book at the end of this month HERE.


Who has influenced your writing?

The Portable Poetry Workshop Project: Generating Content - Techniques for Elaborating Content

Elaboration expands a poem.  We can plumpen a poem through a number of devices and methods such as conceit, simultaneity, inner correspondences, slant imagery, creating a story within a story, and correspondence.

Who better to talk about elaboration than Richard Hugo?  In this video, he touches upon the importance of elaboration: "The less you know about the town, the more you can add...subtraction is always more difficult than addition." Just listen to him read, "Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg." Hugo skillfully utilizes the setting as his "triggering town."

Enjoy!