Conferences

So I'm reading Group A's poems and I'm thinking: okay, two poems, no sweat. But as I've read and re-read the poems, I'm having two competing thoughts.

1. Man, this is cool. Lots of stuff to consider because this whole "re-seeing" thing really did interesting things to the poems. Can't wait to talk about them.

2. Wait...how exactly are we going to do that?

Seems like it'd be simple but now I think it's opened things up exponentially--in a good (if logistically challenging) way. I think we're going to have to build this airplane at 40,000 feet, and here's how I propose we start. I'm going to present you with the following questions:

• What do you think these two poems are up to? Is it the same thing or two different things? If they're different, which one is more interesting to you now? If they're the same, which one achieves your intention most fully?
• I'm noticing that, without exception, both poems have strengths. So what are they? Do the poems share strengths? What are their different strengths? Are those different strengths mutually exclusive?
• Pick a favorite line/phrase/image from each poem.
• Pick a least favorite line/phrase/image from each poem.
• Consider sounds on the micro-level (syllables, alliteration) and macro-level (phrases/lines, rhythms/rhymes).
• Consider meaning on the literal level (sense, logic) and the figurative level (metaphor, symbol, conceptual leaps).

At the end of all that, we'll make a tentative call on which one you want to use as your baseline for revision, then we'll read it line-by-line, both of us posing/answering questions as they arise.

Most important thing to keep in mind: this is an interactive process. It's on you as much as it is on me. More, in fact. It's your poem(s). I just work here.

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