The Nature of a Break

[ink_ling]

George Oppen is one of my favorite poets.  Here is a bit of his biography:

George and Mary Oppen moved increasingly to the left during the Depression, becoming social activists and joining the Communist party in 1935. During this period Oppen's poems appeared in small journals such as Active Anthology, Poetry, and Hound and Horn, but he soon gave

Comments

[dom_ino]

House Un-American Activities Committee... hmmm.

Homeland Security & Patriot Acts.. hmmm.

[ink_ling]

No shit! I wish someone would do a detailed comparison between the McCarthy era and now. They may have already. Maybe it'd make people feel more like there is reason to be outraged, reason to do something. Once they'd been violated by history.

[ink_ling]

Oops! (What's with me today?) I meant to say "validated", not "violated"!

[leatherotter]

Mostly, I throw up my hands at a culture that so little values the word.

And art/music in general. :/ If it ain't the latest teen idol, reality series or other vacuous form of escape... *sighs*

[ink_ling]

I agree with you completely, Bub. I wish we could return to aesthetic forms that foster depth and private cultivation, rather than breadth and needy celebrity. Ones that, as you say, encourage becoming enriched with the given, rather than escaping from all that is real.

I think we could shave back on our technology and capitalist markets, become a little more knowingly antiquated, to save our very creative "souls".

Subtle

[oboiex]

Subtle \Sub"tle\, a.
1. Sly in design; artful; cunning; insinuating; subtile; --
applied to persons; as, a subtle foe.

2. Cunningly devised; crafty; treacherous; as, a subtle
stratagem

3. Smooth and deceptive

4. Something that is lost in today's culture.

Moof...

Re: Subtle

[ink_ling]

WAAAAAAA! I want it back!

Good to see you back around this wangy tool here, P!

Wish I had the option of seeing you dj at LEAST once a month! How would YOU feel about that? :)

Re: Subtle

[oboiex]

I dont have the passion for Djing like I used to. I guess mainly cuz using CDs is just not as hands on as I was used to. Kinda hard to be spontaneous. At any rate - we might be having another gig in Jan. I'll keep ya posted - and thanks for the ups.

Re: Subtle

[ink_ling]

Tell me when it is! Yaay! :)

[paulonleave]

One of the best things about starting my livejournal was encountering you. I love the way write, and what you say. I found this entry, as usual, to be stimulating

[ink_ling]

Thank you, Paul, for saying these things. One of the things I want the most from this format is to provoke thought and to be likewise provoked. Sometimes, I wish the format allowed for more length and easier exchange, but ultimately, it is often these sparks that will get me going elsewhere

[knockabout]

Poetry still holds a place for me. Read Tagore or Rumi or Sei Shonagon. Poetry to a lover (real or imaginary, before or after sex but not during) is still at time-honored tradition.

In my bed
your heart sounds
like cockatoos
pacing in their cage
not frantic
but finally
used to the cat who
watches all day.

[ink_ling]

Nice poem