My Own Challenge to Young Poets
I myself am a creative writing major and if you ask me what kind of people are poets at UCSC I'd give the opposite of Ferlinghetti's Challenge to young poets. Young poets at UCSC are squirrely, sexually frustrated, acne plagued and full of unnecessary emotional baggage. I've taken a few poetry classes and it feels like I go to class to just listen to ten people read their teen angst and emotional baggage out loud while I sit very awkwardly. Also most of the poems suck. This poem, Challenges to Young Poets, is one that questions the sad archtype of poets and their work. Innovation and passsion are things sorely missing from poetry. I feel as if Ferlinghetti is half way serious and half way critiqueing the occupation of poets. When Ferlinghetti says, "Climb the statue of Liberty." He is talking about creatively striving higher and he could also be infering that most poets should get out of their houses to literally climb something- exercise. I love that at one point he says, "Be Naive, innocent, non-cynical" Because most literature majors I know are very cynical.
I feel that poetry is something so intimate that people are very protective of it. In the creative writing classes kids throw a fit if you point out a spelling error. Ferlinghetti takes the occupation with a grain of salt, " Be a poet, not a huckster." Poetry is something you do and who you are. It is very weird but people like to cry when they read their poetry. Maybe I'm just not emotional. Maybe I'm just not a poetic soul. One day in poetry three people started crying. I just want to stand up and say lighted up baby life is not that depressing. Ferlinghertti is absolutely not being snide, faux-intellectual or pretentious. He is being soo light hearted and funny about this idea of poetry as a thing you do along with other occupations. I've had it in my head that poetry was so intrinsically elitist. Ferlinghetti is just plain poking fun at the sterotypical poet here, "Don't contemplate your navel". I do not contemplate my navel.
Have a nice day.
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5 comments:
Yea...I can relate. I too was in the fiction creative writing program but decided to opt out for similar reasons. Not only was I paying ten grand a year to write my own stories but I also felt that I was workshopping the same kind of shit I was during high school-relationship stories, first week in college stories, experimenting with drug stories, and of course the my parents just got divorced stories. Instructors would nod their heads and smile encouragingly. The only time I got to experience the ucsc poet vibe was during intro to creative writing and yes, tears were shed, x-boyfriends were called out, etc. The beat generation was one inspiration for me in my decision to say, "Fuck this,none of my favorite writers have a degree in creative writing-im out." I imagine most of my favorite writers experienced this same plague existing in creative writing classes at some point in their academic career and either too quit the program or even school in general. It was a bummer to work for something your whole life and get to where you want to be with it only to be very dissapointed. Oh well, I learn so much more in my Lit and philosophy classes anyway.
So, it sounds like you ended up in some "unedited" poetry circles. While that can be uncomfortable, you can cut people some slack. A lot of people are still, shall we say, stunted when they arrive at college, and some still are when they graduate. It makes you sound a little cynical when you're so put-out with these people. Also, people have really complicated lives. It's safe to assume that some of the people in your classes are dealing with really heavy problems, and that poetry is giving them a catharctic release. Now, whether one should share this catharsis with others in a classroom setting is debatable, but just know what you're signing up for when you take poetry, feminist studies, or sociology at UCSC: it's going to get personal.
I can see where you're coming from. Amateur poetry, and even some professional poetry, can be painfully emotional, cliche, and overdone.
However... I feel like what makes poetry powerful is it is an honest expression of one's self. We know nothing better than our own lives and emotions. Poetry should, or at least can be (as Kate put it) a catharsis. Writing for me is emotionally cleansing. It's a way for me to take all this shit that's inside of me that I'm thinking about, whether it's drugs or my parents' divorce, and put it out on paper. Now whether I take that to the entire class to read is another story. Most of that should probably be put in a journal somewhere. However, not everyone has that inside editor, and I feel like you should cut these poets a bit of slack.
At least they're writing.
Hi guys--
It's a good point about the Creative Writing classes, and you should talk with your teachers about it. What exactly are you proposing? More time spent reading the classics? More integration of philosophy into the classes? Make us an offer.
I also wanted to remind everyone of Rob Wilson's point--how well educated Ferlinghetti was. He went to some really fancy schools--the Sorbonne, and etc, and was in some ways proud of being too cool and snobby to be called a beat--the interesting question for me is how all of that education translated into relatively straightforward looking poetry.
[The same applies to Lewis Caroll--the author of Alice and Wonderland--although the relationship between his writing and his job--was much more clear.]
Sorry to jump on the bandwagon here, but I like this post ...
I've been trying for a while now to get in the program. I can understand where this sentiment comes from - yours and Ferlinghetti's - and I also find it amusing and his commentary interestingly apt. It seems like many things stay constant through generations, including the indulgent lament of the youth. I'm guilty of it myself.
In any case, I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with it. It can produce some very vivid writing full of great images. But I think a lot of what the creative writing program has to offer here is the work shopping process. Ideally, a student should be comfortable submitting their work for review to their peers. I find the attitude taken up here to be deconstructive. Everyone takes these classes to be a better writer; offer up your comments and leave it at that.
As far as the comment above- I'm not sure if that is directed at the author of the post or to the comments or both, but as far as my idea for improving the creative writing program - emphasis on the classics is why we take non-CW lit classes. The creative writing program is all about the workshops and as long as the emphasis is on that then it's golden. That's what I think.
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