Creative non-fiction writings are one of the most confusing genres that I can think of. Not only is what they are about true, but they tend to be observational and reflective, like a still life painting put into words. Metaphor is the closest that the author can get to lying to their reader without having their story be classified as fiction, but then again the closest that the reader can get to disproving the genre of the work is through fact checking. But only a few people know whether or not such seemingly small events happen, nor can they do any form of fact checking because, usually, the author's account of the event in the work is the only reference that exists! All in all, creative non-fiction is such a ubiquitous genre that I even find myself struggling with it.
Therefore, when it came to choosing a piece that I would reflect upon for this, it was difficult for me to select one that I understood on more than the surface level. The piece that I settled on was "Three Voices" by Bhanu Kappil. In this work, the author depicts what seems to be a typical home setting with the narrator, most likely being herself, relaxing and attempting to enjoy her day, however she "cannot shake the lump of coal out of [her] body", which alludes to her having some large foreign object disturbing her greatly.
The part that confuses me the most is the end of the first part, part I. In this work, sections are split up by Roman numerals. The first section is more of a descriptive part, the second has a bit more motion and narration, while the third part is more reflective and introspective. What confuses me about the first parts ending is the usage of the statement about Kappil not being a rational human being, but rather she's writing "about the substances of an animal and female life; magic, pain, the cracked nails of four feet, and the days like this one" and where she states that "there is something hard between my lungs. It is the size of a blood orange from northern California." It's not the metaphor that confuses me, nor is it the specific usage of a blood orange from northern California, but rather that there is a large lump in between her lungs, which I feel is talking about her heart. I just don't understand why she would compare it to a blood orange and not explicitly state it's her heart. I understand that she can describe it however she wants to, as it the nature of creative writing, but if this is truly non-fiction, how can such a false description be used?
I feel as if this non-fiction unit is going to give me a large amount of trouble, and it's not because of the artistic elements used or anything like that, but rather that it's such a weird genre, I don't know how to classify it. Did those events even happen? Does it even matter?
Now I'm just hurting my head.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Reader Response 3/19/2015 - Somatic Poetry Exercises
I feel horrible that I was unable to attend the Bathhouse event yesterday, however I will instead host my own sort of "Bathhouse" in the form of me reflecting upon CAConrad's "Somatic Poetry Exercises" and, while I will unfortunately not attempt any in this blog post, let it be known that I have selected one that I will execute when I am not bogged down with an abundance of real world responsibilities, such as schoolwork, housework, and actual work. I would love to prioritize my art ahead of such mundane activities like cleaning my room, making sandwiches, and doing paperwork, but I cannot pay my bills with words. Well technically I use words to make the money which I use to pay my bills, but this isn't a time to be introspective about that, not yet at least.
CAConrad wrote an interesting series of poetry prompts, however I feel as if they could be used as prompts for any genre or form of writing, or even paintings or drawings. They are written not only as prompts but as almost a series of poems themselves, as they are incredibly lyrical and expressive, bursting with emotion and artistic compassion, validating nearly every artistic choice that a follower of the prompt might make. Probably the most profound and strange of these is in prompt #6, where CAConrad states that when meditating upon one's genitals during the sunset, if the urge to masturbate arises, then it is fine.
CAConrad's compassion is present in nearly every prompt, however there is also something else that is present in nearly every prompt, and that is the avoidance of other people. They suggest that when faced with the possible potential for human interaction, that the best course of action is to avoid them, pass them a note saying you're busy, or if all else fails to directly tell them that you are a busy weirdo and for them to leave you alone. At first I was mildly offended at this off-putting of human interaction, as not only many fantastic inspirations can come from human contact, but the manner in which CAConrad goes about some of these avoidances of other humans is somewhat pretentious, which is best illustrated best when CAConrad tells us to "forget about them, it's not your fault you're more interesting than they are." However, I think this is more of artistic perspective bias, as I propose that CAConrad wrote many of their best writings in solitude, but I also believe that it is related to the act of solitary meditation.
I mentioned earlier that I would be attempting one of these prompts when time allowed, which would be at the latest before my 20th birthday. Part of me wants to execute the Banana Word Machine Prompt, and another part of me wanted to do something simple such as the bookstore prompt, but I have decided that I will execute the prompt of reflecting upon the body parts during 9 different sunsets. While it is somewhat of a time commitment, it doesn't imply that they must all be consecutive, which means if I had to work at night once, it would be ok. CAConrad would understand. The reason why I chose this prompt is for two reasons. One is that it is incredibly reminiscent of chakra meditation, but rather than focusing on the 7 different chakras, which are all located in the lower torso ranging to the crown of the head, it focuses on entire body sections, including arms and legs. The second reason why I plan to execute this prompt is how it translates into the final work. After obtaining all 9 feverish writings, I am to combine then by having the first word of the first writing be word #1, then the first word of the second writing be word #2, so on and so forth until it is a mess of words but perfectly dispersed and proportioned into one solid piece. Of course the pieces will be of different length so the end will be more focused on the longer ones, but that's ok. Then I am to sort through the beautiful mayhem of words and filter and delete and edit and shape until I feel content with the work. It seems like a lot of work, but the hardest part will be the writing each night, not the filtering.
Overall, despite the fact that they took me some warming up to, CAConrad's "Somatic Poetry Exercises" not only are incredibly poetic themselves, but are potentially the inspiration to cause a chain reaction of inspired and inspiring poems. You just have to first get past the taboo!
CAConrad wrote an interesting series of poetry prompts, however I feel as if they could be used as prompts for any genre or form of writing, or even paintings or drawings. They are written not only as prompts but as almost a series of poems themselves, as they are incredibly lyrical and expressive, bursting with emotion and artistic compassion, validating nearly every artistic choice that a follower of the prompt might make. Probably the most profound and strange of these is in prompt #6, where CAConrad states that when meditating upon one's genitals during the sunset, if the urge to masturbate arises, then it is fine.
CAConrad's compassion is present in nearly every prompt, however there is also something else that is present in nearly every prompt, and that is the avoidance of other people. They suggest that when faced with the possible potential for human interaction, that the best course of action is to avoid them, pass them a note saying you're busy, or if all else fails to directly tell them that you are a busy weirdo and for them to leave you alone. At first I was mildly offended at this off-putting of human interaction, as not only many fantastic inspirations can come from human contact, but the manner in which CAConrad goes about some of these avoidances of other humans is somewhat pretentious, which is best illustrated best when CAConrad tells us to "forget about them, it's not your fault you're more interesting than they are." However, I think this is more of artistic perspective bias, as I propose that CAConrad wrote many of their best writings in solitude, but I also believe that it is related to the act of solitary meditation.
I mentioned earlier that I would be attempting one of these prompts when time allowed, which would be at the latest before my 20th birthday. Part of me wants to execute the Banana Word Machine Prompt, and another part of me wanted to do something simple such as the bookstore prompt, but I have decided that I will execute the prompt of reflecting upon the body parts during 9 different sunsets. While it is somewhat of a time commitment, it doesn't imply that they must all be consecutive, which means if I had to work at night once, it would be ok. CAConrad would understand. The reason why I chose this prompt is for two reasons. One is that it is incredibly reminiscent of chakra meditation, but rather than focusing on the 7 different chakras, which are all located in the lower torso ranging to the crown of the head, it focuses on entire body sections, including arms and legs. The second reason why I plan to execute this prompt is how it translates into the final work. After obtaining all 9 feverish writings, I am to combine then by having the first word of the first writing be word #1, then the first word of the second writing be word #2, so on and so forth until it is a mess of words but perfectly dispersed and proportioned into one solid piece. Of course the pieces will be of different length so the end will be more focused on the longer ones, but that's ok. Then I am to sort through the beautiful mayhem of words and filter and delete and edit and shape until I feel content with the work. It seems like a lot of work, but the hardest part will be the writing each night, not the filtering.
Overall, despite the fact that they took me some warming up to, CAConrad's "Somatic Poetry Exercises" not only are incredibly poetic themselves, but are potentially the inspiration to cause a chain reaction of inspired and inspiring poems. You just have to first get past the taboo!
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