writing

In which a quote from Christian Wiman gets my dander up

art, teaching, writing

Christian Wiman is awesome. I love his poetry. He was just named a Guggenheim fellow. He took the time to hang out with my MFA alma mater. But a friend sent me the following transcription from a recent interview of his and it got my dander up:

You are filled and then you’re not. A poet is someone who has to exist between those moments. And between those moments you don’t feel like a poet. It’s been two months since I’ve written a poem and I don’t feel at all like a poet. It goes away. You’re just a person going about your life like anyone else. The gift seems not yours. It seems on loan. Whereas with prose you can do that anytime. You can crank that out.

There seem to be two sets of problematic assumptions in this quote. Regarding poetry:

-successful poems come from some source of inspiration outside the poet

-drafting, revising, rewriting—if you’re in between periods of being “filled” these things are of little use

-poets are gifted in a unique way, even from other creative writers (which raises a whole different set of questions)

Regarding prose:

-prose writers are never “filled” and don’t need to wait for those moments

-prose writers can and should feel like writers all the time

-most alarmingly, you can write successful prose anytime and just crank it out

I haven’t seen this whole interview yet, so hopefully the context clarifies things. However, I can’t imagine telling my beginning poetry students that they should wait to be filled, and if it takes a month or two past the assignment deadline, well, no problem! And I can’t imagine telling my beginning creative nonfiction students that patience and inspiration and and bravery don’t have a role in their prose since they can just crank it out.

Is the poet really such a different animal? How do you read this quote if you make a different sort of art, like music or visual art? I know there are people who will read this who have Christian’s email address. I’d dearly love to hear his thoughts. And I know, I know—I need to watch the whole interview!

UPDATE: Christian Wiman, I can’t quit you

Just when my dander was nice and up, along comes Wiman saying this to Krista Tippett:

It may be the case that God calls some people to unbelief in order for faith to take new forms.

How could I stay mad at you?

Here is a very long sentence

editing, writing

It reminded him of a NOVA he’d seen with his father about the Amazon and the Atlantic. The waters join in eddies and turbulence and tides, whorls the colors of coffee and of jade meeting and greeting a new arrangement that, miles from shore, seems natural—inevitable even—but in the swirl of first impressions is confused at best and, at worst, a betrayal of the character of the river that has flowed so far and the ocean that has waited so long. So then: old life, meet new life; new life, old life. You two have a lot to talk about.

Right now it’s sandwiched between some shorter sentences. Want to help me make it better? And no, making it shorter doesn’t count. This sentence needs to stay long.

Secret writing

art, writing

Here’s the inimitable Leslie Leyland Fields on writing even when we’re not writing—what my friend Katie Boone calls “secret writing”:

I was alone, my boots sliding on the gravel trail. But it was not long before I thought of the book I was working on, on forgiving our fathers and mothers. I thought of the article I was trying to end, the final sentence telling the truth about keeping faith with the world. I thought of this space here and the words I would write.
And they are with me, words, ideas, the ones I try to herd into meaning find me even here, in the forest. I write them down on paper in my pocket. I record them on my voice memo. I speak the words I am writing now. They find me no matter where I go. This is the burden of writing. (read more)

Do you feel that burden? Do you write when you’re not writing?

…you come with empty hands…

art, Christianity, music, writing

Here’s singer-songwriter Bill Mallonee on the artistic process:

now look if you’re gonna come around here
and say those sort of things
you gotta take a few on the chin
yeah you’re talking about sin and redemption
well you better wear your thickest skin
sometimes you can’t please everyone
sometimes you can’t please anyone at all
sew your heart onto your sleeve

If you’re an artist you know what comes next:

and you wait for the ax to fall

Watch him perform the song at the link below. And then go make art.

Bill Mallonee – Skin