From tbjn@well.sf.ca.us Thu Sep 8 12:29:18 1994 Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 20:47:18 -0700 From: Thomas Bell To: grist@phantom.com Subject: column? Mr. John Fowler, September 9, 1994 Fed by my success in having an article on langauge and poetry on the net accepted for publication in the print version of _Educom, I have developed an interest in writing a poetry and langauge column. If you have any interest in this, please let me know. I am a former librarian and editor who is currently a psychologist in private practice in Nashville. I have had my peotry published in print as well as on the net. I do have academic training in literature and poetry, but tend to bo more open to newer forms that do not necessarily follow academic and received dictates. My smail address is 904 Lincoya Bay, Nashville, TN 37214 if you choose to use this. Sincerely, Thomas Bell tbjn@well.sf.ca.us LIVING LANGUAGE Today a child was shot in my daughter's school. Last week a local dealer was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. This is life today. In theAmerican Poetry Review, Eavan Boland tells of distress at her inability toinclude "awkward and jagged pieces of reality" in the decorums of poetry sheadmires. Can we afford a literature that doesn't deal with jagged andawkward reality? Dana Gioia calls for poetry to become an important part of Americanculture when he asks, "Can Poetry Matter?" Poetry is read aloud today incoffeehouses and bars, even if it has not yet gotten all the way to thestreet. These are signals of the emerging reintegration of poetry and life. In an even more significant development, vital and authentic poetryis appearing on the Internet and its byways. People who do not have apost-graduate degree in English are actually writing and reading poetry indiscussion groups on bulletin boards, commercial services, and elsewhere onthe "information superhighway," working to incorporate today's realitiesinto today's e-literature. They do this in a way that traditional writinghas never been able to do, at least in a way that reaches significantnumbers of American readers and listeners. The Internet is more than just another venue for writers It hasopened up the field for a new audience and new material whose vitality andauthenticity give hope to those yearning to lead literature out of theacademy and onto the computer screens of America, if not actually out ontothe streets. The essence of capturing a slice of life in poetry or prose lies inthe struggle to express it well or authentically. These writers on theInternet are (with help from more experienced fellow writers) struggling toexpress life as they experience it. In more traditional and academicwriting this vision is often missing. I think these "awful" or "bad" (see"Bards on the Internet", _Time_, July 4, 1994) writers are the wave of thefuture. This e-poetry is seen by some as "awful" and, indeed, it does haveits awful moments (and hours and days). But it is wrestling with a realitythat doesn't require a post-graduate degree in writing to appreciate. Eventhough it has not yet found its appropriate form, that will come with time,as it did for the Russian revolutionary Futurists and others. The search fora new content and form in literature and other arts often accompanies socialrevolutions, and particularly those associated with technological change. Since this poetry is seeking to express the essence of what thewriters are experiencing, the appropriate form will likely reflect the vital(and even frenetic) rhythms of life today along with a fascination withe-life. Rap and beat and hip-hop song and poetry and poetry bands in barsare precursors of what will come, but the final flowering will happen on theInternet. It is here that the electronic engineer who didn't want to, orwasn't allowed to, take advanced poetry writing courses has a chance towrestle with her despair over American culture following the shooting of herlittle sister's friend on a suburban playground.by Thomas Bell, Psy.Dtbjn@well.sf.ca.us[535 words]