[stylist] Exhibit B

Tue Apr 7 18:56:14 UTC 2009

John and Judith,

As I catch up, slowly but surely, I must say I am enjoying the discussions
between you.  Thought provoking!  And, yes, take no prisoners.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of John Lee Clark
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:14 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Exhibit B

Jim:

Just for your edification, the word you want is imagination, not imagery.
Imagery is what is on the page; imagination is what you have in your head to
absorb and interpret it.

As for the heart, tough love is the writer's best friend.  When someone
reads your work, you're asking a huge favor, especially in this day and age.
There better be a payoff, and to provide that, you have to be tough, even
brutal.  In fiction, you need to kill people, really torture them, drag them
through broken glass and hot coals.  In poetry, you don't have to do that
because lyric poems are like snapshots, but if you write narrative poetry,
the same rules for fiction apply.

You know, Robert Frost once spoke to a room full of senior citizens about
poetry.  Many of them were big fans of his poetry so they asked him to come.
He talked on and on about the devices, tricks, syntax, tools, techniques,
etc. of poetry.  This old lady stood up, "You cannot possibly mean all you
say.  Your poems are so bootideefull!  It came from your heart!"  Robert
Frost shook his head and leaned forward and boomed, "The techniques, the
tricks, the devices--I REVEL in them!"

Or take what W. H. Auden said about poetry.  Poetry is like propaganda.  The
best propagandists, like the ones who worked for Hitler and Stalin, are
people who no longer believe in language and uses it to manipulate people
who believe in it.

There have been many "from the heart" poets, such as Mrs. F. M. Hearns,
Stanton Brooks, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, but they're all forgotten.  But Auden
and Frost continue to have large readerships, and they continue to move and
inspire people, including me.  Their work lasted and still retain their
impact because they were ARTISTS--craftsmen, cunning, tough, sneaky, and got
their hands downright dirty when they worked.  As C. S. Lewis liked to say,
"It is only through hammer blows that a statue can become perfect."

My father-in-law will never be a good writer.  I'll tell you why.  When he
was in the Air Force, he applied to be a MP--military police--but they
turned him down because he was too soft.  Good writers are the ones who
would make good MPs.

That's why I admire Judith Bron, even if we never agree.  She's one tough
lady, and I bet she can tell one heck of a story.  She's not afraid to rip
into your chest and maul your heart out, stomp on it with high heels, and
then stuffing it back in upside down.  Since she is into dark stuff, horror,
etc., I bet Atty is just as mean--which means, for writing, she's good.

Are you in your leather vest with your Bowie knife drawn, Jim?  Turn on the
red lights in your eyes and scare us to death!  We'll enjoy it! 

Smiles,
John

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