[stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

Thu May 1 20:10:58 UTC 2014

Based on my poetry studies, post-modern poetry is about imagery and
metaphor. Essentially, you're illustrating with words, quite literally
creating a picture with the use of descriptive language. One prof
compared it to abstract art-- the meaning will depend upon the
individual. Poetry rules and formats are still followed, but the impetus
is on imagery and metaphor.

Other poetic forms-- modern, romantic, epic, etc.-- were mostly studied
in my lit classes where we usually studied older types of fiction as
well. The only class we read Milton in was my British lit calss that
looked at lit from early medieval to Renaissance through the Reformation
era(1600 through 1700). In my workshop classes, which were my major
classes, we studied modern and post-modern only.

As a fiction and nonfiction writer, I only took the basic poetry classes
required, so I'm no expert, but I do recognize the difference between
post-modern poetry and older forms. It's not for everyone, but as a
writer and poet, it's probably good to have a basic understanding of all
written types and forms. I think it's good to have a broad grounding in
whatever artistic endeavor you select.

When I studied theatre and music during my first go at university, I was
exposed to many forms of both genres, and yes, I studied and sang opera,
grin. While studying it, I gained a better appreciation for it. I'm not
a huge opera fan, but I don't mind it so much. Though without being able
to see now, I only have the music itself to entertain me, and I miss the
entire performance aspect. Just like ballet-- might as well just attend
the symphony now, LOL!

I trained in classical forms of music and dance, though I prefer modern
forms, but to have that background, I feel it made me a better vocalist
and dancer. The oldest forms of theatre I studied were Shakespeare, but
it was mostly theatre between mid-1800's and current times. And nowadays
with so much emphasis placed on realism and method acting in theatre and
acting in general, you don't often come across plays and shows that are
very old unless being done in an experimental way or with a fresh,
modern approach. Like when Baz Lurman wrote and directed Romeo plus
Juliette, where the original Shakespeare play was used, but the actors
spoke the lines as though they were speaking today, and not in a
melodramatic way, and it was set in modern times. I like this kind of
stuff, but it's not for everyone.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jackie
Williams
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:07 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat,Fire in the
Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

Bridgit,
You did hit a mark when you compared poetry to music. I love the Blues,
even if I do not hear the words and also the boogie beat with or without
words. It is the rhythmic and the drumbeats, or in the blues, the voice
of the singer. On the other hand, I avoid opera like the plague, even
when I understand the story. So I guess the audience is the key after
all. If one claims to be a poet, one must study and try to understand
post modern poetry beyond the "tossed salad" concept where words are
thrown in the air, and
fall back in    a non-comprehensible way. It still boils down to time if
one
is to give a reasonable critique.
This has been a good back and forth of ideas.  

Jackie Lee

Time is the school in which we learn.
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz	 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit
Pollpeter
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 5:01 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the
Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

But there's also a target audience. Not everything written is for every
audience. This doesn't necessarily render the work, or creator, wrong or
allusive.

And you know how some music just moves you, sparks a mood even if you
don't pay direct attention to lyrics or know what the creator was
thinking during the composition  The written word can act in this way
too, especially with poetry. Sometimes we search to much for meaning
when what we need to do is sit back and tap into our emotions.

I think it was Chris who said that some poetry just ignites something in
him even if he doesn't get it or misinterprets it. I like this.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Barbara
Hammel
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:53 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat,Fire in the
Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

I would agree with you.  If it has to be explained, then the work of art

misses the point.  I think that type of art is like the emperor's set of

clothes.  Everyone just says they like them to be polite, meanwhile they
are 
thinking "what in the world was that?"
Barbara

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.--Robert
Frost -----Original Message----- 
From: Jacobson, Shawn D
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 1:56 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the 
Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

You're right that the imagery is interesting but the meaning of the poem
is 
obscure.

My problem with poems that need to be explained is akin to my problem
with 
jokes where the punch line has to be explained, it isn't complete in
itself.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jackie 
Williams
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:47 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] {Disarmed} FW: Star in the Throat, Fire in the
Cupboard 
by Catie Rosemurgy

Bridgit,
Here is a sample of a poem I received today, that without the author's
note, 
I could get little meaning. I read for meaning, and you like the
metaphors 
and word choices. I like that also, once I have a clue about the
content. 
Curious about your reaction to this. There are many similar instances,
as I 
read each one each day and sweat over many. Often I will not read the 
authors note until after the sweating. Sometimes I just give up, and
then 
read it.

Jackie Lee

Time is the school in which we learn.
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartz

From: Poem-a-Day | Poets.org [mailto:poem-a-day=poets.org at cmail3.com] On

Behalf Of Poem-a-Day | Poets.org
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 3:30 AM
To: jackieleepoet at cox.net
Subject: Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard by Catie Rosemurgy

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-e-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-r/>
View 
this email on a browser 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.forwardtomyfriend.com/y-jrjuhriylk-FA4B74
7D-ilditll-l-y> 
Forward to a friend

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-d/> 
facebook-icon 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-h/> 
tumblr-icon 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-k/> 
twitter-icon

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-u/> 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-u/> 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-u/>

April 30, 2014

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-p/>
Star 
in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard

Catie Rosemurgy

When I was young, I hid under the porch with a star in my throat. When I
got a little older, my mother opened the cupboard to let the 
fire out.

I should've known the cliffs meant a coming blankness.
We should've noticed the competition growing deadly between the 
masts and the trees.
The problem wasn't the lateness of our parties but what we used for wood
to 
keep them lit.

What is it people say-take my arm and walk with me along the shore for 
a minute?

My mother, bless her, is a speck of color in the flush of a great cheek.
I've come to ask you to consider praying for that giant child.

Remember when we began to forget the babies once we tossed them in the 
air?
First it was the completion of those simple gestures, but then entire 
sections of the story
went missing. In our lips we could feel the slight buzz
of the edge where the cut was made. We crawled in and out of those 
holes
wearing different faces.

I believe the stories got wet and began to bleed together.
I believe we built the sides of the town too high and the events kept 
rolling back.
I didn't know that the water was going to keep rising as well, but if
you 
have any say in the matter, while the boats go down, I'd like to be on a

ladder, peeking into a loft made narcotic with children, a dead pool
with 
rolling, living waves. If possible,
I'd like the water to douse the match that's growing out of the bones 
of my hand.

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-fb-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-j/> 
Facebook Like Button 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-tw-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-t/> 
Tweet Button

About This Poem

"'Star in the Throat, Fire in the Cupboard' is loosely based on events
that 
occurred throughout northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan during the
1800s 
and early 1900s. The poem comes from a collection about a fictional town
in 
which several conflated and highly-altered historical disasters happen
over 
and over. The town keeps burning, flooding, dwindling, and finally 
disappearing. This particular poem speculates on how an event (in this
case 
the Peshtigo, Wisconsin, firestorm of 1871-the worst recorded forest
fire in 
United States history) becomes distorted through repetition and
retelling." -Catie Rosemurgy

  <http://i1.cmail3.com/ei/y/CA/CB6/0D4/csimport/CR.145729.jpg>

Catie Rosemurgy's latest book is The Stranger Manual (Graywolf Press,
2009). 
She lives in Philadelphia and teaches at The College of New Jersey.

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-x/>

Most Recent Book by Rosemurgy

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-q/>
The 
Stranger Manual (Graywolf Press, 2009)

"A group of girls from Minnesota or black mascara"
by Maureen Owen

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-a/> 
read-more

"Help Me to Salt, Help Me to Sorrow"
by Judy Jordan

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-f/> 
read-more

"forgetting something"
by Nick Flynn

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-z/> 
read-more

Poem-a-Day

Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-v/> 
Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary

poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.

<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-e/> 
Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo

Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To
learn 
about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your
Pocket 
Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-l-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-s/> 
poets.org

You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our 
mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click 
<http://academyofamericanpoets.cmail3.com/t/y-u-ilditll-jrjuhriylk-i/>
here.

C Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

  <https://cmail3.com/t/y-o-ilditll-jrjuhriylk/o.gif>
_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/shawn.d.jacobson%40
hud.gov
_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/poetlori8%40msn.com

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/bpollpeter%40hotmai
l.com

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jackieleepoet%40cox
.net

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/bpollpeter%40hotmai
l.com