Poem of the Week: 1.10.25
"Letting myself happen"
LETTING MYSELF HAPPEN
(Variations on a sentence by Clarice Lispector)
The world has no visible order
All I have is the order of my breath
All I have is the world I order
And no breath is all visible
No visible order is the order of the world
And all I have is my breath
Visible and all, my breath is
The order I order
The world order is all breath
My breath is all I have
No breath is all the world
All I have is no
I order my breath visible
Of breath, I have the world
Art about art about art.
Ekphrasis is art created out of, through inspiration from, or about another work of art. Like a sketch made sitting in front of a painting. Or a song inspired by a book. Many smart people have told me art is a continual, eternal conversation that every artist is a part of, and I think I ought to listen to them.
I’m getting back on my bullshit to writing regularly this quarter of grad school. I’m in one class about “daily poetics” and another about writing “what it is” in a workshop. So it’s going to be a very generative start to the year, and I hope to have lots to share with you.
John Yau’s “830 Fireplace Road” is an ekphrastic poem created through variations on a sentence said by abstract painter Jackson Pollock. My poem “Letting myself happen” follows a similar approach applied to a quote from Clarice Lispector in her book Água Viva in which she wrote, “O mundo não tem ordem visível e eu só tenho a ordem da respiração. Deixo-me acontecer” (translated to “The world has no visible order and all I have is the order of my breath. I let myself happen”). In Yau’s poem, the mess and mix of words renders a reading experience similar to observing an abstract painting: not everything is regularly sensible, but a sense forms with enough consideration and appreciation. For my poem, I went with a series of couplets to try to invoke the process of breathing, which creates order. Ekphrastic art can sometimes feel “gimmicky” and I don’t think my poem quite stands on its own, but perhaps it is a link in the chain of art that will extend forward.
I wrote this poem earlier this week in a class led by Brandon Som, a professor in my graduate program who was recently awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his book Tripas. He’s a cool guy and a masterful writer, and I hope to learn a lot from him.
More soon. Take care of yourself.
Visibly, Ricky