amber noelle sparks

Entries categorized as ‘poetry’

Great Interview with Mary Karr in the new Paris Review

January 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

The whole thing is worth reading (and there’s a great anecdote in there about when DFW told Karr’s mother he was going to marry her daughter), but this particular statement by Karr struck me and started me thinking:

The poet loves the world, and the prose writer wants to create an alternate reality.

I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think that although my prose writing fits that statement, my poetry does not. I think my poetry generally tends to be about the things that suck in this world. I do love the world, honestly I do, but you wouldn’t know it from my poetry.

I sort of wonder if Karr has this idea about poets because she isn’t one? Or if I don’t agree because I’m not really a poet, either–just a prose writer who sometimes writes poetry? Or maybe the moral of the story is this: generalizations about writing never work out. Not sure, but I thought about this quote for a long time, so I thought I’d share it and see what other people think.

Categories: literary mags · poetry · smart people

Random Thoughts

December 30, 2009 · Comments Off

I got the new Redivider yesterday in the mail. I’m very excited to read it–looks like there’s a lot of good stuff in there, including stories from Blake Butler and Dan Chaon. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow.

There is a certain kind of D.C. chick I really despise. The ones just fresh out of college with Ann Taylor pantsuits and no makeup but new, smaller noses from Daddy and $700 highlights pulled back into a severe ponytail. They’re usually staffers for some shithead conservative southern Senator who would take away all their reproductive rights if he could, and on that crappy salary, they live in an apartment I could never afford and spend all their spare time networking at lame happy hours.  I hate those bitches.

I just started, and am almost finished with The Anthologist. Which is beyond wonderful. I want to find Nicholson Baker and hug him and tell him that I, also, love W.S. Merwin and yet also rhyming poems.What a fantastic book. I know almost no Mary Oliver, and have read not nearly enough Louise Bogan, but will have to investigate further.

D.C. is apparently the second most literate city in the country. Whatever. All people here read is blogs and newspapers. I did read today that Barrelhouse is going to start a reading series here in D.C. Nothing would make me happier. We need more literary events here–we’re starving for them. Well, at least I am.

I like the Beatles. I do. Does that make me lame? I don’t care.  A good melody is kind of like rhyming poetry. It will impact more people and stick in your head forever, which is its own kind of artistic importance.

Many times, I think I should go back to school and get a job teaching history. Except that my friends who teach tell me how impossible it is to get a job teaching anything, especially in the liberal arts.  So maybe not.

I think I will spend New Year’s Eve with just my husband this year. I am tired, tired, tired of people. I have been around people for too many weeks, now, and I am just exhausted. If I am with my husband, it’s like being alone with another me, so it’s just as good as being alone. In fact, better, because I probably couldn’t finish a bottle of wine by myself (well, shouldn’t) so two is better than one.

Categories: Writing · literary mags · poetry · political idiots

WWI Poetry Resource Online

November 13, 2009 · Comments Off

context-photo-gravesI am both a history nerd and a poetry buff, and the natural intersection of these two has always been World War I poetry.

War poetry has always been a mixed bag, both because of its necessarily overtly political themes and because of a natural tendency toward the maudlin or the jingoistic. But perhaps due to the nihilistic view of the War by those who lived it, and perhaps also because of a surge of interest in poetry among young students at the time, and probably most of all because of the rapidly changing style of poetry, World War I produced a more abundant and talented crop of poets than many other wars to precede or follow it–even as it quickly mowed them down.

Now I’ve discovered a resource of particular interest to anyone with a brain like mine. It’s the First World War Poetry Digital Archive, and in addition to collections of letters, poetry, and other writings by some of the finest poets of the era, it features WWI-era photos, film, audio, and publications.

I love the internets.

Categories: history · poetry