Today I had the privilege to hear the talented poet, Linda Bierds give a poetry reading. I had never heard of her previously, but I always enjoy the guest speakers and events organized on Murray Hall's 3rd floor, so I gave it a try. It was a nice surprise that one of my old professors, Evie Shockley came to the event and appeared to know Bierds personally.
First off, Bierds' poetry has a very dark, ominous tone to it. Her poetry was full of long descriptions that would most likely be more effective on paper, rather than read out loud. I found that I lost many of the images presented in Bierds' poems simply because they moved so quickly and my mind was unable to keep up with the rapidly described images. Perhaps it is the way she reads aloud but even while describing a fairly pleasant image, I found her poems to all seem very dark.This poetry reading was in celebration of Bierds' ninth book of poetry being published this month. That is an impressive feat to me, an avid creative writer myself.
Bierds' recited about 7 or 8 poems, all of which she described her writing process and the images which first sparked the idea for the specific poem. The first poem she read was about the Darwin family. She described being at a museum and seeing these old artifacts from one of the Darwin ancestors: they were a pair of handmade ice skates, crafted out of sheep jaw. The bone was filed down into a blade and then connected to a row of teeth. The blade is then fastened onto a pair of child's shoes. Bierds' described this as an incredibly strange but striking image that when she wrote down, she did not have an idea for a poem.
Another poem she recited was called, "Desires". After reading it, Bierds described the image which inspired it, something she did for each poem, which I found very enlightening and informative. I wish more poets did this at poetry readings as it would probably help with my own creative writing process. The image she described was a tuning fork, which is a two-pronged metal fork which, when struck, hums a certain note. It is used my musicians to tune their instruments by matching pitch. The image was a tuning fork put up to a spider's web and watching the spider react to the shaking of the web and how different pitches had different effects.
Other poems which Bierds described the “orphaned images” for were her poems “DNA”, “Pantoon”, and “Notes from Prehistory”. “DNA” was a braided poem in that it had a lot of repeating lines. In this poem, the first lines also ended the poem, which I thought was very effective for a poetry reading, because many of the lines were repeated. “Notes from Prehistory” was about cave drawings that Bierds saw while vacationing in France. “Pantoon” was based off the image of a mirror and reflection. Bierds discussed that before writing this poem she had to do research, which she often does for her poems. She discussed briefly the physics behind reflections in mirrors and the fact that, in order for a mirror to completely embody the image it is reflecting, it must be at least half its height. I thought this was a very interesting concept, and an especially interesting concept to write about.
One of the last poems Bierds recited at her poetry reading stuck with me especially. I unfortunately did not catch the name of it. This poem described two different “orphaned images”. The first image was of geese in flight and how the light bones of birds make different sounds than other animals, when in motion. Bierds recalls being in the Olympic Mountains on a hike when a flock of geese flew overhead and she heard the very unique sound of their “bones working”. She described the sound as almost mechanical. The next image was of a plane that crashed in the Olympic Mountains during World War II. It was a plane that was on a rescue mission that crashed in the mountains. Bierds recalled doing research about the survivors of the crash for her poem. I liked this poem in particular because it seamlessly switched between these two images. The poem was woven with the two orphaned images, creating something very different from either of the original images.
What I loved most about the poetry reading was Bierds' description of her writing process. She described it as the "spark" comes first and then the research comes next. Bierds writes a lot about history and science and because she is not an expert on either subject, she must do a lot of research for her poetry. Her description of the things she writes down in a notebook are "orphaned images", which are ideas that have no poem or real direction yet. I found this reading to be very interesting and enlightening to the writing process.
One of the last poems Bierds recited at her poetry reading stuck with me especially. I unfortunately did not catch the name of it. This poem described two different “orphaned images”. The first image was of geese in flight and how the light bones of birds make different sounds than other animals, when in motion. Bierds recalls being in the Olympic Mountains on a hike when a flock of geese flew overhead and she heard the very unique sound of their “bones working”. She described the sound as almost mechanical. The next image was of a plane that crashed in the Olympic Mountains during World War II. It was a plane that was on a rescue mission that crashed in the mountains. Bierds recalled doing research about the survivors of the crash for her poem. I liked this poem in particular because it seamlessly switched between these two images. The poem was woven with the two orphaned images, creating something very different from either of the original images.
What I loved most about the poetry reading was Bierds' description of her writing process. She described it as the "spark" comes first and then the research comes next. Bierds writes a lot about history and science and because she is not an expert on either subject, she must do a lot of research for her poetry. Her description of the things she writes down in a notebook are "orphaned images", which are ideas that have no poem or real direction yet. I found this reading to be very interesting and enlightening to the writing process.
No comments:
Post a Comment