Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Arrangement of Things

Sorry it has taken me so long to talk to everyone this week. I'm sure Jess informed a few of you of my sickness, but enough about me, lets talk Zukofsky. I noticed the mention of the sincerity of words, revolving around the structure and arrangement of those words and the degree of power within their meaning. I like the concept of sincere objectification, if you talk about a mug like its love, then that mug better be overflowing with romantic sincere words. Although for me, Zukofsky seemed to argue that the poem itself was the object. An interesting argument yet at the same time, I disagree, the poem is not a "job" as Zukofsky suggests. The poem should be arranged in a way that's pleasing for the author, the audience, the adjective; yet it should not be a work that the mind mulls over like stale bread. Instead it should be the objectification of the inmost internal working. Am I right? I understand that it is in fact hard to write a poem. Yet i find Zukofsky reading to deeply below the lines, what about the surface? the initial reaction to the words on the page? The first gut instinct to feel love for a mug, or cry at its missing pieces. It seems odd to me that such stress be placed on the working of the thing, rather then the work itself. Although, maybe i love mugs to often. Maybe i look for the most basic of feelings rather then the deepest written struggle. Opinions?

1 comment:

Kasey Mohammad said...

I think you're struggling a little here with Zuk's sense of "sincerity" (which is understandable).

It might help to some extent to think of "sincerity" as he uses it as something like "unmediated clarity" or "conceptual precision." I don't think he has in mind the casual notion of "earnestness" or "warmth."

As for looking at the surface, I think for Zuk that is all you can look at: everything else has to be deduced from that surface. Looking "deeply beneath the words" is ultimately a metaphor for looking closely at the words, their spatial and sonic arrangement as well as their referents.