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| William Blake (1757-1827) |
...even though Ginsberg credits Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987) with this teaching. Trungpa started out as a Tibetan Buddhist monk and ended up an alcoholic meditation guru for Ginsberg and others, and was the subject of much controversy. At a famous 1975 Halloween party that took place at Naropa Institute (which Trungpa founded; it is now a university) in Boulder, Colorado, he ordered his followers to seize our current U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin and his then girlfriend who had barricaded themselves in their room and bring them to the gathering. Dragged kicking and screaming to the "party," Merwin and his girlfriend were then stripped of their clothing. It was an event that was heard 'round the poetry world, and several prominent poets demanded that Ginsberg (who was not at the party) renounce Trungpa, which he never did.
My, my. I wonder what William Blake (pictured here in an 1807 painting by Thomas Phillips) -- an original advocate for "free love" of several varieties -- would have said. Blake did, by the way, also say:
"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed."
...but I don't think he was talking about Halloween parties that have clearly gotten out of hand.
About a month ago, some fellow poets and I practiced "first thought" in a workshop led by Paul E. Nelson of SPLAB -- a workshop in which I first thought my first thoughts weren't so hot, frankly. But now I look at my journal and see small bits of potential in some of those scribblings. Oddly enough, the one that speaks to me the most is a draft of a poem about a woman who is posing nude for a figure drawing class.
Knowing what I know now about Merwin, I think I'll explore this, perhaps add this incident to the text in some way. My point here is that while on occasion "first thoughts" may be great, most others need to simmer, to percolate.
In chapter three of Kim Addonizio's book Ordinary Genius titled "First Thought, Worst Thought," she tells the reader that "the trouble is that when you sit down to write, your first thought isn't necessarily as wonderful as you'd wish." She says, the qualities of good poetry -- which she lists as 1) surprise, 2) music, 3) detail, 4) sufficient thought, 5) syntax, 6) having parts that contribute to the whole, and 7) mystery -- are not accomplished without effort.
"These elements don't magically appear in anyone's early work, but you can still invite them in, early and often. Novelist Kurt Vonnegut said that being a writer allowed him to edit himself into someone resembling an intelligent person. That's a nice way to think about moving on from your initial inspiration; you're going to make it better, more intelligent, as you go," writes Addonizio.
"And the truth is that 'First thought, best thought' is a great statement, taken the right way. It's about letting go of the conditioned mind...and tuning in to some level of thinking that's deeper than our usual concerns. If you pay attention, you'll find that there are some weird and interesting thoughts floating around in your head. Very rarely, you may sit down to write and a poem will emerge almost completely formed, having arrived on the kind of inspiration we associate with genius. If this happens, it will be because you have worked hard preparing for the poem. You've faced your fear...and you've practiced."
I totally agree.
Kathie Meyer, the Infant Poet
Great post Kathie! In my work I often use writing as a tool, combined with “first thought” as an avenue to uncover our (unedited) beliefs about ourselves and our world. I look at what we find as “raw” material, material we can then reflect upon and rework over the course of our lifetime. Through examining what arises from within us, rather than what comes at us, we have the opportunity to embrace and author our own lives. "If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you." –Natalie Goldberg.
ReplyDeleteI also loved your poem in the first post, looking forward to more!
Alison
Interesting. I come across this page 3+ years after it was written, but want to elaborate on what I was trying to get across back then and still try to get across. If one can train themselves to write without serious revisions, have a sense of what Robin Blaser called "The Practice of Outside" one can enact a different quality with one's work, but it takes practice. Much more practice than an occasional workshop. Perhaps ten years. If you are the kind of person, like I am, who wants to read out and publish during the process of learning to write in this manner, there will be work read out loud (at open mics) or published that you may feel should not have been released into the world. Someone read a very old poem of mine in public this past month, I was co-author, & was CRINGING at hearing it after 20 years. But there are other poems from that era which I would still read aloud in public. BUT, with poets like Michael McClure, Jose Kozer and many other poets who compose quickly and do not do wholesale revising, (see Denise Levertov's seminal essays and an interview on Organic Poetry) there is a quality there that can be achieved regularly by writing with the "quick take" as Jack Spicer called it. Allen never said first thought CHRONOLOGICALLY every time, but you learn to move quickly and not be paralyzed by editor's mind. http://paulenelson.com/2013/06/02/allen-ginsberg-interview-part-8/ I hope this helps. I wish you luck and hope you got something out of the workshop.
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