FORMING AN "IDEAL BOOKSHELF"

Dear Son,

MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF (art by Jane Mount and edited by Thessaly La Force) is a sweet book, complete with an epigraph from Dr. Seuss:

The more that you read, 

the more things you will know. 

The more that you learn, 

the more places you'll go.

Here's an excerpt from the book's description:

The books that we choose to keep and display—let alone read—can say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves. In My Ideal Bookshelf, one hundred leading cultural figures, including writers Chuck Klosterman, Jennifer Egan, and Michael Chabon, musicians Patti Smith and Thurston Moore, chefs and food writers Alice Waters and Mark Bittman, and fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, reveal the books that matter to them most—books that reflect their obsessions and ambitions and in many cases helped them find their way in the world.

You can go HERE for the list of book contributors.  Because I am a poet, I naturally paid closer attention to the poet-contributors (and as I write this, may I say what a joy it was last night for you and I to discuss the poems of Stephen Crane--I hope you will always remember your Mom when you read his poems again in the future (as you should, since poems shouldn't be read just as homework):

If I should cast off this tattered coat, 

And go free into the mighty sky: 

If I should find nothing there 

But a vast blue, 

Echoless, ignorant— 

What then?

In paying attention to the poets, I came across Jorie Graham whose ending to her contribution I take to heart:

Ms. Graham says, "As to what I would say to a young writer? Don't think of it as a career, think of it as a practice. Read everything by one poet.  Learn one whole language and world at a time.  Don't worry about understanding it critically.  Not at first.  Not for a long time."

Dear Son, your Mom was not trained formally as a poet--everything I know about writing poetry I learned from reading poetry.  And though I didn't know of Jorie Graham's advice at the time I was a newbie poet, I inadvertently hewed by it--that is, I was lucky to find three poets whose poems I so adored that I immersed myself in their works for a time.  In our library, their books are gathered together on the shelves and here are the photos of the three poets so meaningful to my development as a (young) poet:

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge:

Mei-mei's books are shelved next to some boxed book art by her husband Richard Tuttle (grist for another post):

Arthur Sze:

You might notice shelved among Arthur Sze's book this wonderful science text, THE QUARK AND THE JAGUAR by Murray Gell-mann.  I have Dr. Gell-mann's book because, in one of his poems, Arthur Sze had referenced quark and jaguar and I wanted to know more about the source --the life lesson, here, Son, is that immersion is best when done as deeply as one is able:

John Yau:

Speaking of deep immersion, John Yau here has more shelf space because I also pay attention to his art writings and collaborations with artists in addition to his poems:

As for the specific book titles by these poets, you can go to our Poetry Library -- click on their names for their books: Berssenbrugge, Sze and Yau.  You might be curious as to how I came to focus on these three writers.  Simply, I'll share that I feel these poets don't just write words but they expand the scope of words as they make their poems. I feel an affinity with what I read to be their approach due to my own transcolonial concerns....actually, let's not focus here on me...

By the way, if one is learning "one whole language and world at a time" without (yet) focusing on "understanding it critically," I believe this relates to at least two factors: 1) that poetry is its own language -- we learned this last night as we discussed how rhetoric and poetry differ; and 2) if critical understanding isn't the scaffold (of sorts) here, what might the position be from which the reader experiences poems for the first time?  Well, that I became a poet provides a clue.  For me, the answer to No. 2 is Love.

Dear Son, reading is a manifestation of Love.  May you always experience it, including ending up doing with your life what it is you (will) love.  It may take a while to get there -- I didn't focus on poetry until I was about double your current age -- but it can happen.

Love, 

Mom