And it’s 1,2,3, What Are We Writing ForAnd it’s 1,2,3,
| .I’ve been taking a poetry class with Catherine Smith (see Links page), called Pushing the Boundaries. I wanted to get to know one of the characters better in my new novel, Under the Bed – she’s a 25 year-old poet in the East Village in 1969. A not very good poet, so I figured she wouldn’t be too hard for me to emulate. I’ve also been a bit poetry phobic so I thought it would kill two birds with one stone. I’ve loved learning the value of brevity, which can only be a good thing for a prose writer.
This week we discussed the ghazal’s we’d written. Ghazal comes from a musical tradition of Urdu poetry, going back to the 14th century. A ghazal is made up of several couplets, which traditionally would have been set to music, sung and performed. When sung, the music provides an interlude between each couplet, allowing them to resonate. An important aspect of each couplet in a ghazal is that each one should stand on its own as an aphorism. The couplets have been compared to a ‘stone from a necklace’, each with a value of its own. Once put together they become part of a whole. I’ve included here the ghazal I wrote as “Izzie”. Ghazal: When is a War not a War? By “Izzie” 1969 No poem or painting is finished without our eyes to see. We decide what it means. Dare to say what we see. Are the mix of hues and colors still on the canvas when they’re left in a darkened room, too dark to see? Have all the colors in the world disappeared when the sun is blazing white, so bright we cannot see? Where have the other colors run to, in a land where sun burns crimson, earth and rivers reflect blood red for all to see? What is more real? What we think we see, what we’re told to think, or what is shot in front of the whole world to see? TV images of the War up Close – visual bombardment more real than any reality in the commonplace we live and see. Izzie’s paintings are finished by the viewer’s eyes. Can we finish the War by what we dare to think and say and see? The ghazal I’ve written asks more questions than I answer, which is symptomatic of the times (1969) and how a 25 yr. might have viewed them. By coincidence, after I’d written the ghazal, I came across a quote from Ursula K. Le Guin on twitter this week, which I thought was apropos: “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live … “ In the critique part of Catherine’s poetry class, I talked about the fact that the Vietnam War was the first war shown live on television. We also referenced the iconic satirical protest song ‘Fixing To Die’ by Country Joe McDonald * The refrain says it all: – And it’s 1,2,3, what are we fighting for, Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn The next stop is Vietnam, And it 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates, There ain’t no time to wonder why Whoopee we’re all gonna die To many people in the UK ‘during the war’ refers to WWII. When I first went to live in San Francisco in the early 80s, when people talked about ‘the war’ everyone was referring to Vietnam. I think it’s hard for people in the UK to fully understand the enormity of the effect the Vietnam War had on an entire generation of Americans. So in the spirit of my ghazal, mixed with Country Joe’s humor, I’ll leave you with the question: What are we writing for? Click on Comments at the bottom of this post and let me know. * Here’s a link to Country Joe’s performance of ‘Fixing to Die’ at Woodstock, August 1969. |
Kathy Andrew 