tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post8941286148293837485..comments2023-12-13T03:19:15.138-08:00Comments on The Drift Record : Poetry Friday: Apples and IndirectionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-24278430969838167592010-11-23T05:40:06.024-08:002010-11-23T05:40:06.024-08:00Julie, I loved this poem when you emailed me a lin...Julie, I loved this poem when you emailed me a link to it, and I loved re-reading it again now. And I finally read your words, too. Love what you say about the need for the concrete. I find myself constantly crossing the line into abstraction and trying to pull myself back into the world of *things*--things that illuminate all those vague feelings without directly talking about them.<br /><br />And, as a side note, your note reminded me of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, one of my favorite short story collections I remember from college. I need to find it and read it again.laurasalashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13807781795919555208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-4967083625145486452010-11-19T17:14:27.489-08:002010-11-19T17:14:27.489-08:00Loved this poem, thanks for sharing, Julie. My da...Loved this poem, thanks for sharing, Julie. My dad was a WWII veteran, too. And although apples do not remind me of him, roast beef and Thanksgiving dinner certainly do.Frances Lee Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18060085493938337422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-79721646977598346582010-11-19T13:16:03.304-08:002010-11-19T13:16:03.304-08:00Martha - I feel like we should write those kinds o...Martha - I feel like we should write those kinds of stories down, don't you? The men aren't doing it as much - I'd like to feel they won't be lost.Julie https://www.blogger.com/profile/12811523890920763782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-34612289771632293922010-11-19T12:50:43.360-08:002010-11-19T12:50:43.360-08:00Thank you for introducing me to this poem. I'm...Thank you for introducing me to this poem. I'm thinking of my husband's uncle, a WWII veteran who died at 85 just recently -- and the young marines who presented the flag at his funeral during this modern-day time of war. And while he lived a full life, it seems a blink when looking at photos of him as a young man in uniform, his wedding photo, and listening to stories swapped by my husband and his brother about fishing with this uncle and trooping through the countryside when they were kids. (All that from apples.) <br /><br />Thanks, too, for your terrific thoughts on balancing sentiment against sentimentality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-68558450299517474992010-11-14T20:15:01.497-08:002010-11-14T20:15:01.497-08:00In my own work I worry about sentimentalism too.
...In my own work I worry about sentimentalism too.<br /><br />The best definition of the sentimental I've read is: incompletely imagined emotion.Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-29222482642574767832010-11-13T05:32:15.039-08:002010-11-13T05:32:15.039-08:00"I, with as easy hunger, take
entire my seaso..."I, with as easy hunger, take<br />entire my season’s dole;<br />welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour,<br />the hollow and the whole. "<br /><br />I really needed that reminder of the grace of a full life. It's a week of sour for me, but I am biting into it full force. Thanks for the poetry of it!Andromeda Jazmonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12355192738014962965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-25834631736088745112010-11-12T14:42:35.653-08:002010-11-12T14:42:35.653-08:00Oh, isn't that disappointing, Hannah, when a g...Oh, isn't that disappointing, Hannah, when a good book falls apart like that? It's as if the author just didn't believe readers would get it and decided to pound the "message" in to them with a 2x4. I always feel kind of bloodied up when that happens.Julie https://www.blogger.com/profile/12811523890920763782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-23119058628304328352010-11-12T14:10:48.311-08:002010-11-12T14:10:48.311-08:00That's a great poem -- and I love how you arti...That's a great poem -- and I love how you articulated the difference between sentiment expressed through concrete details and the sentimentality found in abstraction. I also love the specific details you chose -- a peony, a suspension bridge, etc. <br /><br />I recently read a book that I quite enjoyed, until the last chapter, when all of a sudden, the narrator seemed to step up on a soapbox and preach a long paragraph of abstractions about the beauty of ordinary people. I felt like if the book did its job right, the paragraph would be unnecessary.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11034180396689442335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-33689115377433780602010-11-12T14:04:51.847-08:002010-11-12T14:04:51.847-08:00I know what you mean, David re: staged, forced, un...I know what you mean, David re: staged, forced, unwieldy. It's why I like poems that come from tricky little assignments - I can relax about the "heartfelt" part - they become puzzles I solve. <br /><br />I've fixed that Poetry Friday link - thanks for the heads-up. I couldn't find the host this morning - must have been working off an old list.Julie https://www.blogger.com/profile/12811523890920763782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8552083088916942937.post-25228972388693809072010-11-12T12:49:11.632-08:002010-11-12T12:49:11.632-08:00i'm afraid every attempt i make at heartfelt e...i'm afraid every attempt i make at heartfelt ends up reading like something i wrote as a sophomore in high school: staged, forced, unwieldly.<br /><br />but i liked this. like apples i enjoy, sweet with just enough bite to keep them from tasting medicine-y.<br /><br />thanks for sharing. also, the round-up this week is over at rub-a-dub-tub and not at liz's place.david elzeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16653215150526146224noreply@blogger.com