| Working Essay on "suite lady"
Introduction Last November, shortly after i started writing a series of poems called "suite lady," my partner at the time asked me if i ever considered writing an essay about my own poetry. Remembering the essays Walt Whitman wrote about his own, my reply to her was yes but that i will do so when the time is right. Looking back, i still don�t know if the time will ever be right. My poetic journey is fluid. i am always trying new ways of expression, sometimes picking up traits of other poets and making it my own, sometimes trying out what i did in an earlier poem once again in a new one. Needless to say i am still searching for my own voice, and perhaps forever will. In this essay, i hope to provide my readers some context for my writing as well as discuss some of my poetics. Creative background leading to �suite lady� Being a fan of poet Federico Garcia Lorca, i decided to write a suite or two of poems. (Before conceptualizing "suite lady" i had completed writing �The Alphabet Suite� with the focus on a specific area of my neighborhood in Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, USA.) Since �sweet� is a homonym of �suite,� i playfully title my series �suite lady� as if to write �sweet lady.� Originally, i was only going to write seven poems but obviously over time i added more. All together they journal some of the emotions (and sometimes moments) i�ve had regarding my wonderful relationship. However, i do make use of some poetic license. Personal background leading to �suite lady� For about the two years before dating her i had decided to practice celibacy and was strongly practicing Christianity. i was never perfect in my practice since i was at one point sexually involved with a fling. But despite the tangent, i did keep up with my practice until about two months before i got involved with my partner. My weakening faith actually began the year before meeting her as i was experiencing a series of familial and financial and professional storms. i barely wrote any poetry during that period, but i did manage to write a few and piled them together in a chapbook titled �bLoOd In mY sHoEs� that explored different forms of love. i spent most of my poetic energy revising poems for my chapbook �the endicott poems" concerning my last intense relationship which at its end was met with betrayal followed by a long-time lesson on forgiveness and on my own self-worth. Recurring images and locations Throughout the series there are a few recurring images such as candles, sunflowers, rain, rainbow, subway train, and mentionings of New York City neighborhoods such as Morningside Hieghts (home of Columbia University) and Lower East Side (home of yours truly.). i will let the reader decide what each of these specifically mean in my poetics. But i will say that i have always concerned myself with how "space" is contructed and defined in terms of our physcial environment and in terms of metaphysics. [to be continued...] |