I’m a magpie. I’m online. I’m attention deficit. I have selective memory. I don’t think in a linear way. I work hard anyway. Attention is multivalent. It isn’t just memory-recall, or knowing how the thing got moved from point A to point B. Other people write about this more eloquently: Jan Zwicky, John Berger… I have to trust that other people, readers, can relate. I used to be hard on myself for not remembering the plots of novels, the names of characters. Now I read accepting the fact that those things will leave me, sometimes the very next day. So when I’m digging up subjects for poems, when I’m entering a relationship with another artist’s work, whatever the genre, I’m never really digging up the whole whale: just an eyeball, or a piece of the jaw. Sometimes I don’t even get down to the carcass. I mistakenly hook into a boot, or a photo by Cartier-Bresson I remember seeing. Bingo. Reverb. Off we go.
- Nick Thran, on his writing style, in interview with Sheryda Warrener over at the Event Magazine blog. You can read the whole interview here.
11 comments:
Beautifully put, Rob. As always your writing captivates me and resonates for me. :) I know exactly what you mean or maybe what you wrote made sense to me and reflected how I often feel. I have spent way too much time berating myself for not being "there" entirely and missing stuff. How I admire people who are gifted with the ability to be entirely present, whenever they want! I do try, I really do, but there are layers of thought that distract and snag my attention. Anyway, I'm glad I found your blog:D
Here is the link to mine
http://alaisfairlight.wordpress.com/
Alais,
Thanks, eh, but the credit goes to Nick Thran, not me!
And I agree with you - I envy those people a great deal (if they really exist and aren't just our projections!). And I think Nick put it beautifully, too. :)
I'm looking forward to checking out your blog, and I'm glad you found mine. Do stick around!
Ah, see, there I go selectively gleaning information!
Ha, I was just thinking maybe I should post a bit from that interview and maybe it should be that bit, but looks like you beat me to it.
Careful, Raoul. I don't think the internet can handle two CanPo-interview-quoting blogs...
hi to all www.rollofnickels.blogspot.comers this is my first post and thought i would say a big hello to yous -
regards speak again soon
garry moore
Raoul, I let Rob do the job of posting the good bits.
saves me time. :)
Thanks Rob, always a pleasure to read the umm... bits.
I couldn't tell if that Anonymous comment was from Garry Thomas Morse or a really smart spambot, so I put it up just in case.
Then when I thought about it a bit, I realized that I'd never seen Garry Thomas Morse and a really smart spambot in the same room.... coincidence?
I generally don't comment publicly on my pleasureful bits, Daniela... Still, thanks for the kind words!
They say a spambot is the highest form of flattery, they say, they say, they say...
But that wasn't me. I challenge you to a Turing Test...
Garry Thomas Morse
Oh dear... the spambot is getting smarter... or are you a unicorn?
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