September 2008 ~ Helen Hagemann

Monday, September 29, 2008

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow is a new poet that I have discovered. Mainly through listening to country music, esp. Emmylou Harris. I have been led to him through song. What a brilliant poet he was, with an amazing amount of work, all penned by hand. In tribute to him, I have posted his pic & a few lines from The tide rise, the tide falls. From time to time, I hope to add other photos and lines of famous poets.

Two NSW poets

Australian Links
While in Katoomba & in Sydney for our gig at the Friend in Hand Hotel (as part of the Australian Poetry Festival), I met two fine poets. Deb Westbury and David Musgrave. Deb has a new collection out called The View from Here , Brandl & Schlesinger; with new poems from the Blue Mountains. David Musgrave is the author of To Thalia, New Poets 10 & On Reflection, Interactive Press. David is also the publishing guru of Puncher & Wattmann. A new poetry publishing house in Sydney.

Debra Westbury
David Musgrave
Puncher & Wattmann

New "Poetry & Poetics" Sites

As an Australian poet, this blog will now list New Poetry & Poetic Sites. According to Ron Silliman (USA) there are over 10,000 poets publishing worldwide. A nice sum of readers one would think. I aim to link to many contemporary & new poets' sites, as well as include 'poets & poetics' that I may not necessarily subscribe to. The idea is to reach out to the viewing and reading public. Since, I will soon have my first "literary" poetry book, I am not adverse to selling the book overseas.

My First Two US Poets

Ron Silliman
David Foster Wallace (1962 - 2008)

Helen Hagemann's Poetics - The Female Voice

The Concept of the Female Voice

The female voice is arbitrary. It has an opaque meaning, therefore, it functions as a concept. Not unlike any other concept that has been raised by male poets, such as Charles Olson's 'Projective Verse', where the reader is meant to feel the kinetic energy; to be 'propelled by the language of the poem to follow that track of energy down the page; to experience the process by which the poet's energy propelled him in the first place.'
   For many women the stresses of writing poetry in their true female voice has led to the pressures of imposed silence. Publication still exists in patriarchy and the demands of patriarchy expect the quality of work to be like their male counterparts. They expect a male universality in the material which may exclude the female voice.
   A woman goes to poetry diminished by decade upon decade of patriarchal dominance. She avoids writing in her own language, avoids much of her victimization, suppressed anger, love, desire, demands of children, chores, errands, fatigue, loss of contact with her own being, redolent experience of place/landscape/world, not forgetting rape, incest, domestic violence and pacifism.
   In 2001 (a fairly current event), there was an objection made by poets, especially male, in relation to the International Poetry Summit - World Poetry Day. They objected to the choice of P.K. Page's poem Planet Earth being read at the summit of Mt. Everest. This attests to the adverse response to women's poetry, & the poem's apparent feminising of the state of the world.
   As a great advocate of this subjectivism, Adrienne Rich wrote in When we Dead Awaken - 'to be a female human being trying to fulfill traditional functions in a traditional way is in direct conflict with the subversive function of the imagination.' She goes on to say that 'by traditional she means conservative. Women are often haunted by their womanly, energetic imagination. The choices are to rebel and resist but usually the voice obeys. It is ruled by the weight of an entirely dominant male society.'

The female voice is a way of speaking, it is expression, and female experience. Women experience the world differently to the other half of the population. The female voice lies dormant because it is diminished by patriarchal traditions.
However, a woman knows, wants, needs, and touches this world everyday, and, in this sense, she should be able to express this emotional and physical engagement through voice.

In relation to book publication, the female holds back, and in order for acceptance, (usually a male publishing field), she writes in a traditional way or along with the status quo. She loses herself within the confines of language, within the "phallocentricism" of a male dominated language.
This poetic concept aims to legitimize the female voice. For the time being, it is a concept only and one for contemplation. I once wrote that it should be a concept of undermining patriarchy, however, I have changed my thinking in this area. No, the female voice must rise, take flight, become the muse speaking for the mute!

I Dream of Horses

I dream of horses,
drawn in paddocks.
Stallions, colts, a silver bay.
I call out, ‘get on, get on!’

Halfway to town, a ranger
in chaps, riding-pants,
high-calibre rifle, shoots one.
They’ve trampled the melons.

At the rodeo, Sunday, in the fracas
of bull riding & bucking broncos
the ranger dies
in a horse float
jam-packed with melons
to get his fill.

Poetry & Novel

As I write two genres, poetry & prose and something in the middle, I now have a separate blog for my novel. Check out the site called "anovelist" @ http://hhagemann.blogspot.com
There you will find parts of the narrative, a chapter or two, my writing regime and notes on a new novel called The Ozone Café. Stay tuned, dear reader!

New Poets Program 2008

Blogs appear to be essential these days. I do have a website @ www.geocities.com/helen_hagemann, however, this blog will host my poetics, inspirations, critiques of other poets' work & new poets on the scene who inspire me. Three poets that I have recently met through the 2008 Longlines Poetry Workshop are Ali Cobby Eckermann, Kimberly Mann & Andrew Slattery. From time to time I will post updates of our forthcoming collections from the Australian Poetry Centre & 2009 Australia-wide tours.