This is an answer to this post:http://blackeyedsusans.blogspot.com/2008/09/writers-meme.html
If you believe the personal is political, how is this reflected in your work or life?
The personal is political. I grew up under a dictator's regime and I know how life looks when there is so much fear and so little freedom. Now,issues such as diversity and immigration do affect my every day life, and these issues do reflect in my poems.
A song for Luis Jimenez is one of my obviously political poems
Are there any dominating themes, images or ideas prevalent in your body of work?
I think religion (or my religious view) dominates my poetry. I had been raised by orthodox grandparents in one of the most traditional forms of Christian belief, and my religious upbringing is a source of constant conflict with my liberal views. But, in spite of my liberal views I stay deeply religious. Love (in all occurrences) is another one. Beauty is the third in line. I am definitely enthralled by beautiful people and things and landscapes - Beauty for me is the expression of God's Love.
What theme(s) or idea(s) have you avoided in your work? Why?
I am starting to view writing poetry more and more as craft rather than therapy, so experimenting is essential for my work. I try not to avoid any themes or ideas.
Are you drawn to any particular themes, ideas or styles of poetry?
As mentioned above: religion, love , beauty and of course, the issue with accepting diversity.
Like in this Waltz, that is also a tribute to Andre Gide among other people.
As for poetry styles , since I am still just trying my hand...I do not find any that fit me better than others, yet...
Who are some of your favorite poets (writers) and why?
Dostoevsky and Gide for their perspective on our souls split between sin and religious belief.
Rilke for the way he sings God's beauty.
Khayyam for his lines on wine and the beloved.
Anna Akhmatova for trying to picture that terrible world with so many beautiful words, trying to make the others understand.
Michael Ondaatje for his view on parenthood and the way he sings a human body's imperfections.
Nabokov for making it possible (to write a great book in a completely foreign language)
Eugen Ionescu for his first short essays on how art is in the eye of the beholder (he's mostly know as Eugène Ionesco whom wrote about the Rhinoceros)
Mihai Eminescu for his music, rhythm and learning how to die and burn with love.
Marin Sorescu for being whimsical and tragic at the same time.
and the list can go on, and on, and on...
3 comments:
Cool. I really liked this sentence. "I am starting to view writing poetry more and more as craft rather than therapy." It warmed the cockles of my heart. That shift in thinking is what makes a poet. Your "Song for Luis Jimenez" is a fabulous poem which demonstrates both your interest in craft and the notion of the personal as political. The two ideas, political self and poetry as craft rather than selfexpression therapy are related. They both involve turning one's attention outward from the self to the world around. And you rock too,
Paul,
Thanks. I am trying.
And I should have thanked Susan for the meme opportunity; it is nice to get some self-attention...though not to often.
And thankyou for the dance in the Orchid Room too. It was a wonderful tango, you are a fabulous dancer and a wonderful writer,
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