Nathaniel Mackey, Workshops, and Poetry

Re-reading some of Nathaniels works has really been intriguing and I must admit I am looking forward to seeing him and getting hear his perspective on poetry. I found it really fascinating the way he worked with a jazz musician to come up with a musical aspect to his work and I look forward to finding out more about his rationale for doing so. On a different note like Annalise I’m really excited for workshops. I feel like with my poem for this workshop I have taken a much larger leap in structure, sound, and content then my tradition writing style and I am highly looking forward to meeting up with my group to discuss it and gauge how effective it was. In yet another random topic I found last week’s poetry to be very thought provoking and interesting, I was disappointed we didn’t get the chance to go over all of the poems. However, I felt the genuine discussion we had about the few we did was well worth the time we spent. Even as I am writing this I can’t help but think back fondly to our class discussion of W.H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939”. Personally the idea of universal love is captivating and wonderful but I have to agree with my roommate Alex that it is ultimately unattainable, that none of us can truly “love” every person it would degrade the meaning of love itself. Instead I think the best way of changing the world and caring for others is increasing the minimal care we have for people everywhere to a higher standard.