Visible Poetry: Aesthetic Acts in Progress

Dear Sue, I'm THRILLED you found this entry,...

2012-04-28T12:03:22.273-07:00

Dear Sue,

I'm THRILLED you found this entry, and that you filled in some links in your reply. I did come across "Trailing Nadja" at some point and then lost it (as one is wont to do on the internet), so I am delighted to have it nailed down here foursquare.

I imagined speaking to you as I wrote this piece; I certainly felt you speaking to me as I read your poems--and speaking to Breton and Nadja and to my art students, who both love and hate Breton, as I suppose we all do (l'horror de son jeu et de son clique").
How wonderful to find you here, now, thank you.

I have been an admirer of your poetry from afar. And now, nearer.
Thank you for your words and work. May we meet up again. Soon!

I'm about to embark on my first "t-shirt poem"--a short piece of wearable art. Here's hoping poetry also becomes tactile. I'll post something here when the design is done.

All the best,
K

Hi Karin, I loved coming across this blog entry o...

2012-04-28T08:20:26.960-07:00

Hi Karin,

I loved coming across this blog entry of yours! Wonderful! Really inspiring! The Frances Grayson story is fascinating! I'm intrigued by the "women who crash" angle.

Since publishing *I, Nadja, and Other Poems* with Brick in 2006, I still occasionally look for signs of Nadja, and was delighted this time to encounter on the web your reflections--and the information, with photos, about Hester Albach's book. I had never before seen that photo of Nadja. Her dark brown eyes, slightly frizzy hair, the prim blouse with pearl buttons up to the chin--I was quite moved to see the image. Thank you so much for putting it out there.

I don't know if you've seen my process-piece essay, "Trailing Nadja," which I wrote for the web journal Poetics.ca? In it, I muse on some of the research I did for my book, including my two-week-long trip to Paris in 2001 (merci Canada Council), where I visited all the sites significant to the Breton-Nadja story. The essay is followed by a section of my poem "Hairpin," which tells the Nadja-Breton story as a series of scenes involving the same prop--an old-fashioned boomerang-style hairpin--which I'd found behind the mantel in my Paris hotel room, and which seemed like a perfect metaphor for the quick turn in Nadja-Léona's life. Here's the link: http://wordsters.net/poetics/poetics03/03elmslie.html

On my author page, I posted some pictures from my Paris research trip: the curlicued railing at Saint-Germain-en-Laye from which one can look across the valley at the city lights of Paris; a couple shots of the hospital Sainte Anne, including the Allée André Breton, and a shot of the Perray-Vaucluse hospital. Here's the link: http://susanelmslie.org/poetry/photos.html

At the time I was writing my book, the letters of Nadja to Breton were in the hands of a private owner but, just as I was getting to close to finishing, the letters appeared as jpeg thumbnails on the website of the auction house Calmels Cohen. I went wild! Enlarging them on the screen and printing them off, I was so glad to have the chance to read them.

I had suspected that Nadja-Léona would have wanted the notebook she had loaned to Breton returned to her, so I was not surprised to encounter her asking for it outright in one of her letters to him. I revised one of my Nadja poems to include some translated lines from Nadja's letter dated 3 février, which she had sent from café Chez Graff: "Je voudrais mon cahier...si pot-au-feu qu'il vous paraisse [...] J'ai horror de votre jeu et de votre clique--. [...] Je ne vous ai pas servi à grand chose, mais je vous ai donné le fond de moi-meme le meilleur...jusqu'à en oublier ma Fille."

My poem titled "Chez Graff" (which takes the form of a modified rondeau-roundel hybrid) is posted on the poems page at my author site: www.susanelmslie.org.

Thanks for your words, your work, for making poetry visible. Warmest regards-- Sue

Marike says "quel plaisir que de se promener ...

2012-04-08T08:11:03.591-07:00

Marike says "quel plaisir que de se promener avec ca!"

Funny how panic creeps in and disorients even more...

2012-04-07T19:36:27.764-07:00

Funny how panic creeps in and disorients even more.
I got lost in Taylor’s Head Park once too – though it doesn’t make nearly as good a story as yours. I was with speedy hikers, and I’d stopped to climb a rocky outcrop that was begging to be climbed. I reached the top and turned to say “ta-daa!” but there was no one there. I dashed down the path, unsure which way they’d turned, unable to catch a glimpse of anyone in any direction, and began to panic and holler. Why? I wasn’t in any actual danger, and I knew the way back to the cars. So nice to be alone, peace and quiet finally – yet no peace for the alarm bells in my head. They hollered back, and I came running, all flustered, tagging along like a misbehaved child. I also thought there must be something wrong with me – maybe attention deficit disorder; why couldn’t I pay attention, why so easily distracted by every rock and tree, the attention span of a squirrel?
I think sometimes the camera helps to see better – eye more attuned to details, patterns, the way the light catches something – but perhaps too much camera vision distracts from the bigger picture, the time, the tide coming in, the parked car, the or disappearing companions.
I’ve since decided to avoid hiking with speedy hikers. I don’t want to miss all the good stuff!
-Jenn

Vivid. Somber. Heartfelt. Successful, then.

2012-03-25T09:30:31.654-07:00

Vivid. Somber. Heartfelt. Successful, then.

First version was just an unfinished version. Gla...

2012-01-27T08:37:19.754-08:00

First version was just an unfinished version. Glad you like these--doing them was fun. And weirdly painful. Err. Depressing.

Like these ones better than the first version. Fan...

2012-01-23T16:02:40.791-08:00

Like these ones better than the first version. Fantastic photos and use of them. Love this.

Thanks for making my day.

2012-01-12T16:20:29.464-08:00

Thanks for making my day.

beautiful!!!

2011-12-27T13:33:50.511-08:00

beautiful!!!

If you do start a selling/printing business for yo...

2011-12-27T12:56:51.542-08:00

If you do start a selling/printing business for your photos, I want one of each of these! They are true magic. Christy

So funny, I am reading this at the airport having ...

2011-11-11T07:46:45.875-08:00

So funny, I am reading this at the airport having prepared for my 2 hour flight with 2 articles, 2 books, and 2 manuscripts. I consider myself media light without a laptop or iPad, my bigger word windows! Think I will try to delay teaching my 2 year old to read now. Though she is already at that stage of amazing discovery, that the letters she just learned are actually EVERYWHERE...

Its weird, isn't it, how something we start ou...

2011-10-31T09:51:35.327-07:00

Its weird, isn't it, how something we start out deriving so much comfort from starts to be a burden, something we carry on with, bravely shouldering as if another pile of logs for the fireplace, instead of the delight it used to be. (You're the only blogger who brings out the metaphor in me. Or is that a simile? )

What to do?

That's what I'm here for, mahn, to bring j...

2011-05-23T18:53:10.425-07:00

That's what I'm here for, mahn, to bring joy!
Seriously, this is a bad news/good news tale isn't it? Great, inspiring, moving organizing, terrible situations; the one a response to the others...

Wow, cheerful.

2011-05-23T14:50:33.184-07:00

Wow, cheerful.

Very nice Karin, sad but so true. Internationally ...

2011-05-23T08:01:01.554-07:00

Very nice Karin, sad but so true. Internationally it is really sad that people driven to make monumental amounts of money cannot see the long term results of their actions. I think Bill Gates is one of the only ones I know that gives back a lot of his profits. Even that results in him making more money by the tax breaks he receives because of it. Keep up the good work.

thin skins -- so fine and frail.

2011-01-11T17:31:05.852-08:00

thin skins -- so fine and frail.

This might be the inside of my own head on that ve...

2010-11-09T13:08:32.200-08:00

This might be the inside of my own head on that very night.

And now.

Words are difficult and inadequate so often. Your...

2010-11-02T20:02:03.636-07:00

Words are difficult and inadequate so often. Your presence and love show caring which crosses the gaps of words. I remember you quiet presence beside me at Grandpa's funeral and how comforting it was. Thank you, Karin.

What sorrow , what breaking hearts. A depth so dee...

2010-11-02T15:25:13.265-07:00

What sorrow , what breaking hearts.
A depth so deep I only, have glimpsed.
The hole cannot be filled...ever.
The hole will never close, it will grow a crust, but always be translucent as the feeling on the faces of those that loved.

I find your image of the upside-down house to be i...

2010-11-02T13:58:38.444-07:00

I find your image of the upside-down house to be incredibly poignant. At this time, in this horrible moment your image reflects an upside-down world. One which exists but is wrong somehow. In this moment the world is upside down. I am so deeply sorry to hear of this tragedy and feel your pain. You are all in my thoughts and prayers during this time.

These images are so right for what feels too wrong...

2010-11-01T20:27:37.638-07:00

These images are so right for what feels too wrong. Your heartful eye finds appropriate glimpses in your world along the road. There is that much. Images forge connections, if not consoling at least instantiating, which is something when there is no longer gravity or balance or certainty.

Absolutely right ! Get the oxygen into that brain...

2010-10-28T09:22:21.342-07:00

Absolutely right ! Get the oxygen into that brain ... and yes we all need to spend time with kids and dogs too.

Bathsheba looks remarkably like one of Booth's...

2010-10-17T17:39:50.322-07:00

Bathsheba looks remarkably like one of Booth's dogs in The New Yorker -- something about the ears, I think.

Your seascape images are very reminiscent of Sugim...

2010-09-10T09:01:11.478-07:00

Your seascape images are very reminiscent of Sugimoto

The shout of green is such a great contrast to the grey of the water

Tom--that's a good thing. At 16, you know nei...

2010-09-08T20:15:32.828-07:00

Tom--that's a good thing. At 16, you know neither your own force nor the world's. Now, alas, you know (too much?) about both. At 16 I used to like to stand out in lightening storms. After nearly getting hit--feeling the bolt run through my body and jump my heart around--I stopped being quite so bold. No more holding umbrellas on the top of a car in an open field. And so on. K