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Really Writing
When you’re in the room writing, there are a lot of people in there with you. Your teachers, friends, writers from history, critics…and one by one, if you’re really writing, they walk out. And if you’re really writing, you walk out. —Adapted from a talk with Philip Guston Note: Guston’s original comment concerned not writing, but painting. You can read it at Jim Finnegan’s wonderful, aphoristic blog, ursprache. In the photo, Guston is shown working on mural for the WPA Federal Art Project in connection with the 1939 New York World’s Fair.Read More
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Poiesis
James at ursprache has a typically pithy post today on the nature of poetry. He writes, “It is often cited that the root of the word poetry comes from the Greek term poïesis meaning ‘to make.’ But make how? And make what? So much lies undisclosed in the concept of mere ‘making’.” I couldn’t resist commenting, then thought I should share the response here as passable material for rumination: I think the “making” has been defined, in “Symposium,” where Socrates recounts a conversation he had with his tutor, the seer Diotima.Read More
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Mister Spaceman
James’s post on ursprache today is a classic.Read More
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Wishing I were “J for James”
Every fresh turn in his fated path he chose with absolute freedom.Read More
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Wisdom
A sweet bit of wisdom here. A daily visit to ursprache is never wasted! And I highly recommend roving through the archives. You’ll discover nuggets such as these: “Begin in a place before the poem you were thinking of begins”; and “When reading a great poem, see if you can tell which line was the poet’s Rubicon”; and “From the moment it was written it was syllabus poetry.Read More
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Aphoristical
Yes, that’s me: a sucker for aphorisms. Maybe because I really can’t write them, though occasionally one will surface in the context of a poem—which of course makes it not an aphorism, I think, because an aphorism must stand alone. On the other hand, my Oxford American Dictionary defines aphorism as merely “a pithy observation that contains a general truth,” which is fine but begs the question of why they’re so damned delightful. This particular post was inspired, by the way, by another blogger who posts under the moniker of “JforJames” on his blog, ursprache.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
