response

The structures that I found to be most useful within my own poetry were the emblem structure and the descriptive-meditative structure. It is easy for me to use the emblem structure as an example, because I feel as though so much poetry (without ever having noticed) has bent towards this technique, escaping the realization that there is a name for the device itself. The emblem structure, at least for me, is tempting to play with and expand on because most of my poetry tends to be description and imagery based; this is something I’m trying to move away from. The emblem structure employs deeper thought and requires more insight when dissecting the meaning of the poem. In one of my earlier posts on the emblem structure, I connected the technique with a sort of two-act play, the first act serving as pure description and the second as explanation. I think that it’s not necessarily a constricting model to adhere to, and though it’s a simple device it has room for numerous turns and “surprises.” The descriptive-meditative structure is similar to the emblem structure in that it utilizes the first two steps which are explained in the title. However, the act of “re-descripting” after having meditated on the object, setting, or person can create a much different outlook on whatever that thing may be, after just a few minutes of meditation. The way these turns operate to transcend the turn, surprise, or style itself is a somewhat subtle leap that allows for an interesting outcome. As an avid reader of narrative poetry and having a fascination with punctuation (or lack thereof), I found Quarantine to be not only a morbid read but an interesting concept that works well to utilize content and form in a structure that makes sense. Quarantine was a character study; combining fiction with poetry has been a much more difficult task than say nonfiction and poetry, because so much of poetry is nonfiction. However, to rework the ability of developing character and dialogue and inner monologue and molding that result into poetry is admirable. The narrative is a period-piece, set a few hundred years ago. I loved that this read-at least to me-as such a modern technique while still employing the sensory images and thoughts of someone alive (or in this case, dying) years and years ago. The situation is broken down into pieces, and then reversed at the end-it’s difficult to talk about Quarantine without sounding morose, but the sequences read as though they are continuous; with the aid of Contagion, the nature of the book is spherical. I thought this was interesting in thinking about the afterlife. I didn’t find this application cheap, I thought it brought in abstract ties with case and point language.

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