Layers

I think the structure I am most interested in and most interested in further pursuing, generally speaking, is the elegy. I think I am particularly attracted to the open-endedness of the elegiac structure, the opportunities it provides to contain mini-structures within the larger elegiac structure, the opportunities for layers. I think mourning is very much a layered experience, so for the structure to offer this same layered complexity makes working with this structure an opportunity for exploration, discovery, and artistry. I think I have been psychologically working towards a chapbook-length work held together by an overarching elegiac structure, and this is something I’d very much like to pursue before I graduate—or at least something I’d like to attempt.

I think the book that has been most interesting to me, as far as my own work is concerned, though I would like to think I’ve learned and adopted techniques from all of the poets we’ve studied this semester, is G.C. Waldrep’s One Way No Exit. I am very intrigued by the idea of writing a cohesive book-length work in the course of 24 hours. I think this is because I am less drawn to received forms but think unity is crucial to works. The repetition in this book that must largely be a product of producing so much work within a time constraint unifies Waldrep’s work in a way that is very interesting to me and something that I would again like to attempt before I graduate.