@ Notre Dame

Six Poems, Including the Following:


CORNHUSKS

Father and son shucking corn,
on long thirsty Sundays,
sunflowers blooming
by a peeling garage.

His father shucking
three to his one; going
no faster if the corn
will be less perfect.

Two sacks to catch the husks,
a pot for cleaned ears,
the noise of neighborhood
bursting around them:


distant radios, spirographs
of other children playing
musical in unseen yards,
kitty-corner lawnmowers

behind fence gaps. Planks
between a boy's ears,
a father's face above,
his lawnchair bulk,

the tearing-rubber death
of husks. Small fingers
sized for picking silk,
dangling angelic hairs.

Threads not for eating,
unspun, pre-compost,
musky piles reserved
for bald hobo-angels.


His father hurrying, as he
will hurry his own children:
You'll never get them all,
they'll boil off anyway.

And what doesn't boil
won't hurt the soft kernels
as fingernails digging
deep, bursting seeds

for gossamer hairs
so angel-thin,
so delicate, a single
word might break them.

The power of memories and expectations is such that for most human beings the past and the future are not as real, but more real than the present.

--Alan Watts


The unique ability of narrative poetry and fiction to access and move quickly between the remembered past and the expected future makes them unique among art forms. Even cinema has trouble accessing a character's past while in the thick of a forward-looking narrative. Some notable exceptions might be films like "Citizen Kane" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but in both cases an attention-drawing mechanism or plot invention for accessing the past has to be created in the film, which is much more obvious to the audience than the seamless recalling of memories that can be done in writing. Probably the best example I've seen of film doing so as well as the written word is in Pixar's Ratatouille (sp?). The climactic scene suddenly zooms in on a character's eye, out of which a view of the character's mind's eye opens up -- a scene from the character's childhood which brought the very nature of memory and how it is triggered to this viewer's delighted attention. Not coincidentally, it also showed the very core of the character's bundled desire for the best food and his distaste for anything less in an undeniable, penetrating light. I speak of course of the food critic, Ego, and if you haven't seen the film, this one moment of film-craft makes it necessary for you to do so.

Language, be it remember'd, is not an abstract construction of the learn'd, or of dictionary-makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground. Its final decisions are made by the masses, people nearest the concrete, having most to do with actual land and sea.

--Walt Whitman

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

--Abraham Lincoln

(But doesn't this perspective neglect the necessity to first choose what is right, the necessity to repent when one has been wrong? Doesn't it ignore the fact that those who persist in doing what is right are not always "successful" in worldly terms, while many who so resolve to succeed pursue that success with such stubbornness that they do harm to others and to their own souls? Isn't this a root of our modern doctrine of "sincerity = goodness" apart from any objective investigation into the actual outcomes of our actions, which outcomes prove our actions to be either good or evil?)

To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.

--Aldous Huxley

The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.

--Ludwig Wittgenstein

Do not quit. You see, the most constant state of an artist is uncertainty. You must face confusion, self-questioning, dilemma. Only amateurs are confident...be prepared to live with the fear of failure all your art life.

--W.O. Mitchell

...so picking up Deutschsprechen (German-speaking) after almost two years off is not that easy. Es ist sehr schwer. Vielleicht bin Ich übergeschnappte! (Yes, I had to look that last word up.)

Here are the classes I'm taking this semester, in case anyone wonders:

--Poetry Workshop with Joyelle McSweeney
Joyelle reminds me of my sister. Hi Michelle!

--Intro to Middle English Manuscript Studies
This is reading ME texts in ME script--which looks like a different language until you get used to it--and learning to transcribe the texts, including any scribal notes/glosses, into modern script for scholars to use. Yes, I'm a nerd for liking such things.

--Professional Writing Practicum
This class only meets six times and is a practical help for submitting to literary journals.

--Intermediate German 1
I'm auditing this class, which means I'm doing less and less of the homework. But it doesn't matter, because I don't get graded. I am, however, getting my ear for German back and stretching my vocabulary.


I'm finding grad school to be an adjustment. Everything is less directed. There's more emphasis on what you bring to the table from your own scholarship and research, less emphasis on knowing certain random facts off the top of your head in order to get a good grade. Drills and rote memorization are over. Grad school is about applying knowledge and making further investigation into your own areas of interest as they relate to the topic at hand. As a creative writer, I am often able to bring a "living" or "working" component of thinking to many literary discussions that are rooted in the past.


Below are some more pictures of our life @Notre Dame (Karen's work, not mine). Enjoy and thanks for your thoughts/prayers!


"Books and Baby"




"Lillian's 1st Day of School"




"Watching Star Wars"




"Willow Trees"




"A Spiritual Place"

So, we made it here. The weather was good for the move and we had lots of help. We've had a month of settling in, getting rid of extra stuff, organizing, getting used to the area, and getting Lillian and myself ready for school. Lily's school started August 14th, so we got down here just in time.

My books are up on the shelves and the writing has begun. Thanks to all who have helped to get us here and continue to support us in various ways. School starts in one week but I'll try to get in the habit of posting updates every Friday, including pictures. Also, don't forget to shoot over to http://www.editred.com/ragNboneShopper for a new poem I just posted: "To the Three Mothers: Eve, Jocosta, and Mary."

More to come soon!

So, we're getting close to moving. The big day is July 21, and thanks in advance to all those who have helped my family and I get to this point or are going to help on the move-day.

See the following for a peek at where we're going to live and ND's central campus (note the Basilica of the Sacred Heart's tall spires, one of which had just been knocked off in a storm, and the golden dome of ND's Main Building.

I'll try to keep up with this so anyone who wants current info can get it when they want it. What can I say? It's the discount store employee in me, more for less, at your convenience, and all that.

Best to all,
Jared