Rest in Peace, Rosemary Tonks

[Prestidigitweeze]

Although Rosemary Tonks poet and novelist, actually died on April 14, I didn't learn she had left us until today while reading her obit in the Guardian.

She was one of the most powerful and committed poets of her generation. Tragic, to learn that her last years were a dungeon of loss, isolation and physical pain.

May a volume of her collected poems appear soon -- or at least a (r)e-print of her collection, Iliad of Broken Sentences.

Rosemary Tonks' Obituary in the Guardian

"Criminal, you took a great piece of my life,
And you took it under false pretences:
That piece of time --
In the clear muscles of my brain
I have the lens and jug of it!
Books, thoughts, meals, days, and houses,
Half of Europe, spent like a coarse banknote,
You took it -- leaving mud and cabbage stumps."

-- R.T.

[Xanthe]

Reading that obituary, there's sure to be a biography in the works from someone. What a sad final life.

I always regret that I just don't seem to "get" the poetic form. I can read it and understand the meaning expressed, but I always get thrown by the lack of prose format. I lament that lack within myself because it means that I rarely read poetry.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I appreciate your honesty in saying that poetry is a form you haven't quite understood, Xanthe. Thanks for being willing to own that.

I feel that way about ballet. I can watch it and be interested, but I don't feel I've understood the technical/formal aspects even after talking to at least four choreographer friends.

Many readers would blame the poets themselves and call their work "elitist" instead of recognizing the limits of their own understanding, which are actually gaps that can be filled and not evidence of anyone's incapacity (any more than they're proof of unpretentiousness).

And I do hope that someone writes a bio of Rosemary Tonks. At the very least, there should be an edition of her collected poems.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Reading that obituary, there's sure to be a biography in the works from someone. What a sad final life.

I always regret that I just don't seem to "get" the poetic form. I can read it and understand the meaning expressed, but I always get thrown by the lack of prose format. I lament that lack within myself because it means that rarely read poetry.

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I appreciate your honesty in saying that poetry is a form you haven't quite understood, Xanthe. Thanks for being willing to own that.

I feel that way about ballet. I can watch it and be interested, but I don't feel zi understanding the technical/formal aspects even after talking to at least four choreographer friends.

Many readers would blame the poets themselves and call their work "elitist" instead of recognizing limits of their own understanding, which are actually gaps that can be filled and not evidence of anyone's incapacity (any more than they're proof of unpretentiousness).

And I do hope that someone writes a bio of Rosemary Tonks. At the very least, there should be an edition of her collected poems.

Personally I much prefer the "old poets" of rhyme and song. I think modern poets are too lazy and undisciplined at best to write a reasonable poem and at worse are just pretenders or hacks.

This lady you speak of Prestidigitweeze, thought by wit, daring and will alone she could make her way, and was unable to resolve the rigors of the world's cruel reality with her early choices, and so what had been a binary person "flip-flopped" in the engineering sense.

None of us can be young, vital, beautiful and headstrong forever. Only the last choice seemed to remain for her.

Rip...

[Xanthe]

Are they truly lazy and undisciplined, or is it that the modern life/culture they are trying to portray/distill doesn't lend itself well to the established poetic forms?

Isn't some rap to some extent poetry, though it would never be called such? And probably wouldn't be called such, because doing so it would somehow "soften" it?

Ballet, I "get", probably because I had a year or two of ballet lessons when I was a little kid, so I can both enjoy it and appreciate the work that goes into it. Poetry that rhymes and haiku make sense to me, probably because there is logic and structure in them that I can recognize.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by frahse

Personally I much prefer the "old poets" of rhyme and song. I think modern poets are too lazy and undisciplined at best to write a reasonable poem and at worse are just pretenders or hacks.

In my opinion, it's a mistake to conclude that an entire cross-section of artists share the same defects and personality traits.

My experiences (and prejudices, perhaps) have led me to conclude (perhaps unfairly) that the laziest poets of the day are often the ones who write in incidental rhyme and emphasize narrative or superficial sound at the expense of formal depth. Even so, many spoken word poets are powerful and effective, and the best of them will doubtless survive me.

Also: when you talk about modern poets, do you mean poets of the past century (modernists, for example), poets who are still living but are associated with the 50s (such as John Ashbery) or the most current poets (Nada Gordon, Charles Bernstein, Bob Perelman, Tracie Morris, etc.)?

I tend to trust the craft of poets who work with form in a multilayered way, and who "load every rift with ore," as Keats said. But I'm also aware that my preferences can lead to other kinds of excess, and that my standards reflect my interests as much as they do a sincere emphasis on perfection. And I would add that many of the more modern poets look upon form as an expression of content, which is why someone like H.D. or Denise Levertov can seem simultaneously formless and formalist.

I myself tend to write in elaborate forms, but that's because I'm a musician. Form, sound and rhythm are how I connect with the work. I tend to emphasize content for the simple reason that emphasizing the technical is too easy for me and can lead to one-sided work.

This lady you speak of Prestidigitweeze, thought by wit, daring and will alone she could make her way, and was unable to resolve the rigors of the world's cruel reality with her early choices, and so what had been a binary person "flip-flopped" in the engineering sense.

I'm reluctant to say anything like that, given how little we actually know about her. We have no idea what role mental illness might have played in her life, for example. And in terms of great poets who made similar choices (Rimbaud, for example), her name is legion.

None of us can be young, vital, beautiful and headstrong forever. Only the last choice seemed to remain for her. Rip...

Truthfully, I wouldn't wish her final years on anyone.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

In my opinion, it's a mistake to conclude that a majority of unspecified artists share the same personality traits.

Truthfully, I wouldn't wish her final years on anyone.

Agreed, twice.