Week Three: Road Trip

J. V. Brummels (204-219)

Another thread that runs through this anthology of Nebraska writers concerns the writers' jobs. As you might notice, none makes his or her living from writing; and many teach, including all but one of the writers we have discussed to this point. And Ted Kooser worked for most of his career in the insurance business.

Brummels is a very popular teacher at Wayne State College. He has remained actively engaged in his students' work and in their instruction for many years.

And like Bill Kloefkorn and Charles Fort (whom we will read next week), Brummels is a very, very successful teacher.

As you read what J. V. has to say, note the emphasis, once again, that he puts on his childhood years. That first teacher, Darrel Krei, continues to influence him, as noted in the first of Brummels "confessional poems":

The older I get, the nearer frontier
my childhood seems, as if by
some law of relativity
or artist's trick of perspective.
I see it now as a heavy wagon descending
a log slope, the team reined by a gentle hand. (216)

The simile of the "heavy wagon" is excellent, as is the hand that guides.

His thoughts turn, it would seem, to Nebraska, even when he thinks of New York. The openness attracts him?

I could imagine/millions of people and tons of tons of snow/all trying to occupy the same space. I'm not sure/ why.

Read through Brummels poems and note the great importance in his verse of punctuation. Read carefully what your text has to say in this regard about caesura, end-stopped lines, and enjambment. See, for instance the preceding lines about getting older in which you can see well illustrated all three techniques.

How do these breaks give the poem cadence?

You will find similar patterns in the poem "The American Heart" that captures a certain spirit. How do the shorter stanzas affect the tone?

Brummels in his interview talks a great deal about his education at Syracuse, including his work with the noted poets Phillip Booth and W. D. Snodgrass.

Take the time to read Phillip Booth's poem about a town dump, not a topic one usually associates with poetry--the focus gives the poet space to say interesting things about people....and gulls. You will have a chance to discuss Booth's poem and work by W. D. Snodgrass. Look in particular at poem #6. Here you will find various kinds of rhymes, from true to slant. In addition, note the various techniques Snodgrass utilizes to slant the rhyme in his poem of interesting stanzas.

Brummels also talks about the music he recalls from church, that cadence that stays with him. As he points out as well, "So poetry is first oral, and poetry is, I think, best oral" (209).

On 210, you run into a discussion that continues with Brummels, his aversion to adverbs. Well, J. V. is a very funny fellow--and a serious poet. His discussion about what makes good writing in response to Marge's questions is excellent.

Among other things, as you write, avoid trying to sum things up at the end of a poem, where many have a tendency to state in rather direct language the poem's big ideas that should rely on implication for its impact.

If you write well and from the heart, from the hidden head, the words will address the truth and point to the big idea(s) you have in mind. As J. V. writes, "Do something honest. It doesn't have to be true, but it ought to be honest, as my friend Scott McIntosh says" ( 210).

As long as honesty provides the foundation, the writing will resonate if you use the various techniques at your disposal with imagination and with economy.

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Last Modified: 09/06/2009