I have talked a bit about Charles Fort in the notes when the topics of both prose poems and haiku surfaced.
You can read another of his prose poems and two other poems at the Creighton site, which is very slow just now. Take the time to read both. Charles Fort gave a powerful reading a few years ago at Peru State, and I posted information and pictures from his visit.
And you can read what Fort has to say in the excellent interview in our text.
Fort, like Eaamon who hails from Ireland, comes from outside Nebraska. He does not, however, come to the Midwest from a foreign country. Fort's background is the industrial belt--the rust belt in sociological and political lingo--of the East Coast.
In other words, he brings to the table some interesting perspectives.
And when you read the poems, you will discern this different angle of focus.
Fort taught poetry at the University of Nebraska-Kearney for years and held the chair that another poet in our anthology vacated upon his retirement, Don Welch. Fort presently teaches at the Oklahoma State University.
Welch's and Fort's poetry offers some interesting contrasts, to be sure, not in excellence, but in perspective.
At any rate, as you read, consider how what Fort has to say about poetry fits in well with what our text has to say about the need for form. As he says of the poetry in one of his latest books, Frankenstein Was A Negro, for instance, themes and rhythms bind the verse: "There are jazz and blues rhythms throughout the whole book" (121)
We saw similar unifying rhythms in the Langston Hughes poems earlier in the term.
As with all the poets, Fort offers praise for his parents, wonderful source material for many writers, to be sure. Suffice to say that the inspiration for all the poets comes from their lived and their reading experiences. And remember what Fort has to say about writing:
"Strange how things are reinvented and come back." (122)
In other words, nothing you write is a waste, for one thing leads to another. And something you put down has a habit of coming back, revised, of course, a surprising times.
Note, too, his praise for "isolated" Nebraska, an environment very much foreign to him .....at first:
"I think it makes the imagination thrive even more." (123)
And you see this idea in his poem, "The Poem Found in Darvil's Back Pocket at the End of the Plains." Of course, he hardly turns his back on his past inspiration, which continues to push his poems, as he notes in the interview and as the earlier poem "The Worker" indicates--this working class upbringing and the deep affection for his hard-working father.
We have over the course of the term had an opportunity to work with photographs. And if you choose the Haiku choice for your project, you can work with these photographs again. Read what Fort has to say about how photographs--his "Photo Poetics"-- coordinate or harmonize with his poems:
"Photography helped me to be observant." (124)
As our discussions have indicated, details make a tremendous difference. And Fort uses the photography approach a great deal in his teaching. He teaches, in fact, what you will accomplish in your poetry project: "In my classes I teach the sonnet and the haiku" (125) to teach writers about form.
Note that he also emphasizes with his photography angle the importance of your personal experience as a foundation for creative writing. He also loves the "mighty sestina" (125); he has good advice here if you choose to utilize this challenging form:
"When they choose the six images for the sestina, they can do that at random, which I advise them against, or they can use related images." (125)
As I have suggested, you should choose related images for the imagist poems in particular because you can take advantage of nuances to make the words point in a different directions at the service of your poem.
Read in particular for the Discussion Threads "The Worker" and Fort's prose poem(s).
And note that his "Sonnet for Shelly" is not a true sonnet. What gives the poem structure?
As does Fort, you should feel free to experiment when you write. And explain to the reader what you seek to accomplish--good practice for your special Project at the term's conclusion.
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