Mark Pawlak: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

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Do’s and Don’t’s

Tony Bennett said it was Frank Sinatra who told him, "Steal from one person and it's plagiarism. Steal from everybody and it's research."

 

“Keep a strict eye

on eulogistic &

dyslogistic adjectives,”

Lewis (C.S.) advised

Tynan (Kenneth).

“They shd diagnose

(not merely blame)

& distinguish

(not merely praise).”

 

“Almost any noun is better

alone than chaperoned

if it is the right noun,

and very few can stand

two adjectives” --Pound

to Parker Tyler, ‘35--

“‘Unsettled dream’

is stronger than

‘unsettled white dream’.”

 

Precision and economy of language

are virtues this author recommends

when writing poems,

but finds difficult

to put into practice.

 

“It’s more important,”

Ornette Coleman once said,

“to play the correct

feeling

than the correct note.”

 

“Some of the time,"

to quote Chuck Close,

“you know you’re cooking;

the rest of the time,

you just do it.”

 

Or as the handbook

on improvisation

for church organ advises:

"Do not be afraid

of being wrong;

just be afraid of being

uninteresting."

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Mark Pawlak is the author of nine poetry collections and the editor of six anthologies. His latest book is Reconnaissance: New and Selected Poems and Poetic Journals (Hanging Loose). His work has been translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, and Polish. My Deniversity: Knowing Denise Levertov, a memoir, is forthcoming in 2021 from MadHat Press.

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Comments

[Barbara Henning]

love Ornette Coleman's advice!

[Clarinda harriss]

I love the advice. I agree that Ornette Coleman's is the one closest to my heart. Thanks for this truly valuable poem!

[Grace Cavalieri]

sensational lesson for my poetry students, and for me.

[Maureen Owen]

Mark delivers words of wisdom in poetic lyric grand style!

[Eileen]

Always something new to learn from poetry. Love this poem!

[Gerald Fleming]

Love this poem: would love to see it as a broadside and distributed free to writers worldwide.

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

Many years ago, before I read any of Mark Pawlak’s verse, I remember reading about his "found materials" aesthetic. It misled me into thinking of the opportune scrounging of a magpie rather than the skill, inventiveness, and originality of the impressive poet he indisputably is. “Do’s and Don’t’s” has the impact of an impossible-to-ignore mosaic, in which the quotes are its colored stones, glass, and tiles inlaid with artful precision and sequence. There is a delicious soupcon of Strunk and White's dicta coursing through it, along with bon mots and sage sayings (such as the on-point quote from jazz legend Ornette Coleman) that brought a wide smile to my face. But it is Mark's own architectural ingenuity, spry wit, cascading cadence, and--in the third stanza--admission of “difficult” striving that enliven and embolden this definably un-derivative composition, making it a masterwork from a master poet.

[Terence Winch]

Another insightful & erudite comment. Thanks, Earle.

[David Lehman]

Sinatra was plagiarizng -- I mean paraphrasing -- T. S. Eliot, one of Frank's favorite modern poets. Both were right, as are the others quoted here. "Chaperoned" is a tremendous choice of adjective in Pound's anti-adjective campaign.

[Howard Bass]

Terrific poem. Regarding wrong notes, as a musician, given the number of wrong notes I've played over the decades, I suppose I could characterize myself an interesting player!

[Elinor Nauen]

Great poem, great comments. I'm down with the broadside.

[Jack Skelley]

Echoing David Lehman echoing Ezra Pound, eff modifiers!

[Terence Winch]

Actually, Howard, we've been meaning to have a talk with you about those wrong notes.

[Susan Miller]

Today this especially resonates. Wrong notes everywhere. Cannot find the words to distinguish this poem, only to praise.

[Peter Kearney]

Thanks for a poem so nicely researched.