In Memoriam Carol Holden 1948-2015

In Memoriam Carol Holden 1948-2015.

SunWinks! March 8, 2015: Rhymes with “Economy”

[This column first appeared in slightly different form on Gather in 2012]

Dear SunWinks! Symbiotes:

Metonymy!  (gesundheit…)

Pardon my Greek… The word “metonymy” itself may look as arcane and hairy as, say, onomatopoeia, but like onomatopoeia, you can find metonymy almost anywhere you look! Metonymy (meh-TAWN-i-mee) is the rhetorical figure in which an object is referred to by substituting something—usually smaller and more concrete—that is related to, symbolic of, or a constituent of that object.

An individual instance of metonymy is called a metonym. The type of metonym which consists of a constituent or component part of the object referred to is called a synecdoche (sin-ECK-duh-key). We use metonyms every day without even thinking about it. Here are a few familiar examples. You can think of dozens more.

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Check out Copious Notes Books, my Amazon bookselling site!  

Antiques, first editions, author-signed titles, and other remarkable items chosen with the unique taste and acumen of yours truly.

I’m tackling a crazy back-up of acquisitions now, and new one-of-a-kind items will be added daily.

Meanwhile, everything in the store as of March 1 has been marked down 20-30%. Nothing has been held back!

Highlights:

• T.S. Eliot first edition
• Daphne DuMaurier first edition
• Alan Arkin first edition
• Shirley Jackson first edition
• Ani DiFranco first edition
• 1950s Catholic Girls Manual and Sunday Missal
• Cleveland Amory signed
• Robert Bly signed
• Ralph Nader signed
• Voltaire Candide limited and numbered pre-publication printing signed by illustrator Samuel Adler and editor Carl Van Doren
• Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory with illustrations by Woody Guthrie
• How I Won The War movie tie-in edition with John Lennon cover

Can you spot the spelling errors?

Can you find the spelling/punctuation errors in the following photos?

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SunWinks! March 1, 2015: Abstract Poetry: The Medium is the Message.

Dear SunWinkers!

This is a lightly reworked reissue of my September, 2012 column for Gather.com on the topic of Abstract and Cubist Poetry. I also urge you to read our recent SunWinks! columns on Edith Sitwell and Intrinsic Rhythm and Cubism as these three columns all encourage you to sharpen your sense of the sound, rhythm, and structure of your writing by putting aside considerations of meaning.

* * *

Well, we’re all done with modern poetry. I’ve exhausted every conceivable topic, every possible technique. There’s nothing left to talk about. Just go back through my previous columns and you’ll know everything there is to know about writing modern poetry.

Did I have you going for a second?

The fact is, there is no end to the invention, the creativity, and the variety of modern poetry and approaches to modern poetry. Think of how many stylistic genres and individual styles there are in modern painting, to name just one medium. Think for just a moment about the unique visions of Monet, Mondrian, Matisse, Miro, Grandma Moses, and M.C. Escher.

As I’ve said, and tried to demonstrate, poetry is much more than sentiment, short lines, and end rhymes. The techniques that can be used to communicate the very special, intimate truth that lives in the poetic imagination are as rich and variegated as the colors in the artist’s palette, or the harmonic colors in the music composer’s palette.

Now I’m inviting you to go wild. Let loose. Be creative. Pull out all the stops. Put all the leftovers into the stew. Throw the paint onto the wall. Play the piano without the music—with your fists, even.