Thanks for sharing this, Nick; so glad you have such great memories of your father.
I’m getting more into the folk side of things as well lately—not poetry per se but stories and myths. This is just me perhaps, but considering the way things have been going, I’m less inclined toward stories and forms of expression that are inseparable from our economy. I think I need to be listening elsewhere for awhile.
I'd like to hear more about that, James, I'm not sure what you mean; that you want to write and consume work that isn't intended to have a wide audience?
I guess I mean something a little more radical. The printing press allowed for the commercialization of stories but prior to that, there was no monetary value attached to them. Myths had no author, no single point of origin and their people shared them freely. The environment was such that everyone showed up expecting to hear a story; the audience wasn't sold to and there was nothing to scale.
These days, telling and hearing stories around a campfire seems a lot more appealing to me than publication submissions.
I've been thinking about this for the last couple days - very radical, as you say. It's so hard to divorce from any economic benefit, certainly. I was considering what it would look like for me, and to be honest I think that even deeper than making money for my work eventually, what I (and I think very many) want in the end is recognition. Perhaps the purest stories and forms of expression are anonymous. Or, at least, written with the expectation that they would never become known. A difficult prospect to untie production with recognition, a need truly only met spiritually and in full surrender of that desire, I think.
Thanks for sharing this, Nick; so glad you have such great memories of your father.
I’m getting more into the folk side of things as well lately—not poetry per se but stories and myths. This is just me perhaps, but considering the way things have been going, I’m less inclined toward stories and forms of expression that are inseparable from our economy. I think I need to be listening elsewhere for awhile.
I'd like to hear more about that, James, I'm not sure what you mean; that you want to write and consume work that isn't intended to have a wide audience?
I guess I mean something a little more radical. The printing press allowed for the commercialization of stories but prior to that, there was no monetary value attached to them. Myths had no author, no single point of origin and their people shared them freely. The environment was such that everyone showed up expecting to hear a story; the audience wasn't sold to and there was nothing to scale.
These days, telling and hearing stories around a campfire seems a lot more appealing to me than publication submissions.
I've been thinking about this for the last couple days - very radical, as you say. It's so hard to divorce from any economic benefit, certainly. I was considering what it would look like for me, and to be honest I think that even deeper than making money for my work eventually, what I (and I think very many) want in the end is recognition. Perhaps the purest stories and forms of expression are anonymous. Or, at least, written with the expectation that they would never become known. A difficult prospect to untie production with recognition, a need truly only met spiritually and in full surrender of that desire, I think.
Folk poetry. I like the distinction of that, nice concept!