WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.700 align:middle line:84%
I'm interested to know how,
over time, your notions of form

00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:08.160 align:middle line:84%
might have changed, in
particular in reference

00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.900 align:middle line:90%
to what you're trying to do.

00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:13.477 align:middle line:84%
Can you track a change in your
thinking about that over time?

00:00:13.477 --> 00:00:15.060 align:middle line:84%
I think that maybe
the main difference

00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:16.740 align:middle line:84%
was I used to write
poems that were

00:00:16.740 --> 00:00:18.960 align:middle line:90%
very short and kind of cryptic.

00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.780 align:middle line:84%
And I had a real difficulty
getting past about eight lines.

00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:27.350 align:middle line:84%
The poem would kind
of close in on itself.

00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:30.900 align:middle line:84%
It would kind of get
very self-conscious

00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:34.410 align:middle line:90%
and slam to a conclusion.

00:00:34.410 --> 00:00:36.750 align:middle line:84%
And I thought of it, it was
kind of like blowing out

00:00:36.750 --> 00:00:37.620 align:middle line:90%
birthday candles.

00:00:37.620 --> 00:00:39.287 align:middle line:84%
I thought you had to
do it in one breath

00:00:39.287 --> 00:00:41.760 align:middle line:84%
or, you know, it was
bad luck or something.

00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:46.440 align:middle line:84%
And really, to extend
that, I went back

00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:48.750 align:middle line:84%
and read a lot of
these Coleridge poems

00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:53.190 align:middle line:84%
and these other romantic lyrics
to see how these poets got

00:00:53.190 --> 00:00:58.770 align:middle line:84%
a second wind, and to see how
there would be an initial act

00:00:58.770 --> 00:01:01.855 align:middle line:84%
and then there'd be a breath,
and then the meditation would--

00:01:01.855 --> 00:01:03.480 align:middle line:84%
there'd be another
kind of gust of wind

00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:05.147 align:middle line:84%
that would take it
in another direction.

00:01:05.147 --> 00:01:07.320 align:middle line:84%
And then it would
fall back this way, so

00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:09.300 align:middle line:84%
that the poem had
movements to it,

00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:13.230 align:middle line:84%
like little
mini-symphonic movements.

00:01:13.230 --> 00:01:19.920 align:middle line:84%
And that's probably the only
describable change, in terms

00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.460 align:middle line:84%
of form, for me, is
just figuring out

00:01:23.460 --> 00:01:27.330 align:middle line:84%
how to create an extended
meditation in a poem,

00:01:27.330 --> 00:01:32.100 align:middle line:84%
rather than a kind of
epigrammatic, wise guy kind

00:01:32.100 --> 00:01:35.780 align:middle line:84%
of poem that I used
to be limited to.

00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:37.000 align:middle line:90%