http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/ A blog from the Poetry Foundation where contemporary poets debate classic and contemporary poetry from America and around the world. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:24:02 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/#comment-6211 Mairead Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:55:47 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=1174#comment-6211 A jewelry-maker with a table in Union Square this summer had crafted a sterling silver pendant of the human heart. When I picked it up, she exclaimed, "Oh, that's my favorite! It's completely anatomically correct, you know. Love is UGLY." I still regret not buying it, thinking (stupidly) that I needed money to feed myself. A jewelry-maker with a table in Union Square this summer had crafted a sterling silver pendant of the human heart. When I picked it up, she exclaimed, “Oh, that’s my favorite! It’s completely anatomically correct, you know. Love is UGLY.” I still regret not buying it, thinking (stupidly) that I needed money to feed myself.

]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/#comment-6210 Jane Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:58:57 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=1174#comment-6210 It was a sign- I am sure someone will read this and act on the imPULSE. It was a sign- I am sure someone will read this and act on the imPULSE.

]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/#comment-6209 Lavinia Greenlaw Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:05:29 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=1174#comment-6209 "I walked through a human heart as a child." Mary Meriam, thank you. You've given me an image of a different aspect of my problem. In the post I talked about my susceptibility to the simple shape but what your memory brings to mind is the effects of all this wonderfully mobile but virtual visual experience. When John Locke came to write in the late C17th about the view under the microscope, he invoked alienation, warning that being able to ‘come nearer to the discovery of the texture and motion of the minute parts of corporeal things’ would place the viewer ‘in quite a different world from other people: nothing would appear the same to him and others.' So what happens now that everyone is in that different world? And what is happening in poetry to our idea and experience of the image because of all this? Jonathan Crary, in Techniques of the Observer: ‘If there is in fact an ongoing mutation in the nature of visuality, what forms or modes are being left behind? What kind of break is it? At the same time, what are the elements of continuity that link contemporary imagery with older organizations of the visual?’ Or bringing it home, Williams: 'What are those fuzzy things out there?' “I walked through a human heart as a child.” Mary Meriam, thank you. You’ve given me an image of a different aspect of my problem. In the post I talked about my susceptibility to the simple shape but what your memory brings to mind is the effects of all this wonderfully mobile but virtual visual experience. When John Locke came to write in the late C17th about the view under the microscope, he invoked alienation, warning that being able to ‘come nearer to the discovery of the texture and motion of the minute parts of corporeal things’ would place the viewer ‘in quite a different world from other people: nothing would appear the same to him and others.’ So what happens now that everyone is in that different world?
And what is happening in poetry to our idea and experience of the image because of all this?
Jonathan Crary, in Techniques of the Observer: ‘If there is in fact an ongoing mutation in the nature of visuality, what forms or modes are being left behind? What kind of break is it? At the same time, what are the elements of continuity that link contemporary imagery with older organizations of the visual?’
Or bringing it home, Williams: ‘What are those fuzzy things out there?’

]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/#comment-6208 Mary Meriam Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:46:58 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=1174#comment-6208 I walked through a human heart as a child. It was in Philadelphia, at a science museum. There were stairs. There was a loud heartbeat sound. I was alone and a little nervous. That's all I remember. I walked through a human heart as a child. It was in Philadelphia, at a science museum. There were stairs. There was a loud heartbeat sound. I was alone and a little nervous. That’s all I remember.

]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/11/the-plain-shape-of-things/#comment-6207 Jordan Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:43:58 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=1174#comment-6207 Theresa Muller of Philadelphia creates life-sized replicas of the human heart made out of <a href="http://www.chocolatebymueller.com/images/ripley.jpg" rel="nofollow">chocolate</a>. Theresa Muller of Philadelphia creates life-sized replicas of the human heart made out of chocolate.

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