Bruce Bennett has selected the poems for the master class on French repeating forms and will begin posting them, two at a time, on May 27. Meanwhile, here in his own words is some biographical information about him, as well as samples of his own work in those forms.
Bruce Bennett:
The best, or at least the fullest, introduction to my work can be found at my website:
http://aurora.wells.edu/~brbennett/
My biography, in brief: I am the author of nine poetry books and more than twenty chapbooks. I was a cofounder and editor of two literary magazines,
Field: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, and
Ploughshares, and served for a number of years as an Associate Editor at Judith Kitchen's State Street Press. I have reviewed contemporary poetry for
The New York Times Book Review,
The Nation,
Harvard Review, and other publications. My
New and Selected Poems, Navigating The Distances (Orchises) was cited by
Booklist as "One of the Top Ten Poetry Books of 1999." I teach at Wells College, where I am Professor and Chair of English, and Director of Creative Writing.
My most recent full-length books are
Subway Figure (Orchises) and
Something Like Karma (Clandestine Press). My most recent chapbooks are
The Holding Stone (Finishing Line) and a letterpress selection of rhymed fables,
The Bestial Floor (Wells College Press). A new chapbook, a sonnet sequence entitled
A Girl Like You, will be published by Finishing Line in September.
I have published one chapbook consisting entirely of villanelles,
It’s Hard to Get the Angle Right (GreenTower Press, 1997) and an online mini-chapbook of villanelles,
Against All Hope I Hope to Hear from You (Sticks Press), which can be found on my website.
I have selected the following poems to represent my work in repeating forms. “Spilled” was among my earliest villanelles. The sestina, “Best Seller,” was published in
Subway Figure. “Double Ring” was written for my son’s wedding in July 2005. The pantoum, "The Friendly Skies," has not been published.
................SPILLED
It’s not the liquid spreading on the floor,
A half a minute’s labor with the mop;
It’s everything you’ve ever spilled, and more.
The stupid broken spout that wouldn’t pour;
The nasty little salesman in the shop.
It’s not the liquid spreading on the floor,
A stain perhaps, a new, unwelcome chore,
But scarcely cause for sobs that will not stop.
It’s everything you’ve ever spilled, and more.
It’s the disease for which there is no cure,
The starving child, the taunting brutal cop.
It’s not the liquid spreading on the floor
But through a planet, rotten to the core,
Where things grow old, get soiled, snap off, or drop.
It’s everything you’ve ever spilled, and more:
This vision of yourself you can’t ignore,
Poor wretched extra clinging to a prop!
It’s not the liquid spreading on the floor.
It’s everything you’ve ever spilled, and more.
.............COMMITMENT
You need to write it till you get it right.
That is your job; what you were born to do.
It might not take a lifetime, but it might.
Sure, it’s a burden sometimes, but it’s light:
you make the rules, which then apply to you.
That’s how you write it till you get it right,
Having that goal, keeping it plain in sight,
yet easing up, or off, since that works too.
It might not take a lifetime, but it might.
At times the task’s a breeze, at times it’s tight
going, a maze, where every problem’s new
and you just need to write to get it right,
Write on, Hell take the cost, by day, by night,
alone, unknown, and yes, the perks are few,
but though it takes a lifetime (and it might),
What’s better than commitment to a fight
that brings your best out, focused on what’s true?
You have one purpose: Write it till it’s right.
It might not take a lifetime. But it might.
.....HOW TO WRITE A VILLANELLE
You find a line that sounds good. It might do.
But one is not enough. You have to try
to come up with another. It takes two
That bear repeating, that can get you through,
that let you know the thing is going to fly.
First find one line that sounds good, that will do,
Then pair it with a partner. Just a few
rhymes are required. Stringent rules apply,
but you’re on top of things once you have two
Lines that go well together, though it’s true
you need to find one more to satisfy
the form’s demands: a
b rhyme. When you do
(remembering that all
b rhymes are new,
and that the whole must flow as well as tie
neatly together, weaving in the two
Lines that repeat, yet change as you review
what’s come before, what’s still to come) - but why
complicate matters? All you’ve got to do
is find one line to start with. Make that two.
...................BEST SELLER
“I don’t
know if it will be a best seller.”
Sharon is talking again about writing a book.
She’s found a place that will publish it, for money.
“It’s about stuff people will want to read.
Everyday stuff, you know, like about their lives.
The computer can fix my grammar and punctuation.”
She’s asked before about grammar and punctuation.
I’ve offered to help. “It might not be a best seller,”
she says again, “but it’s about people’s lives.”
I tell her again, “It’s hard to publish a book.
Or rather, it’s easy, but not one people will read.
You have to watch out for places that do it for money.”
Because, the thing is, she’s doing it for the money.
She knows she can get help with punctuation.
She’s positive people are going to be eager to read
whatever she writes. “It might not be a best seller,”
but try to tell her it’s not going to be a book
that speaks directly to people and changes their lives.
I wish I could help. I know about people’s lives,
including Sharon’s, and know that she needs the money.
I wish all that could be solved by writing a book,
or even just learning more about punctuation.
It’s like some kind of Heaven: you write a best seller;
your life’s in lights, and people will pay to read,
And that gives meaning: that people will pay to read.
And, Heaven knows, we need meaning in our lives,
especially the kind that comes as a best seller
written from love and need, not simply for money.
And never mind small details, like punctuation:
one’s life’s not really one’s life till it’s in a book!
So Sharon is talking again about writing her book.
“I know it’s stuff that people will want to read,
and I can get help with grammar and punctuation.”
I guess that’s how we all get help with our lives:
we dream what we need to do for love and money.
We feel,
of course it is in us to write a best seller;
Of course we can publish the book that will change our lives,
that people will want to read, so they’ll do it for money.
Who cares about punctuation, when it’s a best seller?
..........DOUBLE RING
.............For Evan and Silvia
These two who join in union here
May they find happiness as one
With vision, hope, and purpose clear,
These two who join in union here
With those who hold them close and dear,
Now, as their journey has begun,
These two who join in union here,
May they find happiness as one
The way this little triolet
Joins lines that travel, then return
To dance within a pattern set
Because it is a triolet,
A form that guides and rules, and yet
Allows for freedom. May they learn
And love, the way a triolet
Joins lines that travel, then return.
.....THE FRIENDLY SKIES
The passenger is in a funk.
“Don’t ever,
ever touch my junk!”
It’s best to stay at home these days.
They’ll get you in all sorts of ways.
“Don’t ever,
ever touch my junk!”
They’ll lose your mileage or your trunk.
They’ll get to you all sorts of ways.
The cancellations and delays
Ensure that you will lose your trunk.
Meanwhile, they’ll fill the air with bunk.
The cancellations and delays
mean stops in foreign cities, stays,
Then line-ups, pat-downs, all that bunk!
It’s best to stay at home these days.
The outrage gets to you, and stays:
you hate them, and stay in a funk!
Introducing Bruce Bennett, Distinguished Guest for the French Repeating Forms Event
Linear Mode
