Finding Your Angle

If 10 poets are looking at a woman sitting on a bus bench.....

The exact same woman, and then Finley takes these 10 poets to the Dublinger...........

And everybody sidles up to the bar..............

Then the bartender pours this crew not 1, not 2....but 3 beers........each

And all of a sudden, out of nowhere.....tablets and pens are produced........

 Then Finley hops on top of the bar, stomps his feet and says..............

"I want each of you to please write a poem about that women on the bus we passed."

I wonder, would all these poets write similar poems.

Of course we'll never know the answer, but every once in awhile I run across a work that is written from a P.O.V. that simply blows me away.

EXAMPLE -

Ms. Szymborska “looks at things from an angle you would never think of looking at for yourself in a million years,” Dr. Cavanagh said on the day of the Nobel announcement. She pointed to “one stunning poem that’s a eulogy.”

“It’s about the death of someone close to her that’s done from the point of view of the person’s cat,” she said.

That poem, “Cat in an Empty Apartment,” as translated by Dr. Cavanagh and Mr. Baranczak, opens:

Die — You can’t do that to a cat.

Since what can a cat do

in an empty apartment?

Climb the walls?

Rub up against the furniture?

Nothing seems different here,

but nothing is the same.

Nothing has been moved,

but there’s more space.

And at nighttime no lamps are lit.

Footsteps on the staircase,

but they’re new ones.

The hand that puts fish on the saucer

has changed, too.

Something doesn’t start

at its usual time.

Something doesn’t happen

as it should. Someone was always, always here,

then suddenly disappeared

and stubbornly stays disappeared. 

-   END   -

For once I'm going to shut up, I going to hold back opinions, I want to hear from you....the seasoned poets, do you, should one...try to find different branches in the tree to sit on when writing a poem?

Can You Answer This Question???

If you had to pick just one, and there's no middle ground on this topic......

If you had to be one of the following, which would it be, and why?

#1 -

A poet with too much ego

#2 -

A poet with not enough ego



I await your tribal wisdom.



Happy New Year from Klecko and your friends @ Lief

The Newest Finley Truth

In 1991 the band Naught By Nature owned the #1.....

ARE YOU DOWN WITH O.P.P.?

What those 3 initials stood for stirred up quite a bit of controversy, but I will let you guys do your own research to dig up what that was all about.

I believe its the book of Ecclesiastes that says "Nothing is new under the sun".......

I wonder if Solomon was implying that one day Mike Finley would resurrect the 3 initials that put America on it's ear over 20 years ago.

Our story starts where so many of my afternoons end,

In the parking lot of the gym, just prior to me getting a lift in.

Usually during these moments I've taken a "Pre-Lift" drink that really jacks your system, causing it to feel as if you are on some kind of heavy speed.

As my adrenaline was at it's peak, I figured I should run in and attend to my workout so as to maximize my buzz, but instead I thought about something poetry related and decided to call Mike.

Truth be told, I don't even remember what was so important, but I do remember getting a hold of Finley, and somewhere we discussed a post I had written (on a subsequent Blog) that talked about me on the verge of an altercation at the Grandview Theater on Christmas day.

I was with my family who had outvoted me, and therefore they selected Les Miserables.

In the concession line, just ahead of me was an equal sized lout who started gaffing off and talking about what a douche Russell Crowe was and how he was going to mess up this epic film.

Not that the "Gladiator" needs me to cover his back but.....

I interjected to this thug who chose to wear sunglasses even though it was18 degrees and overcast outside that he might want to keep his thoughts to himself.

What many of you may not know is that us "Big Guys" have a Big Guy club, we don't pay dues, but the code is observed across the globe, and rule #1 is.......

Don't ever talk crap about another Big Guy.

Anyways, the guy rolls his eyes at me, and when he did this, I mentioned I was just giving him a little honest grief, but if he wanted to roll his eyes.......

Dude grabbed his box of Milk Duds and scurried into the show hall.

My Blog Post that focuses on this story goes much deeper into detail concerning this moment, but before I digress, let's go back to the parking lot of Snap Fitness.

Finley comments...................

"That story you described, or rather your actions in it, well.....they were like a poem in itself."

Klecko responded......

"Huh?"

"Well when you stood in line, the first thing you did is what all poets should do. you OBSERVED. Next, after the guy made his senseless remarks about Russell Crow, you PONDERED. And when that part of your process was completed.....you PROCLAIMED.

OBSERVE

PONDER

PROCLAIM

I am down with O.P.P.

There I sat, in my bread truck, rushing through scenarios like........

Can you Observe and just move on to proclaiming?

Or can you simply skip the first 2 steps and soley  

Why Poets Don't Become Famous.......

I get it.....

There's not many things worse than a baker telling the entire poetry community about a flaw in their system that nobody seems to notice, but I'm going to take a chance, and risk severing a few potential friendships to shed insight that I am betting will help my friends who love verse.

To start off, this post isn't aimed at those of you who are happy to sit down and write poems for fun, but instead I am talking out loud in front of those poets who harbor asperations of reading in front of large audiences.

Or any audience for that matter.

The Test -

Saturday Night Live

Jay Leno

Conan O'Brian

David Letterman

Every Other Show That Has Held National Swag

If you look at the venues listed overhead and make a list as to who has preformed on these programs, you might come up with something like this..................

Musicians

Actors

Politicians

Acrobats

Athletes

Animal Trainers

Chefs

Tattoo Artists

Etc-Etc

The list goes on, but its not very often, or ever that you'll find poets on these programs.

In a way this boggles me.

It seems wrong.

So after thinking about this for awhile, I rendered my clothes, shaved my head and rubbed ashes on my face as I journeyed into the wasteland to find out......

Why can't poets have commercial succsess?

I would love to tell you about the veil opening and angels hovering above, whispering truth into my ears, but I'm guessing you might not buy that so instead.......

Let me just blurt out the answer.................

PRODUCTION VALUE

That's correct, production value.

Most poets simply don't have any.

Bono has sunglasses

Michael Jordon a basketball and a wicked vertical

Snooki sells sex- flesh -additude and parties

In closing, what I;'m really trying to get across here is, I really love watching poets present live.

Theres nothing I would love more than poetry holding it's own with the other arts.

But when I think how for every literary reading theres 20 concerts, 42 sporting events, 8 cooking demo's.....it makes me wonder if we poets shouldn't discuss how PRODUCTION VALUE creates oppurtunity, because it adds to people entertainment.

I'm not sure I have the answer to how one incorperates production values into poetry, but I am guessing that I am going to start later this month by incorperating a bad a** wardrobe into my set, and adding on from there.

Have a good weekend guys, and if you have thoughts on the topic, I would love to hear them.

Bob Dylan VS Finley

Just the other night I attended the Bob Dylan concert with my wife.

During the intermission I ran into Finley and his son.

In a way it seemed almost surreal.

Mike and I have had, oh I don't know....like maybe a 1/2 million Bob Dylan conversations.

And now.....all these years later, the 3 of us were in the same room.

I didn't know what to expect from Bob at one of his concerts, I had never seen him perform before.

But truth be told, I was kinda surprised that he did "Tangled Up In Blue" for his 4th song of the night, after all....it is not only his greatest song, but in my opinion, the finest song that's ever been recorded.

As I sat back letting all this sink in, I had to smile remembering a conversation that I once had with Mike.....

Klecko - Ya know, what's the odds that 2 of the best songs ever would make it onto the same album?

Finley - Huh?

Klecko - I'm talking about "Blood On The Tracks" since it has both Tangled Up In Blue and Shelter From The Storm.

Finley - Those are both good songs, but I'm not sure they can even be considered as the greatest song ever recorded when they are not even the best song on the album.

Klecko - Huh?

Finley - Just go home and listen to the last song on the album "Bucket Of Tears" and you will know what I'm talking about.

Who is Who?

Finley would be John........

I'm Paul.

SEE SEE SEE CRY

So here's the deal, It was last week, I'm sitting around thinking as to whether or not I should head over to the Subtext bookstore for a Saint Paul Almanac show.

This event fell on a Thursday, and Thursday is Project Runway....so now I had to pit my love for Heidi Klum against the Twin Cities literary peeps.

Next I pull out my droid and dial Finley's number, Mike insists I go to the show, and the 2 of us were to meet up across the street at W.A. Frost.

Just before I hung up the phone, I refreshed Finley's memory......

"Don't forget to bring me that Ezra Pound complete works....please."

Tick Tock goes the clock and whoosh...within moments I am pulling open the heavy wooded doors that will let me pass into Saint Paul's most expensive cocktail lounge.

As I sidled up to the bar, I could of swore I saw a ghost....there was Finley leaning forward on his bar stool.

He had a beer in his left hand and a paper back in the right.

This might not seem like much of a deal to you, but if you are a friend of Finley, you can attest to the fact that Mike is never, never ever the first of 2 friends to arrive to a meeting point.

More often than not he slides in with a smirk while you're just ordering your second Stella.

So now that I know that the world is tilted I ask to see the book.

Mike hands it to me.....

THE CONFUCIAN ODES by EZRA POUND

I picked it up, opened it....and all the poems seemed like a Chinese version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Elven poems.

I shrieked in silence.

Now Finley takes the book back, utters blasphemy and then confesses......

"It wasn't the book that I intended to bring, b-u-t.....in some ways maybe that will be to your advantage. This book has one of the most beautiful poems in it of all time.....

THE RIVER MERCHANTS WIFE!

Then my mentor begins thumbing through the book with attitude....

"What the hell? this book doesn't even have a table of contents....I don't know maybe this book isn't all that good, but you know, it wouldn't kill you to study the Chinese poets. Look at this book....Ezra Pound translated the whole thing. Can you imagine that?

And one thing you have to remember about Pound is that he came from the armpit of Idaho. He wasn't connected or a networking genius....but this book probably is."

Then Finley kinda presses the book to his chest and I began to wonder if he truly let me leave with it.

"You know Klecko....the Chinese poets had probably the best formula any poet could use....
SEE SEE SEE CRY."

I took a sip of my beer all slack jawed and continued listening to the master........

"Yeah, those Chinese poets were really cool. SEE SEE SEE CRY, that's how they always did it."

Now Barkeep comes and hands us each another beer without us asking for one.

Finley continued..........

"SEE SEE SEE CRY. When Chinese poets wrote their poems, most often they wrote man to man. Their culture found it more romantic than the standard loves poems that the rest of the world engaged in. Instead one guy would stand on a mountain top and tell this other guy friend how sick he was over the fact that the other friend was leaving the mountain and now the two of them wouldn't be able to participate in their daily routines together.

Most of the times when this is being explained, the poet explaining it is on a horse and his horse stands high in the air and leans back."

Finley actually jumped off the stool to give me the visual....

"And the the friend who would be leaving would wail in sorrow, and he was usually on a horse too, and his horse would neigh like hell."

"SEE SEE SEE CRY" I said.

"Yep" Finley responded. In many ways that's kinda a theme that you try to write with.

I looked at my cell phone to see how much time was left before the show started.

The Barkeep brought our tab and strategically set it down right between Finley and I.

With the hands of a Ninja.....Mike slid the tab in front of me and swung around.

As he made his way across the bar, he announced it one more time for everybody to hear.....

"SEE SEE SEE CRY."