Ted, I particularly like this comment... "Poetry likes the rhythms of your body and the movements of your body. I realized that, for me as a poet, the more physical intelligence I could put in my poems, the better they were." This to me is connected with your recent writing about music as a physical thing rather than an intellectual thing. When I am playing music, I'm always moving, swaying, tapping my foot - never mind the physical acts of placing fingers on the strings or drawing the bow. That "physical intelligence" is an integral part of any music, or at least any music with soul.
Thank you for showcasing your brother. I have a sister, the same age as Dana, and she is also a genius beyond anything you would believe, even if I told you the same story 10 times. I listen to her for writing advice because she has far more lived experience, humor, and business savvy than even the brightest of youngsters in the online writing game. There is something special about writers who accomplished a lot and got advanced degrees from Harvard and Stanford BEFORE the internet, before email, before spell checkers, and certainly before ChatGPT.
One of your best articles. "Poetry likes that kind of intelligence. Poetry likes the rhythms of your body and the movements of your body. I realized that, for me as a poet, the more physical intelligence I could put in my poems, the better they were." hit really hard.
I completely agree about getting outside for a hard reset. Whatever I was struggling with is usually cleared up after hacking away at some over growth or spreading a fresh coat of mulch.
I lived in Sonoma County for many years. My kids were born there. When I saw the picture with your brother and the trees, I got flash backs from home, something very familiar and personal about the landscape.
Beautiful. Amazing how the mind draws inspiration from the movements of the body. No wonder why the likes of Murakami and Vonnegut have always incorporated physical labor into their daily routines. Writers are as much creatures of their bodies as they are of their minds.
Fine insights. The idea of physical work = idea processing has been a tenet of two other poets I admire -- Philip Levine and Jim Harrison. And working for a living (thanks Huey Lewis!) brings with it a grounding nothing else can equal. Cormac McCarthy opined that our brain resents language as a fairly recent overlay to our species' interactions. According to a S. African linguist, human vowel and consonant sounds may have shown up a mere 70,000 years ago. Neanderthals appeared 180,000 years earlier. So Dana's idea of image gradually replacing spoken or written words may just signal another change for our kind.
Speaking of your family, what do you think went into the writing bug and skill?
For myself, now I write weekday daily columns on psychiatry and society for Psychiatric Times, counting over 600 now. They seem to come to me as a vessel. Some call that divine inspiration.
Finally I was able to watch and listen to all three+ hours of this amazing interview. But now I will listen again, take notes, read more authors he mentions, start seriously listening to opera. Great interviewer but wish this were on some physical media. It just does not end with him.
Wonderful advice about letting the unconscious operations of the mind work out the most difficult problems. It makes perfect sense, because our unconscious operations have the most experience after all. And nothing beats experience for wisdom. Ask the ancients. Thank you for this.
Ted, I particularly like this comment... "Poetry likes the rhythms of your body and the movements of your body. I realized that, for me as a poet, the more physical intelligence I could put in my poems, the better they were." This to me is connected with your recent writing about music as a physical thing rather than an intellectual thing. When I am playing music, I'm always moving, swaying, tapping my foot - never mind the physical acts of placing fingers on the strings or drawing the bow. That "physical intelligence" is an integral part of any music, or at least any music with soul.
The Gioias are the first family of American arts & culture.
This showed up at exactly the moment I most needed it. Thank you so much, and thank your brother and the interviewer!
Thank you for showcasing your brother. I have a sister, the same age as Dana, and she is also a genius beyond anything you would believe, even if I told you the same story 10 times. I listen to her for writing advice because she has far more lived experience, humor, and business savvy than even the brightest of youngsters in the online writing game. There is something special about writers who accomplished a lot and got advanced degrees from Harvard and Stanford BEFORE the internet, before email, before spell checkers, and certainly before ChatGPT.
I love this. Sharing an excerpt from How to Write Good: A Short, Ten-Step Guide to Better Grammar:
"To aid your pursuits with the pen, I present the below list of ten grammatical edicts.
Though rules are made to be broken, these may well help you right gooder:
1. Don’t ever use contractions.
2. Understatement is the greatest thing of all time.
3. Deftly avoid all adverbs."
Read on here: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/write-good
One of your best articles. "Poetry likes that kind of intelligence. Poetry likes the rhythms of your body and the movements of your body. I realized that, for me as a poet, the more physical intelligence I could put in my poems, the better they were." hit really hard.
Thank you!
I completely agree about getting outside for a hard reset. Whatever I was struggling with is usually cleared up after hacking away at some over growth or spreading a fresh coat of mulch.
I lived in Sonoma County for many years. My kids were born there. When I saw the picture with your brother and the trees, I got flash backs from home, something very familiar and personal about the landscape.
Thanks Ted and Dana
This was a great read, thanks for posting this
Beautiful. Amazing how the mind draws inspiration from the movements of the body. No wonder why the likes of Murakami and Vonnegut have always incorporated physical labor into their daily routines. Writers are as much creatures of their bodies as they are of their minds.
Fine insights. The idea of physical work = idea processing has been a tenet of two other poets I admire -- Philip Levine and Jim Harrison. And working for a living (thanks Huey Lewis!) brings with it a grounding nothing else can equal. Cormac McCarthy opined that our brain resents language as a fairly recent overlay to our species' interactions. According to a S. African linguist, human vowel and consonant sounds may have shown up a mere 70,000 years ago. Neanderthals appeared 180,000 years earlier. So Dana's idea of image gradually replacing spoken or written words may just signal another change for our kind.
Speaking of your family, what do you think went into the writing bug and skill?
For myself, now I write weekday daily columns on psychiatry and society for Psychiatric Times, counting over 600 now. They seem to come to me as a vessel. Some call that divine inspiration.
"One-hour bills" In our wallet. That puts how I manage my day in perspective. Never thought of it that way.
Finally I was able to watch and listen to all three+ hours of this amazing interview. But now I will listen again, take notes, read more authors he mentions, start seriously listening to opera. Great interviewer but wish this were on some physical media. It just does not end with him.
Wonderful advice about letting the unconscious operations of the mind work out the most difficult problems. It makes perfect sense, because our unconscious operations have the most experience after all. And nothing beats experience for wisdom. Ask the ancients. Thank you for this.