Wallace Stevens Bio

Wallace Stevens 1879 –1955

Married to a figure etched, immortalized

In currency. Father to a little girl dreaming of

Ice cream emperors. Or maybe not.

Not only a man, but merely a poet.

He sees, understands, and encompasses

All things, every contradiction within

Himself, within the world. It is he. 

The order, the chaos of creation, which

Is to say the transmutation of forms

The constant metamorphosis to find

What will suffice. To find the thing that speaks

And gives satisfaction, a sound that lingers

Stroking and soothing the wearied ear, normally

Sick, and filled with monotony, tracing a line from

The canal to the mind, the mind to the eyes

Of the soul who wants to see the world, perceive

It, engage with it, restructure and rebuild it,

Stripping away the current buildings and bridges,

The layers of standing lies.  Move the world to

Where it was, to what it was and know it. Feel it.

Sense the emotion, the rocking violence, the hissing

Peacock within, who stands tall and resists the

Overwhelming intelligence, puffing out his

Chest, fluffing his brilliant plumage- the greens

The blues, as well as the shimmering, elusive

Purples, reds and browns. He shakes the feathers

 and reveals reality, the nonsense, the fictions:

the way we live and what we do.

btw- he was an insurance lawyer. 

Project Reflection and presentations and pleasure

I haven't posted a blog in awhile, but scrolling through my blog posts, I noticed about 5 or 6 incomplete drafts. They all started with an idea that exploded into a lot of chaotic baby ideas and then confusion. I really appreciated Eli's(?) presentation and his comments on Stevens' immensity, because I was getting really frustrated with the contradictions and all the directions we could go from his poems.  Too much and so little time.
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, instead of posting blogs, I have been emailing my dad and talking on the phone with him about our class.  It wasn't to the same depth and degree as John Paul- we were taking things pretty lightly and then an idea started to emerge.
My dad is a lawyer, songwriter, writer and actor. When I was 12, he basically taught me how to write-- essays, stories, poems.  He does a lot of serious work, but he always takes pleasure in the things he writes or performs.  He especially loves parody.  When I was in high school, we always talked about doing a parody of children's show. And talking with him about my topic- children and Wallace Stevens, I thought why not do something we had joked about doing that would give pleasure (Because that note really stuck with me) I sent my dad pieces of rough draft script, and he'd send ideas back. I recruited artistic help from my friend, Sam Thomas (I sent her the poem and my concept, and she made some rough draft drawings and then finally a finished product) and help from my sister, Eva, who is a fan of photoshop, my husband Joe to act and at the last minute, I got my mom to make a special appearance in her bathrobe.  I'm basically a people user, but I'm a grateful one. So in case people didn't make it all the way to the credits, all those people I just mentioned deserve some props. 
I'm really thankful I got to do a project like this (and that I had people willing to help), because it was truly a pleasure to make.  I know my dad was so thrilled with it, he posted the first movie draft (without some edits and closed captioning) on Facebook the night we filmed it.  The comments he got on it were like:
"I don't know if I understand. . . " "What?" and "Very nice," "Fun" and Happy Thanksgiving (?).
 That made both of us happy.

Watching final presentations and reading blogs, I just wanted to say that those have been enjoyable too. I especially liked Nate's melding of Peter Pan and Wallace Stevens. It was brilliant- just like the colors of Jenny's paintings. I admire how some people like John Paul and Oranda took this class to such a personal, emotional level--so brave. I love the creativity in the stories from Arielle, Megan Anne. And then some people (Dusty, Breanna James)are just intimidating. And it all makes the last few days fun- pleasurable.