Fresh poetic statement.

Because I need one that doesn't make me cringe when I look at it.

--

A body of work should create its own world, which takes on a life of its own. This world can be fantastic and surreal, but should bear a significant relationship to reality, whether in striving to resemble it or setting up in opposition to it. This is similar to Frankfurt's distinction between lies and bullshit: lies still stand in relation to truth, whereas bullshit disregards truth altogether.

The world in the body of work catches fire with a divine spark of truth. It can be a funhouse mirror, casting jaded and distorted likenesses back into our retinas. It can illuminate things that we dare not look at and hold us there, transfixed. It can soften the blow by showing us beautiful things that persist by grace.

Done rightly, it should sound internal silver bells of recognition and clarity.

The world can have mystery, beauty, darkness, ghosts, and passion. The world can have horror and moral outrage. It can contain utopias that shine brilliantly for a few hours or days before collapsing into dystopias. It can sharpen a dull knife into a piercing fear. It can make fun of us. It can have compassion on us. It can try to intercede on our behalf to God, with unknown results. It can be vengeance and wish fulfillment. It can breathe, play, pray. It can evolve and revolve around some author's unknown whims. It can be a book of Psalms. It can stand on its soapbox and denounce relational poverty. It can conspiratorially let us in on the joke.

The world, having taken on a life of its own, should have us frantically flipping pages back and forth to make translucent, spiderweb connections. It should alternately make us forget the physicality of the object we are holding, and then flaunt it. It should show us the virtues of places, times, and things we would otherwise ignore.

---

This is what poetry can do, but I am not sure if I can make mine do it.

From the mid-semester portfolio. I finally found it!
I'm not sure if this works as a title. It is a line from a rough draft of the long philosophy poem.

she becomes a test case of what true religion is

We need a face and hands to mediate this: women are commanded to be silent.
Please listen: does that verse really mean--
Yes, you've been endless trouble since you could read.
Your lyrics are dishonorable. If you will not be reticent, the marriage is off.
I can't argue against God on your side. I trusted you completely.
Universals work in my favor, so why should I explain otherwise? Truth is convenience and power.
Oh, Lord, he doesn't care what you say. Please save me.
Help me--
No. Did you expect this to be like one of your damned books? Clean the dirt off your face.
Wash off that blood. You are his burden now.

I am devoted. I will judge with truth.
They may be right, but their hearts are cold. They deny us our mediators. Lend them your light while you can, because the day will come when a wall separates us forever. If it is any consolation, God knows how much of your blood is on their hands.

Fingers brushed the edge of his robe. He could be touched.
We need a face and hands to mediate this.

First poetic statement

Everything in the world is in a state of deterioration, or slipping away. Theologically, this phenomenon stems from the moment creation and mankind fell. Everything struggles to be born in a state of peril.

Faith, in practice, is a stunted and stuttering motion, like dancing with sprained, broken, and bruised limbs. Our perception of reality, also, is like looking through dusty window panes or murky water.

There must be an effort to connect to previous generations of writers and thinkers; failing to do so is arrogant, disregarding all previous human experience as totally irrelevant to myself, now. Poetry can, and should, whenever possible, be informed / enriched / transformed by studying others.

Version 2

a philosophical commune edited the gospel to suit their theology because exclusivity was another attraction. they held ancient gods responsible for cycling of things do not create something from nothing.

these form a list of abominations
and counterfeit virtues:

we have no idea what we see,
needing scriptures for credibility.

matter was irreformable. fatalistic.


who teaches men to be fathers?
washing would incur even greater guilt.

who is the intermediary who shows us how to live?



does philosophy really dissolve those fetters?

rebind and rediscover.
sacraments are heart turns-


envy has a social aspect
the human city cannot save itself
even in its exilic condition
religion steps in to ease away this resentment,
of communities that fail because of disordered passions.
the wrong kinds of individuals

pregnancy is divine
they aren't sure it's physically their child
love is praiseworthy because of the benefits it yields
children are one result of love, but virtue is better



why is love depicted as desolate?
between understanding and ignorance
between mortal and immortal,
we cannot manipulate it

this good produces happiness
possessing that good forever
yearning for immortality is built in

understand our lives in a form other than narrative
if we became bored, maybe it isn't good
aren't things good because they are fleeting?
the good thing hasn't changed. you have.



this is how we "know" what something is
too simple, cannot be classified by parts or characteristics
therefore cannot be known.

an intermediate step toward no account of concrete love,
distance doesn't commit to anyone


a desire to distort the truth
friends can be dangerous
no passions distorted his judgment
and the person knows it isn't good

account for the inclination to turn away:
objects of love become bitter apart from God
then the soul becomes aware
exposes to us the existing misery
the theater showcases our perversity
what does the rest look like?

to be loved without these pitfalls
he needs to turn away from the mutable world

no lack of freedom
can put order into their love
we need salvation from this creature weakness
we need to reconcile our loves.


he falls off the ascent
makes promises he cannot keep

he orders all other sciences
to see what happiness is

animals can't
come crashing down

downward until God draws us back in
"I loved my fall"

no principle to evaluate
friendship is gratuitous
when speaking of all relationships as friendships
doesn't love himself befriend others?

you can make anyone blame this seeming discontent with modern acquaintances.
the matrix of friendship won't dismiss the idiosyncratic things that would separate us.
people are too weak and inconstant to nourish it into true virtue.
only invitation to grieve. care for the old.

no account needed to be confronted and modified
more questions can be incomplete

transforming providential rule created this knowledge in us
freedom is not necessarily the ability to choose

Coming up next...

Stay tuned for puzzle pieces, Polaroids, and Ferris wheels.

Sample cover letter.

Don't know how not to sound like a dork; keeping it short and sweet, here goes:


Dear Sarah Mangold,

Hi, I'm a student of Grant Jenkins who has just taken his Advanced Poetry Writing class at the University of Tulsa. He showed us a copy of Bird Dog, which I enjoyed particularly for the visual art.

My work combines poetry and photography by placing words on top of images. I am submitting "Deep," "Signs," "Post," "Arrow," and "Fence."

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Crystal

Card spread.

My favorite thing about this method is the fact that I can't contrive the results. On the scanner bed I had to place the card fragments down first, then the intact cards. I could not see the outcome until I had done the scan, which is fun.

--
ence of
Ethics
cm.
dialogue by
in re-
rality
includes bib .dex Psychology
oral
lat
human life by
Library of Congress
ethics
rences
body
ing of
1. Man
2. Act
book of readings
OkTu
1/26/33