tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post117150752969276075..comments2023-10-08T04:31:20.162-04:00Comments on The Secret Thread: Literature & Spiritual Life: Duke Altum's Poetry Workshop (Poem of the Week #47)Duke Altumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17494561267128023739noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post-1171749996027919612007-02-17T17:06:00.000-05:002007-02-17T17:06:00.000-05:00Thanks for your generous praises and feedback Mutt...Thanks for your generous praises and feedback Mutt! It is gratifying especially to think that "it is getting easier to recognize" one of my poems -- I would love for that to be the case, either now or one day down the road... as we've talked about before, to me the great challenge of poetry is to say something about universal themes -- things that everyone can be touched by or relate to -- in a way that's somehow utterly new and different. Only the very best poets can achieve that, but it is an interesting and rewarding (and sometimes frustrating) thing to try. When you think about it, it is very, very difficult to say something about a tragic accident like this that hasn't already been said by countless believers and/or non-believers before you. But maybe you can say something not necessarily new in a way that strikes people in a way they haven't been struck before. I would't go so far as to say I've definitely done that here, but that was the high bar I was aiming to clear. No one faults the pole vaulter for taking a shot at the world record...Duke Altumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17494561267128023739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post-1171621716396652382007-02-16T05:28:00.000-05:002007-02-16T05:28:00.000-05:00Man, i've been trying to get Duke to do this for e...Man, i've been trying to get Duke to do this for eons......now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!! Since this blog is a forum for and about literature, I see no reason, as my novel excerpts attest, why we can't use it as a means of getting our own literary efforts out there as well and soliciting comments. I am super-psyched that not only did Duke finally post one of his own poems out here, but he posted his latest work, a poem which demonstrates where he is at the current moment in terms of his development as a poet. <BR/><BR/>Duke is slowly developing a more focused and accomplished eye and ear for poetry, as I told him offline, and this new poem is a demonstration of that. I heard about the indicent he has written about here in the news, but as we might expect from a poet, Duke has taken this terrible tragedy and spun it into an interesting and insightful direction with this reflection on his own situation as a father and his own faith. <BR/><BR/>Note the elegant lyricism too of some of Duke's lines here: 'the same God whose breath buffets the sparrow's wing'; 'the hyperborean flood of death/engulfs the heart'; the way Duke's sons 'scintillate' his life 'with miracle every day'. As someone who lives with children who do similar things, I can attest that this is a father's awe and love for his kids beautifully expressed here by Duke. <BR/><BR/>Nonetheless it is the superb title (which i had to look up but which means a kind of defense of one's faith in the face of the world's evils) and the concept of the poem here that is the most exciting because it reveals a pattern emerging in Duke's poems. He has steeped himself steadily over the years in his Catholic and Christian tradition and in the work of great Christian thinkers and writers. At the same time hsi interest has grown gradually in poetry and he has made a personal study of great poets as well. As a result I think Duke is forming a unique perspective that combines his spiritual insights, his life experience as a DAMNED hard working father and husband, and that poetic eye and ear I mentioned earlier. It's getting easier to spot a "Duke Altum" poem: lines about grace and every day miracles, sprinkled through with references to the great Christian thinkers and artists that came before us, and enriched with the silently accumulating wisdom that is God's gift to those men of the world who work hard, pray, listen, love and protect their families, and stay humble. <BR/><BR/>I praise and encourage Duke for sharing his poetry here.Mutt Ploughmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07886850428991826645noreply@blogger.com