David Cherry's blog

Notes on Parenthood, Wistfulness and Melancholy

Submitted by David Cherry on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 10:31am

Detail for Melancholia by Albrecht DurerWistful. 

A damn fine word . . . a first rate word, in fact . . . evocative . . . almost onomatopoeic . . . a word to conjure with . . . a word to get lost in . . . a word you can't really grasp until you've got a few rings under your bark . . . or until you've dropped off your daughter for her first day of high school

Poetry-to-Go: Podcasts

Submitted by David Cherry on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 4:22pm

Graphic desigh by dcherryIt is hard to argue that there has been a more lasting and world-altering piece of technology than the good old ink and paper book. Once the machinery for its mass-production was developed, dogmas of all stripes were doomed and a more or less perpetual process of cultural transformation churned into motion.

Unsolicited Advice and Other Things You Don't Want to Hear

Submitted by David Cherry on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 9:17am

Photo Credit:Untitled Photograph [Woman Writing] by Mr. StabileToday I want to address the would-be poets out there. More specifically, I want to offer some advice to all of you who have ink coursing through your veins, but who can't find: a) the time b) your voice c) your muse d) your pen.

The Lay of the Land: Poetry and Landscape

Submitted by David Cherry on Thu, 08/05/2010 - 7:36am

Shift by Slack PicsIn this city where the only elevations are office towers and freeway overpasses, and where a cement-lined ditch is called a bayou, it is easy to forget that there are places in the world full of snow-capped things and cold, clear, running things, not to mention dewy, meadowy-type things and gently rolling things.

Full of Sound and Fury: Poets as Playwrights

Submitted by David Cherry on Sat, 07/17/2010 - 5:45pm

Photo Credit: Chimp Does Hamlet by King Chimp / Riley BobThe verse drama has gone the way of the affordable cup of coffee and unironic mustaches and I'm not sure why. It seems to me that the inherent artificiality of a stage production in this age of hyperrealistic entertainment should push playwrights to experiment with language in more interesting ways than they do. As it is, the limitations of the stage place the bulk of a production's weight on its dialogue. Why shouldn't playwrights seek a language that shoulders past the sputtering rhythms of everyday speech into the realm of the poetic?

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