In today’s Poetry on the Page. Northern Illinois University professor Amy Newman and WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose explore how certain poetic elements could create magic.
Yvonne:
Hi, Amy, how are you today?
Amy:
Hi, Yvonne. What's going on?
Yvonne:
Nothing much. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Poetry on the Page. Amy, what have you been reading?
Amy
Well, Yvonne, I have a little book I've been carrying around this week, I wanted to ask you, if you like magic?
Yvonne:
I don't really get into much of magic based on the fact that my mom studies with Jehovah's Witnesses. So, growing up, I was never a Jehovah's Witness, but that was something she always talked against.
Amy:
Right and magic tricks, right? Because it sounds like a trick. It's not a good thing. I get that. I actually do like magic tricks. But when I think about what the Jehovah's Witnesses say, it does make me think like, I know, I'm being fooled. And I really, I like tricks where magicians make things appear and disappear. But I know it's an illusion. And I know it's not real.
But then I when I think about it, that's sometimes why I appreciate poetry, which is kind of magical. Images that poetry might make you see something in your mind that wasn't there before. And I like Elizabeth Bishop's quote about poetry. She says, "When I, if I read a good poem, and the world looks like that poem for 24 hours afterwards, I know it's a good poem.” It makes me think that the poetry has an effect on us and transforms us. So, I guess that is a kind of a trick.
Yvonne:
I like that. No, I can agree because even as a poet, I want to invoke something in people when I write or when they read or hear my words.
Amy:
How’s your mom feel about that? I’m just kidding.
Yvonne:
Well, I will never tell her that poetry can be magic, because then she may not want to hear my poetry anymore. So, we're not going to.
Amy:
Yeah, don’t play this one for her. Because I think of poetry as incantatory. You know, the sound of it can really put a spell on you. And I think maybe one of all the techniques that poetry has the technique of metaphor, the technique of simile, those I think, are the most magical. Do you like metaphor?
Yvone:
I do. As a matter of fact, I received a poem today from one of my Poetically Yours contributors. Her name is Kellie Joy out of Utah. And in her poem, she wrote, “You are my fire,” And I thought that can mean so much. When I think about fire, and if she's talking about it in a romantic way, it's like, "you are my warmth. You are my passion. You are the thing that gets me up and going."
Amy:
Yeah, that is a beautiful metaphor. My favorite that I think of is from Amy Gerstler’s poem, “Christine,” from her book, The True Bride. She writes about in high school when a boy touched her blouse. She says,
to turn
That's why I'm loving this little collection I wanted to talk about today. It's called Spellbound: Poems of Magic and Enchantment, and it's published by Knopf this year, in an Everyman's edition, which is a small edition, it's a pocket poets’ edition, which is such a cute size you can carry your magic everywhere.
And here's a poem by Amanda Auchter called “The Magician's Girl.”
The Magician’s Girl
This is what will be left of me
when I die: bones, slices of body, two parts
that will never reconcile. Halved in a box,
all spangles and boas, my fringed gold skirt.
Handfuls of dirt, glitter, a feather. I will
remember a saw in midair, light-struck,
how my legs spun from my arms, the round
of applause. The magician who tapped
the air, my rise from smoke. This is where
it will all end: stage and magic, canary flutter,
someone’s awful scream. Later, the mirror,
the dressing room, the cotton ball stained.
Graveside, even my skin is a prop —
the harlequin scarves
of my voice still trapped up his sleeve.
Yvonne:
Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Amy. It's always a pleasure to talk to you about poetry.
Amy:
Same here, Yvonne. Thanks for having me.
