Bob Lucky was one of the finalists with the following tanka. Here are some questions he answered about his poem and process:
sniffing mimeographed tests all I remember is the smell and __________ .
I enjoy reading writers who play with structure and format, who appropriate a form and use it where it’s not expected, in other words, genre-benders. Some examples include Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?, a narrative of questions only; Alejandro Zambra’s Multiple Choice, a novel (prose poem?) in the form of the Chilean Academic Aptitude Test; and many of the short stories of Donald Barthelme. I occasionally attempt to do such things. This tanka is a nod in that direction.
Well, it’s always a good idea to get a reader’s attention, and smell, certain smells, can trigger strong memories. I suspect only readers of a certain age will have memories of the smell of a freshly mimeographed test, but I’m a writer of a certain age. It’s also a good idea in general to end with a strong image, which is why I settled on an empty fill-in-the-blank, a pure image of sorts. It’s also an invitation to the reader to supply his or her own memory.
This tanka went through several revisions before I settled on that ending, but it was always a tanka. I like the immediacy of that form. The mimeography bit could’ve been used elsewhere and expanded on in a prose poem or a haibun, but that would mean losing that direct connection between the ‘test’ and ‘______ .’.
I don’t think about these things when I’m writing. If I write a decent tanka or even a half- decent tanka, I figure someone else can figure what it contributes to the genre, if anything. However, I do think about form. If you’re going to write a tanka or a sonnet or a ghazal, you have to think about form. Genres and literary forms are like muscles: they need to be exercised and stretched or they’ll atrophy.
I revise a lot. Inspiration, for me, is a matter of observing and listening, of paying attention. A lot of the craftwork is in revision. That’s where I get my kicks.
1 Comment
11/27/2021 10:41:32 am
A good succinct statement of his writing process. Congratulations, Bob, on your continuing good work.
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