(THIRD OF THREE POEMS)
Anteater in an audience of
under-thirties. Metal microphone’s
demonic glint. Guitar on green
rack. Sad songs sing for
yellow-eyed grass to sway to.
Kill me, saccharine sugar. I
allowed myself to
undress my fur and
foreclaws.
Fire burns in the auburn
my species warned
against– a crowd of sadness
no nation’s a stranger to.
James Croal Jackson‘s first autumn 2023 poem for us was “Moment (October).”
His second autumn 2023 poem for us was “Fault.”
A SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEW POP LIT’S NEXT FEATURE
Tyranny doesn’t come in an App
We’ve seen it before
It’s got a moustache and a harsh pair of trousers
It’s old and cold and suffers in silence
All forbidding and grey and indiscriminate violence
It knocks on your door, at four, with a document
And smells of telephone wires and corridors, tobacco and damp pavement
It was in a film with the award-winning actor, he lost a stone to emote in a prison shirt
It was critically acclaimed so they put his hollow bones in a sepia toned aftershave advert
Tyranny doesn’t look like a gurning, groomed comedian
Who has emojis in his bio
And the gait of a hyperactive child
Coming Soon!
NEEDED: An autopsy of American literature. An examination of problems from top to bottom. Not just of the top-heavy hierarchical machine which delivers the art, through various avenues, to the public, but of the art itself.
FIRST must come a recognition that the art in its various forms has problems. Novels, short stories, plays, poems, criticism. That it is in effect dead— or at least on life support.
PREMISE: That American literature was seized by postmodern scoundrels and thieves, who turned the art into this narrow, largely irrelevant piece of delicate historical pottery kept on a shelf in a dusty museum in an obscure corner of the cultural city opened for three hours twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A living art needs to be necessary and vital and it needs to be among the people, part of their everyday myths and memories.
THIS POST is not meant to be pessimistic. On the contrary, it’s optimistic, because with a host of problems comes the opportunity to correct them. To put the literary art back on course, and in so doing, restore its rightful status– its central place in today’s culture.
HOW to do this will be the fun part.
-KW
(toy fort c/o Kid Eco)
WHO ARE the Can’t Do This People?
Answer: Today’s literary intelligentsia and their spokespersons, established literary critics. They’re like generals fighting a previous war, embedded in outmoded attitudes, waiting to be toppled by armies with new ideas and more aggressive tactics.
In short, they leave room for their predictably-positioned rigid regiments to be outflanked.
Room? Wide avenues on either side.
The self-appointed highbrows are terrified of any writing smacking of “masscult” or “midcult,” “middlebrow” (listen to your Virginia Woolf-schoolteacher lessons you studious play-the-game pupils)– or any writing which might potentially become– gasp!– popular! NO! Can’t have that.
Politics? Not.
Melodrama? OUT!
Plot? Complex structure? NO WAY!!
Which provides the simple answer to this question: How to reinvent the literary art? Be willing to try things which the designated literary experts are unwilling to try.
There they sit in their immobile fortress, unable to move. Can anyone knock the fortress down? Unlikely. But one can go around it– and leave its occupants behind, stuck in one spot.
(c/o Regal Toy Soldiers)
-KW
ANOTHER IN A SERIES EXAMINING THE INSIDER LITERARY WORLD
(photo c/o Glamour magazine)
ONE OF the so-called Literary It Girls getting hyped by the decrepit remains of the Manhattan media machine is heiress Allie Rowbottom, author of a much-touted novel, Aesthetica. Yet more autofiction, by all accounts. A depiction of a narcissistic main character, and by extension, today’s culture. Newsflash: we already know about it, are bombarded by narcissism from every corner of electronic media. Do we really want to grovel in the book’s self-absorbed descriptions? A criticism of plastic surgery? Or a celebration of it?
Allie Rowbottom was most recently seen giving skin care advice in the pages of a Manhattan glamor magazine. She reveals she gets Botox injections, may be conflicted about the procedure and other procedures, but receives them anyway. America’s out-of-touch leisure class. Meanwhile, unhinged heavily-armed well-trained potential mass killers roam America from Maine to Texas, waiting to be triggered; wars break out across the globe; bad-guy authoritarians make moves to end any semblance of world peace; tech plutocrats become ever wealthier with new AI schemes (the wealth gap has never been greater) while more people who are unable to make rent or mortgage payments are thrown into the streets. 21st Century Chaos! But hey, Allie Rowbottom has a new novel out about one person’s obsession with her face– powers-that-be in the Insider Literary Realm expect us to run out and buy it.
Widen that wealth gap more? No thanks.
-KW
(photo c/o Jamie Lockhart)
My
cat
sprinting
between feet
in hallway darkness-
mid-stumble, I still am sorry.
James’s most recent poem at Fast Pop Lit was “Moment (October)”
A SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEW POP LIT’S NEXT FEATURE
“Do you remember?” I continued, “I was into the Beatles and all the British Invasion groups that were out then, but you never cared for them. It was difficult for me to understand that you could not see what I saw in those performers. You talked about Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the like. You insisted that I listen to their music and gain an appreciation for their artistry. I felt I knew them well enough since they were who mom and dad listened to. I now had my own stars and their songs dominated my head. Of course, I was sixteen, so I thought my opinions mattered more. I wanted you to understand what ‘my’ singers were talking about. If your favorites sang about love, mine sang about love, but also civil rights and injustice. Wasn’t that more important?”
Coming Soon!
1.) Which would you rather be doing: writing or practicing tai chi?
As much as I enjoy the sense of accomplishment after completing a story, feeling as though I was able to successfully crystallize my emotions, experiences, and imagination into words, I would have to say that I enjoy practicing tai chi more than writing. Writing has never been easy for me. And while learning a new tai chi routine can also be difficult, I am in love with the experience of moving in time to the music, performing in perfect sync with my fellow tai chi classmates, and mastering something physically. It is my burning passion.
2.) Are there a writer or writers whose work you use as a model, or at least as an example of something to strive for?
My favorite writer is James Herriot (true name Alf Wight), the author of the All Creatures Great and Small series. I may fall short, but I always reach for his level of excellence when I write.
3.) What’s your goal as a writer?
My goal as a writer is to capture the wisps of memory and creativity floating around in my head, share them in a way that is clear and melodic, and leave the reader with an understanding that, despite our differences, we can relate to each other through the common experience of being human. I hope that my stories make people feel as though they know me and that I care about making their day a little happier.
XXXXXXX
NOW read Aspen Audley’s feature story at our main site: “White Crane Spreads Its Wings.”
“It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us to escape– not from our own time, for we are bound by that– but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our own time.”
ANOTHER FAST RESPONSE TO JON FOSSE’S NOBEL PRIZE WIN
photo c/o Per Heimly
Once upon a time Vikings pillaged lands and looted cities. Captured hostages. Sailed the oceans. Made discoveries. Fought anybody.
Today they write “literature.”
Bad times everyplace.
-Brett Ferrar
