Post by chfisch35 on May 21, 2012 5:57:36 GMT -5
At this time, I would like to introduce Mark Doty, a poet who has changed the lives of many. Born in Tennesse in 1953, Doty’s childhood was spent as an itinerant. He never firmly established an identity of himself and of his emerging homosexual nature since he wasn’t rooted in one place. Doty found himself frightened by his own homosexuality and at the age 18, he overcompensated and got married with a woman, only to hastily divorce. Thereafter Doty moved to New York City where he found the love of his life, Wally Roberts. They lived happily in the city for ten years until Roberts died of AIDs, leaving Doty devastated. At this time, Doty had been writing poetry, but Roberts’s death served as a central event in Doty’s life and poetry.
It was at this time that Doty wrote some of the deepest, most emotional poems about the “human condition”, and the passage of time. Gaining recognition for poems at this time, his poetry started coming together, and his brilliance shone through. Gaining momentum throughout the 90’s with works such as My Alexandria, which was published in 1993, and won the National Poetry Series contest. He also won the prestigious T.S. Eliot prize, making him the only American to do so. In a review for My Alexandria, The Los Angeles Times said that Doty “Has the courage to extract beauty out of the living moments created by death.”
It is a unique talent of Doty’s to find beauty in anything- ugly, awful, significant or banal. Doty’s most popular publication, Fire to Fire, published in 2008, flaunted this talent, through a selection of poems new and old that- to paraphrase Newsday- find beauty in a world that can be tragic or simply mundane. Doty shows in “At the Gym” that working out is much more than we see it as. Doty describes the vain, humanly motives of lifting “some burden they’ve chosen”, which is his description of weights. Doty can always strive to find what’s “tender beneath our vanity.”
Doty see’s right through the surface of people, their outer layers. Doty’s classic metaphor of a turtle stuck in its shell, not only relates to his childhood spent locked “in the closet”, but it is also a metaphor that people should not be judged, like the “elaborate sacks of nothing”, or jellyfish in his poem “Difference.” Here, Doty shows that the far-reaching differences in humans are what make the race exciting, and tolerable.
Now the author of 11 volumes of poetry, and 5 non-fiction memoirs, Doty has an impressive body of work with much cohesion. Some qualities are exhibited throughout all of Doty's works. Quite notably, has a voice that calls for change, but his voice is that of a distant observer. Although he may be a character in his poems, Doty is never in control of the events, rather he is hyper-analyzing a happening, and effectively teasing apart every possible aspect. Doty’s poem “Golden Retrievals” explores how dogs live in the now, while humans dwell on the past and future. Mark’s job is to “unsnare time’s warp” and
Doty’s style is free-verse and original; he shapes his style to mirror his poems, and some poems are neat and meticulous, while others are free and wild. Doty prides himself in always finding the perfect word to convey a feeling. In Doty’s world tattoo artists hold “dreaming needles”, jellyfish resemble “rolled condoms”, and dogs don’t bark, they let out “a Zen master’s bronzy gong.” I never before enjoyed poetry, but after reading Fire to Fire I have been transformed. Doty has shown me that poetry can convey and invoke thoughts and feelings that nothing else can. Doty is an amazing poet, and his constant stream of fabulous poetry shows us that “Nothing gold can stay apart from any other.”
Without keeping you wait any longer, I present to you a man who has changed my life, along with many others, Mark Doty.
It was at this time that Doty wrote some of the deepest, most emotional poems about the “human condition”, and the passage of time. Gaining recognition for poems at this time, his poetry started coming together, and his brilliance shone through. Gaining momentum throughout the 90’s with works such as My Alexandria, which was published in 1993, and won the National Poetry Series contest. He also won the prestigious T.S. Eliot prize, making him the only American to do so. In a review for My Alexandria, The Los Angeles Times said that Doty “Has the courage to extract beauty out of the living moments created by death.”
It is a unique talent of Doty’s to find beauty in anything- ugly, awful, significant or banal. Doty’s most popular publication, Fire to Fire, published in 2008, flaunted this talent, through a selection of poems new and old that- to paraphrase Newsday- find beauty in a world that can be tragic or simply mundane. Doty shows in “At the Gym” that working out is much more than we see it as. Doty describes the vain, humanly motives of lifting “some burden they’ve chosen”, which is his description of weights. Doty can always strive to find what’s “tender beneath our vanity.”
Doty see’s right through the surface of people, their outer layers. Doty’s classic metaphor of a turtle stuck in its shell, not only relates to his childhood spent locked “in the closet”, but it is also a metaphor that people should not be judged, like the “elaborate sacks of nothing”, or jellyfish in his poem “Difference.” Here, Doty shows that the far-reaching differences in humans are what make the race exciting, and tolerable.
Now the author of 11 volumes of poetry, and 5 non-fiction memoirs, Doty has an impressive body of work with much cohesion. Some qualities are exhibited throughout all of Doty's works. Quite notably, has a voice that calls for change, but his voice is that of a distant observer. Although he may be a character in his poems, Doty is never in control of the events, rather he is hyper-analyzing a happening, and effectively teasing apart every possible aspect. Doty’s poem “Golden Retrievals” explores how dogs live in the now, while humans dwell on the past and future. Mark’s job is to “unsnare time’s warp” and
Doty’s style is free-verse and original; he shapes his style to mirror his poems, and some poems are neat and meticulous, while others are free and wild. Doty prides himself in always finding the perfect word to convey a feeling. In Doty’s world tattoo artists hold “dreaming needles”, jellyfish resemble “rolled condoms”, and dogs don’t bark, they let out “a Zen master’s bronzy gong.” I never before enjoyed poetry, but after reading Fire to Fire I have been transformed. Doty has shown me that poetry can convey and invoke thoughts and feelings that nothing else can. Doty is an amazing poet, and his constant stream of fabulous poetry shows us that “Nothing gold can stay apart from any other.”
Without keeping you wait any longer, I present to you a man who has changed my life, along with many others, Mark Doty.