Post by mireill35 on May 21, 2012 22:19:08 GMT -5
Joseph Campana was born in Johnston, New York, where he grew up among the base of the Adirondack Mountains. Compared to former Johnston residents, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the leading women's rights activist in the 1850's, and Robert Fulton, the inventor of the first commercial steamboat, it is no surprise that Campana grew to be a biting social critic. Educated at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and Cornell University, he has degrees in literature that led him to teach Renaissance literature at Kenyon College, Ohio and creative writing at Rice University. A self-proclaimed Renaissance man, he has published poems for various mediums and has two collections of poetry titled The Book of Faces and Natural Selections.
Despite a lack of grandeur that prominent poets such as the critic Hoagland receives, Campana's basis for poetry has been the exploration of obsession. The most obvious form as been the lauding of Audrey Hepburn. In The Book of Faces, he gives various angles to his idol. At some moments, he will compulsively exalt her as "comfort is in nothing but you", but instead can shift to a breaking of the fourth wall since "this is / another damned Audrey Hepburn poem. / Why the hell are you still with me?” as a self-criticism of his more than obsessive tribute to her. Even more compelling is his claim "you let me in, you've let me ruin my life. I'm glad" that exemplifies the dangerousness that his obsession has on the user. Ultimately, it is an experiment, and he refuses to be confided to a single style, and will adopt other forms, such as sonnets, waltzes, and even a simple picture poem in the shape of the letter "A". This is his goal, to adopt all angles of his research, rather than take a singular stance, so as best to explore all facets.
However, his primary function as a poet is to serve as a social critic. While some may call him a cynic, his ideas are much more refined and beautiful. Take for example the fawn. Campana, in his aptly titled poem Fawn, adopts the supposed mindset of a fawn as it is about to run over by a car. At first glance, this is a horrible sentiment, but a real purpose behind it is the release from "all the fear around me and I have no idea whose fear it must be" that develops from such a survival-of-the-fittest environment. Some, like the fawn, are inevitably left to survive in fear of something stronger. In the economic system that is prevalent to this day and age, he relates the desire to be free from this struggle for survival. In fact, he has a 10-part plan based of Audrey Hepburn's rise to stardom, in which his main points are to "test your luck" and "move to Switzerland for tax purposes". His critique of this nature gives evidence to the way society has become dog-eat-dog world, rather than the common good. This leaves society as "some straggling city: no corn no green in sight" in which the people have become so divided and self-centered that he feels it necessary to "snap your cabled hands out of the invisible lie".
Joseph Campana represents the way in which poetry can be used to examine problems that exist today. With regards to his exploration of obsession, he shows how it can be a positive motivator for "the lengths I got to", but can just as well be destructive it becomes "who is the master and who is the slave". He offers no cure for such detriments, nor practice to alleviate such causes, but mainly serves as an observer an analyst rather than offer a prescription. This is an commendable course of action for such a talented poet because he not only will display an array of knowledge, but leaves the reader open to make the own decision. It is therefore the reason that he can achieve this goal of adopting all facets to the focus because he allows himself to remain detached from giving direction to the reader, and instead will only present him with a multitude of emotions and thorough images as opposed to a personal, singular bias.
It is my honor have introduced Joseph Campana, and I endeavor you to keep an open mind to his enlightening thoughts. Without further ado, please welcome Joseph Campana, and to use his words, "Gate if ivory, let me [him] in".
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