Published on
March 20, 2008 in
Thoughts.
I’m finally getting around to reading Spivak’s translation of Derrida’s Of Grammatology, and I’m highly impressed by the clarity and complexity with which she manages to tackle this most difficult of literary theorists.
I’ve always been intrigued by the way in which a writer, to some extent, deconstructs his/her own creation while simultaneously creating it. Or, that failing, deconstructs his/her creation in the process of editing—laying bare, in the best circumstances, those contradictions or moments of failure within a piece that demand further examination, and in which reconciliation with the remainder of the text seems never fully possible. I’ve always felt that these actions are somehow linked to the influence our unconscious has on work. For me, these unconscious drives are often what “propels” a piece forward, causing seemingly unrelated images, moments, and ideas to suddenly appear, cryptically linked, on the same page. Spivak’s summary of this process is helpful to my own understanding of this phenomenon:
“As we recall, at the time that a stimulus is received, it goes either into the perceptual system or into the Unconscious and produces a permanent trace. That particular trace might be energized into consciousness…long afterward…but it never comes up as such; in fact, as Derrida argues, following Freud, the trace [die Bahnung] is primary. There is no “thing” there in the Unconscious but simply the possibility for this particular path to be energized. When the track is opened up, and we have the après coup perception of the originary trace, the impulse in the Unconscious is not exhausted. Unconscious impulses are indestructible” (Of Grammatology, lxxxi-lxxxii).
I’m fascinated by the phrase “the possibility for this particular path to be energized.” For me, it’s one of the clearest articulations of how the writing process occurs—-by entering a creative space, we open this possibility “after the fact,” and are given the chance to place on paper not an experience, not an accurate representation of an experience, but the “trace” of some distant experience, of which the impulse to communicate, to come forth, is as necessary as life and death for the artist.
Published on
March 19, 2008 in
Event.
I’ll be reading at this month’s Tongue & Groove in Hollywood! Come out and hear some of the poems that will be appearing in my book and, hopefully, some newer ones too.
Tongue & Groove is a great monthly reading series run by Conrad Romo. He puts together really eclectic and fresh line-ups each month, with all types of writers, all styles. It also happens to be at a beautiful venue, the Hotel Cafe.
So come on out and join me. I’d love to see you all. The full info and line-up below.
********
Sunday 3/30, 6 pm
Tongue & Groove
at
the Hotel Cafe
1623-1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, CA (Cahuenga and Hollywood, pretty much)
Featuring:
Kim Calder (who’s to say what’s home), Joshuah Bearman (McSweeney’s, Harper’s, This American Life), Gary Phillips (Citizen Kang), Dana Johnson (Break Any Woman Down)
music by Izzy Cox
On the publication of who’s to say what’s home.
I’m beyond excited to announce that my first collection of poems will be available next month!
It’s strange how these things come about.
My life in New York in 2006 was fairly routine—-at 4 am, I’d leave the bar, get on the subway, and manage to make my way home (eventually, due to the frequent “naps” I often involuntarily took on my return journey). One such night, after crawling my way up five flights of stairs and into my apartment, I sat down at my computer, clicked the wrong icon on my desktop, and accidentally signed into an ancient instant messaging application I hadn’t used in years. Before I could remedy the error, a long-lost friend and fellow poet, Chiwan Choi, greeted me.
Chi told me he’d been trying to reach me for some time—-he and his wife, Judy, were launching a publishing company called Writ Large Press, and they wanted to publish my work.
I had no idea how much that night would change my life. Before I knew it, I was on my way home to L.A., and on my way to realizing a lifelong dream.
This is a book that means the world to me. I’ve come a long way, and through a lot, during its creation and publication. I’m delighted to be able to finally share it with the world, and so grateful to everyone who’s believed in me, inspired me, and helped to make this possible.
