Thanks for the tag, wonderful @street-heart-posts! These are my answers today. They were different yesterday, and they might change again tomorrow ā¦
1. Why do you have this blog? What is the purpose of this blog?
I was simply looking for an online place to share a little writing etc. & more or less accidentally stumbled into Tumblr (which isnāt that big in Norway), surprised & inspired to find so much great poetry & then I heard The Voice saying āGisle, youāre going to write poetry in English from now onā & so I did. Or. Tried too, anyway.
2. What is your opinion of therapy and poetry/writing as a therapeutic tool?
Itās something that I think about as little as possible. I guess Iāve always been reluctant to treat poetry (or the arts in general) as something else than poetry. I try not to think of art as a tool for anything at all, be it self-development, politics, ideology, therapy, religion etc. Having said that: Yes, obviously there is a therapeutic side to writing & of course poetry can and will have an impact āoutside of itselfā. But itās not why I write. Hehe.
3. What kind of poetry do you like?
The boring truth: I like many different styles. And I like to try out different things myself. I guess what I always return to, is poetry that is simple and stunning, scarce and rich, earthbound and larger than life. I like the x thing that takes you home in a second. The y thing that unexpectedly leads you somewhere new. The z thing that reveals a tiny mystery, without explaining it. I like a poem that feels like a ritual. I like a poem that makes me feel human. I like a poem that doesnāt add up. I like a poem that is warm, tender, smooth, lovable. I like a poem that is rough, edgy & hard-to-love. I donāt like a poem that is nothing but a political statement. I donāt dislike a good poem because it contains a political statement.
4. What do you think is the purpose of poetry?
Ok. I guess itās time to reveal it. Hereās what really happened.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Nature & Culture had been in love for thousands of years, when they finally decided to marry. They had a child, and the child was named Language.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Language grew up and fell in love with Angel. But their parents, Nature & Culture and Heaven & Time, didnāt approve, and so Language & Angel werenāt allowed to marry. But the two young lovers defied their parents and met secretely as often as they could. And after a few centuries, their illegitimate lovechild was born. They named it Poetry.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Now this is where it gets interesting, if you enjoy a good conspiracy. You see, in light of recent discoveries, there is proof to indicate that it has all been part of a greater plan from the very beginning: Poetry is the combined effort from Nature, Culture, Heaven, and Time to find a way to tell every single human being important stuff about life on Mars, love on Earth, history in the making, the secrets of dark matter & the mysteries of even darker coffee.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Exactly what it is that theyāre trying to tell us, Iāve yet to figure out. Maybe itās something that we need to answer for ourselves, each and one of us. But Iām pretty sure that Poetry is here to help.
5. What subject matter would you like to see covered by poetry?
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 1) Science & the universe. Macrocosmos. Galaxies. Comets. Distance. Time. Microcosmos. Cells. Molecules. Atoms. Neutrons. Sound. Light. Matter. Energy. I love that stuff & it begs for poetic treatment.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 2) Social issues. Iām not going to make a list, but obviously there are lots of things to write about, globally as well as locally. But itās tricky. Because if the issue becomes too dominant in a poem, the poetry jumps out of the window. And most of the times, I think I prefer to read an in-depth article, not a poem, about social issues (cf. my answer to question 2).
6. What is the purpose of Tumblr?
At least I can say what its purpose is to me:
1) To write. 2) To read. 3) To communicate.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Iāve been careful not to make a Facebook-kind-of-thing out of my Tumblr. That being said, of course Iāve been talking to a lot of people, and I have read & met some truly amazing and wonderful poets & people via Tumblr. I am very happy to say that some of them have become true friends.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā One thing though. Iāve never received any anon hate. And I donāt think I can consider myself to be a true Tumblr poet until I do. Help me out, anyone?
