Stop Being a Writer (David Intro) (02/15/2020)

Stop Being a Writer | The Weekly Atticus

February 15, 2020

A recap of the week's writing at Atticus Review. Introduction by David Olimpio. Info about our Poetry Contest and Pre-Ordering The Atticus Review Print Annual, Volume 3!

This week I watched a

I got there by way of diving down a rabbit hole of Allen Ginsberg, which I'd gone down by way of diving down another rabbit hole searching "Dylan Rolling Thunder Revue." (try it) It was a long trip, but a good one, and it landed me smack dab in a briar patch of William Carlos Williams and the video above, which mostly follows WCW's son, William Eric Williams, as he goes through his day as a pediatrician, or visiting his mother in her home. WCW's poetry serves as an ambient backdrop to the footage, read throughout by actor Arthur Hill. It's a captivating watch. Even though the video footage isn't of WCW himself, his son serves as a kind of ghostly stand-in, and it's easy to imagine WCW, who had the same profession, going about the same sort of business of being a doctor, taking care of families, putting stitches in a boy's hand. 

If I had ever known WCW was a physician, I had forgotten it. It's not something I remember discussing in Professor Duval's 20th-Century American Poetry class. Though even if we had, it might not have meant much to me at the time. But it does now. It's interesting to think of the poet who wrote the playful lines in "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "This Is Just to Say," who at one point associated with a group of writers and artists tied to Dadaism, as having the serious job of being a physician. It seems important to me now to remember the non-writer part of a writer's life — the fact that WCW made a living by doing something unrelated to the making of words into verses into poems. We tend to see famous writers entirely in respect to their writing, when in fact that was only one aspect of who they were. 

Similarly, I feel like we can get hung up on identifying ourselves as "writers" (and, of course, experiencing angst over whether or not we have the right to do that.) I know we're supposed to be proud of that label, but personally, I think we'd do ourselves a service to not become so attached to it. I'm just as guilty of worrying over my writer classification as anybody. (Currently, I'm stuck in a place wondering whether I'm more of an "essayist" or a "poet," as if that mattered.) The fact is, we'll write whatever we're going to write whether we call ourselves "writer" or not. But we are more than writers, and that's a good thing and maybe the more important thing. Keeping that in mind might help us take our Work (with a capital W) a little less seriously and help us remember to let ourselves play and have fun, because that's partly how to get to the good stuff. And besides, we need more fun. Just like during the Dada movement, which was a response to WWI and the violence and Nationalism of the time, a little playfulness, a little nose-thumbing absurdity, might be what we need from our art today. The ground is certainly fertile for a similar artistic response. (Look, I'm ready. I bought my ticket for that train years ago, my friends.)

If you follow this weekly letter we send, you'll know that along with it we include a meme where we take a quotation from a famous (usually dead) writer and insert "The Weekly Atticus" into it. It's a fun (and hopefully, if we do it right, funny) exercise. Today this is largely handled by our wonderful Editorial Assistant Eva Jo Morrow, who does a great job with it. But sometimes I still enjoy hunting for quotes. I will usually stumble across several really poignant ones that don't really work for the meme but which are really wonderful on their own and make me want to share them. And so I file them away in my Evernote, only to forget about them a few days (okay, a few hours) later. This week I'm going to leave you with a few WCW quotation "outtakes" below. Just for fun. They're not so much about being a "writer" as they are about being a "human." Maybe they'll inspire you to take a break from the serious business in your life and play a little, not as a "writer," but just as a person scribbling words. And if you happen to capture some good ones, maybe send them to our poetry contest. We don't care if you're actually a writer or not.

Thanks for reading. We're glad you're here.

"One thing I am convinced more and more is true and that is this: the only way to be truly happy is to make others happy. When you realize that and take advantage of the fact, everything is made perfect." - WCW, letter to his mother, 1904

"Why do we live? Most of us need the very thing we never ask for. We talk about revolution as if it was peanuts. What we need is some frank thinking and a few revolutions in our own guts; to hell with ... most of the sons of bitches that I know, and myself along with them, if I don't take hold of myself and turn about when I need to — or go ahead further if that's the game." - WCW, letter to Robert McAlmon, 1943

David Olimpio

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

ATTICUS NEWS

Congratulations to our Poetry Contest judge, Roberto Carlos Garcia, who isPoet of the Week over at Brooklyn Poets.Send him (and us) your poems today!First prize: $350. Entry fee: $10. Deadline: April 5th, 2020.  

THE ATTICUS REVIEW PRINT ANNUAL, VOLUME 3IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!Volume 3 of the Atticus Review Print Annual is now available for pre-order! Use code 2020PRE at checkout for a 25% discount and FREE shipping, good through March 3rd. Orders will ship beginning mid March.Contributors:Brett Armes, Megan Anderson Bohigian, Lori Sambol Brody, Chelsey Clammer, Emily Costa, Freda Epum, Dorian Fox, Ann Gelder, Deanne Gertner, Nicholas Grider, Chera Hammons, Emily Lake Hansen, L Mari Harris, Lee Herrick, Sonja Johanson, Andrew Johnson, Janice Leagra, Tim Maddocks, Frankie McMillan, Donna Miscolta, Josh Myers, Megan Pillow, Connie Post, Brynn Saito, Curt Saltzman, Tim Skeen, SM Stubbs, Siamak VossoughiCover Art: “Escape” by Janice Leagra

ANNOUNCING THE 2019 ATTICUS REVIEW VIDEOPOEM CONTEST WINNERS!Congratulations to these amazing artists!First Prize: "Contemplation is Watching" by Susanne WiegnerSecond Prize: "Bird" by Maija Hecht Third Prize: "The Opened Field" by Helmie Stil Runner up: Caroline Rumley Thank you to Marc Neys for being our contest judge.READ ON

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

BOOK REVIEWUNKNOWN, ABSURD, SINCEREA Review of DRESSED ALL WRONG FOR THIS by Francine WitteReview By Corey Miller"Witte’s book is perfect for the daydreamer that wants a quick escape. Something that will bring a smile in the void of this reality."GET THE BOOKREAD THE REVIEW

FICTIONVALENTINEby Gary Fincke"She says its name is Valentine and it’s four years old, which, to me, means that rabbit leads a charmed life despite all that fencing and winter being what it is around here."READ ON

POETRYFROM THE UNDEMANDING NOTEBOOKby Susan Grimm"It’s November like a box of clouds // with a slowly closing lid. Clouds in your lungs / cough, clouds over your eyes."READ ON

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