just can't get enough

Elisa Gabbert is talking about clichés in a sort of follow-up post to her discussion of poetry moves. Thinking about cliches and the notion of something being overused made me think about how much I love repetition and abundance and frequency in poems. For instance, I love all of the dashes in Dickinson's poetry, and I especially love the way they look in the handwritten fascicles. Despite their indication of pause, they also mark a sort of frequency. This obviously has to do with rhythm, but there is a quickening sort of breathlessness there too. It reminds me of a sewing machine stitch following the rhythms of a shape, and how with electric machines there is a sort of stitching acceleration that articulates the speed of the cloth moving under the needle. I think this is one of the reasons Jen Bervin's work with Dickinson and textiles makes so much sense to me. I love that.

Anyway, here are some things I am obsessed with/compulsively drawn to, both in my own poems/projects and in the work of others:

*gears, particularly clock gears

*needles, pins, scissors, thread, spools, and other sewing-related items

*letters, glyphs, stems, alphabets, prints, printing

*bodies and body parts, particularly female bodies

*clothing, especially skirts

*words with the letter combination "ov": "oven," "coven," "covet," "ova"...you get the idea

*animals & birds & insects, particularly animal-made habitats like hives and nests

*oceans/seas/water

*shiny things like glitter and sequins

*machines and factories

*tiny things, miniatures

*chemicals and pharmaceuticals

*houses, wallpaper, domestic interiors

More later.