300 words

Questions to Consider: Having read both my chapter on visual poetry for children and Charles Bernstein’s sardonic essay, “The Difficult Poem,” take a moment to reflect on what we might consider “difficult poems.” Barbara Barg’s poem “20 Questions” isn’t difficult, per se, but it is unusual in form (how many poems have you read that were formatted as a quiz?), and Robert Pinksy’s “ABC” is also unusual in form, the first word beginning with an “A” and each word in turn beginning with the next letter of the alphabet until we, at last, reach “Z.” Likewise, Christina Bök’s Eunoia and JonArno Lawson’s A Voweller’s Bestiary are both “lipograms.” A lipogram is a special kind of constraint (similar to the one employed by Pinksy) that determines which words the poet can use. A “lipogram in e,” for instance, allows the writer to use any word except those that contain an “e.” Lawson’s lipograms are determined by the title of each poem in his book. In each poem, he cannot use any words that contain vowels that aren’t found in the title. That’s difficult. What I'm getting at is this: difficult poems can be difficult to read and difficult to write. So, using citations from Bernstein’s “The Difficult Poem” and my chapter on visual poetry, as well as specific references to poetry we’re reading this week, weigh in on the subject of difficulty in poetry. Of course, you might also weigh in on difficulty in literature more generally, but focus on the poetry we're reading this week. Ask yourself to consider the differences among literature that is designed to entertain and that which is designed to make us work (and perhaps why, for people like me, work ends up being pleasurable). Perhaps, then, there's overlap between the two? Finally, as you reflect on difficulty in literature in poem, remember always to root your ideas in specifics from our readings. For more on lipograms, dig this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogram For more on visual poetry, you might start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_poetry And note there at the end of the wiki article on visual poetry a quotation from Willard Bohn, an old friend of mine, who argues that "Visual poetry can be defined as poetry that is meant to be seen–poetry that presupposes a viewer as well as a reader."