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In this episode of Elixir, Helen is talking to Chris Kelham about the poem ‘Ars Poetica as The Maker’ by Ocean Vuong
Topics of discussion:
The pain and joy in making art - a challenge to God
How human creativity beats AI
The emotional depth of Chinese drama students compared to Western students
“Everyone is in exile in their own skin and strives for contact and connection.”
Text of the poem:
Ars Poetica as The Maker
‘And God saw the light and it was good’ Genesis 1:4
Because the butterfly’s yellow wing
flickering in black mud
was a word
stranded by its language.
Because no one else
was coming — & I ran
out of reasons.
So I gathered fistfuls
of ash, dark as ink,
hammered them
into marrow, into
a skull thick
enough to keep
the gentle curse
of dreams. Yes, I aimed
for mercy —
but came only close
as building a cage
around the heart. Shutters
over the eyes. Yes,
I gave it hands
despite knowing
that to stretch that clay slab
into five blades of light,
I would go
too far. Because I, too,
needed a place
to hold me. So I dipped
my fingers back
into the fire, pried open
the lower face
until the wound widened
into a throat,
until every leaf shook silver
with that god
-awful scream
& I was done.
& it was human.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2017) published as ‘Essay on Craft’
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/142852/essay-on-craft
About the poet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Vuong
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/142852/essay-on-craft
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/157878/nothing-to-hide-under-all-this-sun
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About Chris Kelham:
