MAIREAD BYRNE
THE RUSSIAN WEEK
Inside this week is another week & inside that week is another week & inside that week is another week & inside that is another week & inside that is another week & inside that week is another week so that instead of 7 days each week is actually composed of 7 weeks each one a little smaller than its container week but still workable & with rosy cheeks. This arrangement is necessary. If a week were only a week aka a standard 7-day week it would not be possible to get things done. Therefore voila: The Russian week. As soon as it becomes apparent that everything cannot get done in the albeit larger, more commodious week, one can simply crack open the inside week, only slightly less commodious in size. Then, when things pile up as they are wont to do, one proceeds to the inside-inside week, its size only slightly less commodious again. And so it goes. I will not go through the process in tedious detail. For that it would be necessary to have an inside-inside-inside-inside-inside-inside-inside week, i.e., 8 weeks in all and obviously that is impossible. There may be some future in developing a system where each of the 7 weeks which constitute the week would in turn contain 7 weeks, giving 49 weeks in all inside one week, and indeed the prospect of an ad infinitum progression. But this proposal lacks the calm symmetry of the established model. It is knobby & hectic where the other is smooth, rounded, generous, economical—and natural. Thank God for the Russian week.
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AB - To blog or not to blog, this is the question…
MB - I began my blog Heaven in March 2003, as the US was gearing up to invade Iraq. The blog is only poetry and it began with poems collaged from internet coverage of the anticipated assault. It was also a time of great personal difficulty for me. Poetry really stepped up.
AB - How would you characterize your blog you should describe it to one of us, i.e. another blogger?
MB - It a daily poetry blog. I am happiest when posting every day. When days or weeks go by without posting a poem, it's not that I'm off somewhere having a great time. I'm right here, wanting to have time to write. My blog really was my solution to lots of things, not least the problem of not having time to write. I wrote a lot of time-based pieces for it: records of the weather each day for a year; records of the quality of light on the Rhode Island State House over the course of 13 months; records of at least one experience of touch every day. So, the poems were written in the interstices. My practice has changed in that what I really want now is 4-5 uninterrupted hours to write a poem for my blog. I rarely get that but when I do, I'm very happy.
AB - I sometimes regard my blog as a safe place where I can meet my chosen people, is this the same for you?
MB - My blog is not very interactive. I currently have only one link, and I included that only recently. I have a comments field but it's hard to find. If you really look around you can find my email address. In other words, it's not a very social space. That said, it does have readers, and they do manage to leave comments, and sometimes email me. It's really important to me
that that happens. I appreciate it very much, especially as I don't make it easy. My poetry is a form of talk; one of my ambitions is to talk only in poetry. Given more time, and increased skills, I would make my blog much more interactive & visually interesting. It's a rock-bottom low-tech blog.
AB - I am wondering do we sometimes forget that personal remarks, notes, poems are there for everybody to be seen?
MB - I only post poems. Occasionally, I might post a notice of a reading I'm doing, but usually not. Poetry has its own economy and that's what I operate in, in terms of privacy and everything else, when I post poems.
AB - Do you post many poems on your blog? Is there an actual difference in-between publishing online, mainly through a blog, or printed publishing?
MB - I've posted about 750 poems on my blog. It hasn't inhibited print publication so far, or at least not to any great extent. It has probably facilitated print and other web publication. Blog publication of poetry is still a grey area. I'm inclined now to take down poems if they are accepted in another print or web venue. If real conflicts develop between my blog and print/web publication, I'll rethink the situation.
AB - What kind of actual or immaterial feedback do you receive from publishing online through a blog?
MB - I use a daily notebook in addition to the blog. They're both instruments for negotiating with daily life and poetry. They both provide spaces in which I'm engaged & happy. Also, people read the blog, and sometimes contact me, or mention it in person, or come to readings. I appreciate this. It's all part of my project of wanting poetry to be my lingua franca!
AB - What do you think of the Blogosphere when related to blogs that deal with poetry?
MB - I don't read blogs that much. I'm on a few poetry discussion lists where there is good exchange. I'd like my blog to be more textured & interlinked.
But until it is, I can work with it as is.
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