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***This is #152 in a never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM
where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and
how the poet wrote that specific poem. All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links
are at the end of this piece.
#152
Backstory of the Poem
“VAN
GOGH TO HIS MISTRESS”
by
Margo Taft Stever
Can you
go through step-by-step writing of this poem from the moment the idea was first
conceived in your brain until final form? My inspiration for writing this poem came from
reading articles (Below Left) about Van Gogh and also from studying Van Gogh’s, Self-Portrait
with Bandaged Ear and Pipe (Below Right).
Z
Where
were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the
place in detail? I began to write this poem in 1984, around thirty-four years ago when I was
in my thirties. (Right: Margo with her oldest son David in 1984) At that time, I kept copious notebooks of poem ideas, poem
fragments, and poems. When my children were young, I wrote diligently during
their nap time every day.
Many of my poems went into my first poetry
collection, Frozen Spring
(Mid-List Press, 2002), but I also found inspiration from these notebooks to
write some of the poems published in Cracked
Piano (CavanKerry Press, 2019) and still find such ideas in my
notebooks.
When my children took their naps, I wrote on a
spiral notebook in my bedroom. Just as I lay on my bed propped up on one arm to
do my homework in high school, I would write poetry lying down in the same
position at that time, or I would write sitting up and using the headboard as a
back rest. My bedroom was located in a suburban neighborhood on the Hudson Line
about forty-five minutes outside of New York City. (Below: Margo's writing space today)
How
many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you
share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) As with many of my
poems, this poem began when I wrote down thoughts that I had about Van Gogh’s
ear. My poems are generally written in longhand in a notebook before I enter
them into a computer. Because I started this poem so long ago, I cannot
estimate how many drafts existed. I am including two out of several pages of
free writing from my 1984 notebook (Left and Right Below). I continued to work on the poem until its
final publication in Cracked Piano.
Were
there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the
final version? And can you share them with us? As is true of a number
of my poems, this one evolved over decades. I am appending two notebook pages
of screen shots of some of the original writing, but much of which didn’t go
into the final poem. Over time, the published poem, “Van Gogh to His Mistress,”
is a distillation of ideas, much of which can be found in this original drafts.
What do
you want readers of this poem to take from the poem? Van Gogh was mistreated and misunderstood at the same time
that he created some of his most powerful paintings. His self-mutilation is an
expression of that mistreatment. If he hadn’t been shot and killed, imagine
what more he might have left as a testament of his genius. I wanted all of us,
including myself, to think about what happened to Van Gogh, to consider the
enormity of his vision and suffering, most of it caused by others, and learn
from it so that we can begin to treat people who are in any way outside the
norm, whether they are immigrants, artists, autistic people, speech-impaired,
or exceptional in any other way, as we would treat those who we believe that we
love most. (Above Left: Self Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh)
Which
part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The most compelling
part of writing the poem was contemplating the enormity of the suffering and
affliction that plagued Van Gogh throughout his life and the lack of
appreciation that he confronted. Of course, this is juxtaposed by how much
people value his work today, but how would we have treated him in the flesh if
we lived during his time?
Has the
poem been published before? And if so where? The poem was first published
in Salamander Literary Magazine (http://salamandermag.org/), then in my chapbook, The Lunatic Ball (Kattywompus
Press, 2015), and also in Cracked
Piano (CavanKerry Press, 2019).
VAN GOGH TO HIS MISTRESS
He
sensed his ear,
but
he could
not
see it.
In
the blind
this
is called
blindsight.
The last
failed
effort
of the
body
to
survive—
Keep this
object carefully.
The ear
rested
on the
table
alone
among blue
tints
and
suppressed
shadows.
To present
an ear
in the
middle
of the
night,
an
arterial flap,
flap of
bat’s
wing,
wing of
angel.
In 2019, CavanKerry Press published Margo Taft Stever’s book, Cracked
Piano, and Kattywompus Press published her chapbook, Ghost Moose.
Her four additional poetry collections include The Lunatic Ball, Kattywompus
Press, 2015; The Hudson Line,
Main Street Rag, 2012; Frozen Spring,
Mid-List Press First Series Award for Poetry, 2002; and Reading the Night Sky, Riverstone
Press, 1996.
Her book Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905
U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Asia; the Photographs of Harry Fowler Woods,
which she co-authored with her son, James Taft Stever (Right Bottom), was published by
Zhejiang University Press in 2012. Her poems have appeared in Verse Daily,
upstreet, Blackbird, Salamander; Poem-A-Day, poets.org, The Academy of
American Poets; Cincinnati Review; Salamander; Prairie Schooner; New England
Review; Connecticut Review; Poet Lore; West Branch; Seattle Review;
and numerous anthologies including No
More Masks and Women Write Resistance. She is the
founder of the Hudson Valley Writers Center (www.writerscenter.org) and the founding editor of Slapering Hol Press. For more
information, please see: www.margotaftstever.com.
BACKSTORY OF THE POEM
LINKS
001 December 29, 2017
Margo
Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”
002 January 08, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake
Café”
003 January 12, 2018
Barbara
Crooker’s “Orange”
004 January 22, 2018
Sonia
Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”
005 January 29, 2018
Ellen
Foos’s “Side Yard”
006 February 03, 2018
Susan
Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”
007 February 09, 2018
Leslea
Newman’s “That Night”
008 February 17, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
009 February 24, 2018
Charles
Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”
010 March 03, 2018
Scott
Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
011 March 10, 2018
Anya
Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
012 March 17, 2018
Angela
Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”
013 March 24, 2018
Jan
Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”
014 March 31, 2018
Ibrahim
Honjo’s “Colors”
015 April 14, 2018
Marilyn
Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”
016 April 27, 2018
Beth
Copeland’s “Reliquary”
017 May 12, 2018
Marlon
L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”
018 May 25, 2018
Juliet
Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”
019 June 09, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”
020 June 16, 2018
Charles
Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”
021 July 05, 2018
Marla
Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”
022 July 13, 2018
Julia Gordon-Bramer’s
“Studying Ariel”
023 July 20, 2018
Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus
Zombie”
024 July 27, 2018
Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag
2016”
025 August 01, 2018
Seth Berg’s “It is only
Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
026 August 07, 2018
David Herrle’s “Devil In
the Details”
027 August 13, 2018
Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen
Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”
028 August 21, 2018
Connie Post’s “Two
Deaths”
029 August 30, 2018
Mary Harwell Sayler’s
“Faces in a Crowd”
030 September 16, 2018
Larry Jaffe’s “The
Risking Point”
031 September 24,
2018
Mark Lee Webb’s “After
We Drove”
032 October 04, 2018
Melissa Studdard’s
“Astral”
033 October 13, 2018
Robert Craven’s “I Have
A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”
034 October 17, 2018
David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache
Peaches of Heaven”
035 October 23, 2018
Timothy Gager’s
“Sobriety”
036 October 30, 2018
Gary Glauber’s “The Second
Breakfast”
037 November 04, 2018
Heather Forbes-McKeon’s “Melania’s
Deaf Tone Jacket”
038 November 11, 2018
Andrena Zawinski’s
“Women of the Fields”
039 November 00, 2018
Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”
040 November 16, 2018
Rita Quillen’s “My
Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”
041 November 20, 2018
Jonathan Kevin Rice’s
“Dog Sitting”
042 November 22, 2018
Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s
“Mountain”
043 November 27, 2018
Megan Merchant’s “Grief
Flowers”
044 November 30, 2018
Jonathan P Taylor’s “This
poem is too neat”
045 December 03, 2018
Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo
for our Dead Father-in-Law”
046 December 06, 2018
Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in
the Throat”
047 December 11, 2018
Jeffrey Pearson’s
“Memorial Day”
048 December 14, 2018
Frank Paino’s “Laika”
049 December 15, 2018
Jennifer Martelli’s
“Anniversary”
O50 December 19, 2018
Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in
the Texas Desert, June 2014”
051 December 23, 2018
“The Persistence of
Music”
by Anatoly Molotkov
052 December 27, 2018
“Under Surveillance”
by Michael Farry
053 December 28, 2018
“Grand Finale”
by Renuka Raghavan
054 December 29, 2018
“Aftermath”
by Gene Barry
055 January 2, 2019
“&”
by Larissa Shmailo
056 January 7, 2019
“The Seamstress:
by Len Kuntz
057 January 10, 2019
"Natural History"
by Camille T Dungy
058 January 11, 2019
“BLOCKADE”
by Brian Burmeister
059 January 12, 2019
“Lost”
by Clint Margrave
060 January 14, 2019
“Menopause”
by Pat Durmon
061 January 19, 2019
“Neptune’s Choir”
by Linda Imbler
062 January 22, 2019
“Views From the
Driveway”
by Amy Barone
063 January 25, 2019
“The heron leaves her
haunts in the marsh”
by Gail Wronsky
064 January 30, 2019
“Shiprock”
by Terry Lucas
065 February 02, 2019
“Summer 1970, The
University of Virginia Opens to Women in the Fall”
by Alarie Tennille
066 February 05, 2019
“At School They Learn
Nouns”
by Patrick Bizzaro
067 February 06, 2019
“I Must Not Breathe”
by Angela Jackson-Brown
068 February 11, 2019
“Lunch on City Island,
Early June”
by Christine Potter
069 February 12, 2019
“Singing”
by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
070 February 14, 2019
“Daily Commute”
by Christopher P. Locke
071 February 18, 2019
“How Silent The Trees”
by Wyn Cooper
072 February 20, 2019
“A New Psalm
of Montreal”
by Sheenagh Pugh
073 February 23, 2019
“Make Me A
Butterfly”
by Amy Barbera
074 February 26, 2019
“Anthem”
by Sandy Coomer
075 March 4, 2019
“Shape of a Violin”
by Kelly Powell
076 March 5, 2019
“Inward Oracle”
by J.P. Dancing Bear
077 March 7, 2019
“I Broke
My Bust Of Jesus”
by Susan Sundwall
078 March 9, 2019
“My Mother
at 19”
by John Guzlowski
079 March 10, 2019
“Paddling”
by Chera Hammons Miller
080 March 12, 2019
“Of Water
and Echo”
by Gillian Cummings
081 082
083 March 14, 2019
“Little
Political Sense” “Crossing Kansas with
Jim
Morrison” “The Land of Sky and Blue Waters”
by Dr. Lindsey
Martin-Bowen
084 March 15, 2019
“A Tune To
Remember”
by Anna Evans
085 March 19, 2019
“At the
End of Time (Wish You Were Here)
by Jeannine Hall Gailey
086 March 20, 2019
“Garden of
Gethsemane”
by Marletta Hemphill
087 March 21, 2019
“Letters
From a War”
by Chelsea Dingman
088 March 26, 2019
“HAT”
by Bob Heman
089 March 27, 2019
“Clay for
the Potter”
by Belinda Bourgeois
#090 March 30, 2019
“The Pose”
by John Hicks
#091 April 2, 2019
“Last
Night at the Wursthaus”
by Doug Holder
#092 April 4, 2019
“Original
Sin”
by Diane Lockward
#093 April 5, 2019
“A Father
Calls to his child on liveleak”
by Stephen Byrne
#094 April 8, 2019
“XX”
by Marc Zegans
#095 April 12, 2019
“Landscape
and Still Life”
by Marjorie Maddox
#096 April 16, 2019
“Strawberries
Have Been Growing Here for Hundreds of
Years”
by Mary Ellen Lough
#097 April 17, 2019
“The New
Science of Slippery Surfaces”
by Donna Spruijt-Metz
#098 April 19, 2019
“Tennessee
Epithalamium”
by Alyse Knorr
#099 April 20, 2019
“Mermaid,
1969”
by Tameca L. Coleman
#100 April 21, 2019
“How Do
You Know?”
by Stephanie
#101 April 23, 2019
“Rare Book
and Reader”
by Ned Balbo
#102 April 26, 2019
“THUNDER”
by Jefferson Carter
#103 May 01, 2019
“The sight
of a million angels”
by Jenneth Graser
#104 May 09, 2019
“How to
tell my dog I’m dying”
by Richard Fox
#105 May 17, 2019
“Promises
Had Been Made”
by Sarah Sarai
#106 June 01, 2019
“i sold
your car today”
by Pamela Twining
#107 June 02, 2019
“Abandoned
Stable”
by Nancy Susanna Breen
#108 June 05, 2019
“Cupcake”
by Julene Tripp Weaver
#109 June 6, 2019
“Bobby’s
Story”
by Jimmy Pappas
#110 June 10, 2019
“When You
Ask Me to Tell You About My Father”
by Pauletta Hansel
#111 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Cemetery
Mailbox”
by Jennifer Horne
#112 Backstory of the Poem’s
“Relics”
by Kate Peper
#113 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Q”
by Jennifer Johnson
#114 Backstory of the
Poem’s
“Brushing My Hair”
by Tammika Dorsey Jones
#115 Backstory of the
Poem
“Because the Birds Will
Survive, Too”
by Katherine Riegel
#116 Backstory of the Poem
“DIVORCE”
“DIVORCE”
by Joan Barasovska
#117 Backstory of the
Poem
“NEW
YEAR”S EVE 2016”
by Michael Meyerhofer
#118 Backstory of the
Poem
“Dear the
estranged,”
by Gina Tron
#119 Backstory of the Poem
“In
Remembrance of Them”
by Janet Renee Cryer
#120 Backstory of the
Poem
“Horse Fly
Grade Card, Doesn’t Play Well With Others”
by David L. Harrison
#121 Backstory of the
Poem
“My
Mother’s Cookbook”
by Rachael Ikins
#122 Backstory of the
Poem
“Cousins I
Never Met”
by Maureen Kadish
Sherbondy
#123 Backstory of the
Poem
“To Those
Who Were Our First Gods”
by Nickole Brown
#124 Backstory of the
Poem
“Looking For Sunsets (In the Early Morning)”
“Looking For Sunsets (In the Early Morning)”
by Paul Levinson
#125 Backstory of the
Poem
“Tracy”
by Tiff Holland
#126 Backstory of the
Poem
“Legs”
by Cindy Hochman
“Legs”
by Cindy Hochman
#127 Backstory of the
Poem
“Anathema”
“Anathema”
by Natasha Saje
#128 Backstory of the
Poem
“How to
Explain Fertility When an Acquaintance Asks Casually”
by Allison Blevins
#129 Backstory of the
Poem
“The Art of Meditation
In Tennessee”
by Linda Parsons
#130 Backstory of the
Poem
“Schooling
High, In Beslan”
by Satabdi Saha
#131 Backstory of the
Poem
““Baby Jacob survives the Oso Landslide, 2014”
by Amie Zimmerman
#132 Backstory of the
Poem
“Our Age
of Anxiety”
by Henry Israeli
#133 Backstory of the
Poem
“Earth
Cries; Heaven Smiles”
by Ken Allan Dronsfield
#134 Backstory of the Poem
“Eons”
by Janine Canan
#135 Backstory of the
Poem
“Sworn”
by Catherine Zickgraf
#136 Backstory of the
Poem
“Bushwick
Blue”
by Susana H. Case
#137 Backstory of the
Poem
“Then She
Was Forever”
by Paula Persoleo
#138 Backstory of the
Poem
“Enough”
by Kris Bigalk
#139 Backstory of the
Poem
“From Ghosts of the
Upper Floor”
by Tony Trigilio
#140 Backstory of the
Poem
“Cloud
Audience”
by Wanita Zumbrunnen
#141 Backstory of the
Poem
“Condition
Center”
by Matthew Freeman
#142 Backstory of the
Poem
“Adventuresome
Woman”
by Cheryl Suchors
#143 Backstory of the
Poem
“The Way Back”
“The Way Back”
by Robert Walicki
#144 Backstory of the
Poem
“If I Had Three Lives”
by Sarah Russell
#145 Backstory of the
Poem
“Reservoir”
by Andrea Rexilius
#146 Backstory of the
Poem
“The Night
Before Our Dog Died”
by Melissa Fite Johnson
#147 Backstory of the
Poem
“Pileated”
by David Anthony Sam
#148 Backstory of the
Poem
“A Kitchen
Argument”
by Matthew Gwathmey
#149 Backstory of the
Poem
“Insulation”
by Bruce Kauffman
#150 Backstory of the
Poem
“I Will
Tell You Where I’ve Been”
by Justin Hamm
#151 Backstory of the
Poem
“Comfort”
by Michael A Griffith
#152 Backstory of the
Poem
“VAN GOGH TO HIS MISTRESS”
by Margo Taft Stever
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/152
backstory-of-poem-van-gogh-to-his.html
“VAN GOGH TO HIS MISTRESS”
by Margo Taft Stever
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2020/02/152
backstory-of-poem-van-gogh-to-his.html
