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***This is the twenty-ninth
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.
*Title Photo Mary Harwell Sayler in September of 2015. Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only
#29
Backstory of the Poem
“Faces
in a Crowd”
by Mary Harwell Sayler
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem
from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? As happens with almost every poem I write, an
opening line suddenly came to me, and as soon as I wrote it down, other lines
followed. It's often a mysterious process for me since I typically write from a
place of listening and heeding, rather than thinking. However, the poems that
follow usually have a way of putting into the forefront what I'd been mulling
over, subconsciously. (Above and Below: Copyright permission and artwork attributed to Christal Ann Rice Cooper for this CRC Blog Post Only)
For example, I'd been
noticing, in the media and elsewhere, how people frequently seem to be looking
for ways to read the future without bothering to pay attention to the present!
Then, when they do notice someone right in front of them, they might just focus
on the person's flaws and failures with no insight, empathy, or interest in the
symptoms shown. In people-watching and observing men, for instance, I find that
fear, worry, frustration, and sadness generally register on their faces as one
emotion - anger, whereas women more readily express a greater range. Whether
that's true or not, my poem seemed to think so as all of the above converged
into the poem, "Faces in a Crowd." (Above Right: Copyright permission and artwork attributed to Christal Ann Rice Cooper for this CRC Blog Post Only)
Where were you when you started to actually write the
poem? And please describe the place in detail. For this particular poem, I was at my desktop
computer. Quite often, though, my poems begin in one of two places: in bed
immediately on waking or on our deck, overlooking woods and a small lake active
with wildlife. (Left: Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
What month and year did you start writing this poem? The poem began in February, 2014, and once its flow
had ceased, I let the poem sit and went on to other writing projects. When I
returned to it, I did a little tweaking then revised it a couple of years
later. (Right: Mary Harwell Sayler in October 2014. Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the
final? That's a hard question to answer, Christal, as I
often spend hours playing with single words or phrases in the early instances
of a poem. Sometimes I'm looking for a word that's more precise. Other times
I'm listening to the play of assonance or consonance then trying to find an
apt synonym that adds sound echoes to the poem. (Left: Mary Harwell Sayler in her office in September 2016. Attributed to her grandson. Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
I seldom keep track of
those revisions or ones when I play around with line breaks that might better
emphasize certain words or sounds, but those are the concerns that set me in a
revising mode. Also, if a poem is too long, I'll almost always find ways to
tighten and shorten the lines. Beyond those types of changes though, I rarely
make major revisions that I like better than the original. Instead, I'll give
each poem my full attention when it first arrives, and if everything clicks,
I'll send it off to a journal or e-zine. If not, I'll come back to it months -
maybe years later - and "suddenly" know what to do. (Right Mary Harwell Sayler's office. Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
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? Sure. I usually write, tweak, and revise in my Word
file now, rather than pencil and paper, but, for you, I printed out the
original version of "Faces in a Crowd" and showed the changes made
for the final draft. That said, the "original" might have had other
words substituted, added, or omitted, but the basic poem is as shown. (Left: Rough draft of "Faces in a Crowd." Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I'd love to see people slow down, pay attention to
one another, and give each other the benefit of the doubt. Who knows what joys
and miseries someone else has had to bear? We're all in this life together, and
I pray we begin to help and encourage one another instead of the present
lamentable habit of tearing each other down. (Right: Mary Harwell Sayler in October of 2010. Copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
Has this poem been published before? And if so where?
Yes. When I realized I
had enough "people" poems for a book, "Faces in a Crowd"
became the title poem for a book published in 2016.
What do you hope to accomplish with your poetry? Actually, I didn't think much about this for many
years. As a freelance and assignment writer for most of my adult life, I wrote
a number of books in all genres with a specific theme and purpose for each. I
wrote all sorts of articles, children's stories, and devotionals, too, while my
poems sat around in a file that kept expanding. Then, it occurred to me that
most of my poems had developed some kind of theme or purpose on their own! So I
went through my Word file and typed one or more labels for each poem,
identifying them as "nature," "faith," "people,"
"social comment," "humor," "children's poem,"
etc. Not long after that, I placed some poems with an e-zine and learned
the publisher was also interested in books of nature-oriented poems. So I did a
"nature" word search and found more than enough poems for a book
entitled Living in the Nature Poem, which Hiraeth Press published
in 2012 but recently went out of print.
The idea for that book
wasn't just the nature theme but also the hope of having readers gain or
increase their love for nature. Using a similar process of search-and-gather, I
collected my Bible-based people poems into the book Outside Eden to
show we all live in essentially the same place - outside paradise, trying to
get back in. In 2014, Kelsay Books published that collection and also my little
book of nature poems for children, Beach
Songs & Wood Chimes. Then, for about a year, I felt urged to
practice praising God for everything (yes, everything!), and in 2017, Cladach
Publishing released my praise poems and contemporary psalms (including laments)
in the book PRAISE!
In between, I
self-published Faces in a Crowd with my remaining "people"
poems, many of which had first appeared in poetry journals, to show the common
and uncommon experiences uniting us. And, in 2017, I self-published Lost in Faith with poems that
realistically address the struggles and doubts we all encounter, but with the
strong purpose of letting readers know: God cares!
I maintain a website in
my name (http://marysayler.com) which
includes an email form, my mailing address, and hotlinks to my books, online
writings, and social media profiles. In addition, my website lists numerous
resources with hotlinks to help other poets and writers. (Left: Web Logo Photo attributed and copyright permission granted by Mary Harwell Sayler for this CRC Blog Post Only)
What suggestions do you have for other poets and writers? Read, read in your favorite writing genre!
If you're serious
about writing well-written, publishable poems, study art forms and techniques
that work well, for instance, as shown in my e-books, Christian Poet's Guide to Writing Poetry:
in free verse and traditional forms and also the A to Z guide, Poetry Dictionary For Children and For Fun.
Read aloud every poem
and every revision.
Be honest with
yourself as you consider each poem's clarity, freshness, and readability.
Give your poems the
time they desire to be the best they can be. They're worth it!
*Below: artwork and copyright permission granted by Christal Ann Rice Cooper for this CRC Blog Post Only
Faces
in a Crowd
Why
trouble yourself with tea leaves
or
try to discern the lines in a palm
when
you can read faces?
See
how the dark centers
of
her eyes light up only
as
she looks at children?
And
watch her cornered
mouth
turn down
even
as she laughs.
Hard
times cannot be hidden
beneath
a cut of hair
nor
foundations concealed
with
makeup meant to attract
a
man, but consider him:
Can
you see
that
forlorn little boy,
alone,
waiting
to be remembered
inside
the grown man,
caught
now
in
clouds of anger?
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
Everyone is born with a God-shaped void
and what we do to try to fill that void is where our journey begins. For me, I was baptized when I was nine years
old, but did not continue to walk in the light my entire journey (1 John 1:5-7). I am so thankful for our God who seals us and
out of His grace, love and mercy, calls us His own the moment we accept Jesus
as our Lord and Savior. Even when I
wasn’t giving God my best, He was always there, waiting for my repentance. (Right: artwork and copyright permission by Christal Ann Rice Cooper for this CRC Blog Post Only)
