9 Comments
Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hurley Winkler

With all due respect to you and my friend Shannon and Marie Howe, I think the whole exercise of writing just observations -- the thing itself -- isn't so much about *not* writing metaphor as it is about allowing the thing itself to reveal its own figurative meaning. It's not *overengineering* metaphors (which is what I feel like 99% of similes are) -- the apple slice on the plate isn't *like* a sliver of sun above a horizon of clouds; it actually *is* that, but because it revealed itself as such, not because the writer constructed it as such.

Based on the transcript of the conversation from the On Being website, it seems to me like Howe's not actually saying anything meaningful about metaphor. In fact, when pressed by Tippett to say more about metaphor and "why it hurts," Howe changes the subject to her being made Poet Laureate of New York.

I've yet to find a better thinking-through of figurative language in poetry than Natasha Saje's book Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Critical Theory -- I highly recommend it.

Expand full comment
Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hurley Winkler

Thank you for consistently providing content that I need to screen grab every single element of… Excited to read all of these things

Expand full comment

So glad you also loved seeing Oscar revise (and revise and revise) his lyrics. A tiny portrait of the creative process — in perfect rhyme!

Expand full comment
Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hurley Winkler

Great selection, thanks. From the Fairytale article: "We should always remember that there are no writing “rules,” there are only standards that apply to certain modes of storytelling ... and there are infinite modes of storytelling." A good read, along with the other link to the Literary Fairy Tale Syllabus within that post.

Expand full comment
Feb 24, 2023Liked by Hurley Winkler

Love this, thank you!

Expand full comment

You're becoming a tarot gal? ABOUT TIME!! <3

Thank you for including How to Keep a Husband on this lovely list. It's an honor.

Expand full comment