Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Franco!

I wasn't sure what to write this morning. The coffee is on and I'm waiting for breakfast to warm up. It was tempting enough to keep reading the NY Times, but I felt like I had to push something out and on the ancient advice of poets everywhere, when nothing comes to mind, revert to form. And so, my first effort in many many years at a (sort of) sonnet.

Note--second draft a bit closer syllabically to a proper sonnet. Not quite iambic pentameter, but close enough for 2010.

Can James Franco possibly be for real?
This man, enrolled in masters classes who
maintains an acting job with equal zeal
and manages to write a novel too?
New York Magazine asked the question once
but pages in there wasn’t much to say.
Classmates would attest these were not mere stunts,
besides which, what of these roles he picks to play?
Subversion: seems to be the key--not one:
writer, artist, scholar, celebrity--
but something of all, and something of none;
that aspiration, of noble quality.
Remember the renaissance, that time before,
when success at one did not preclude success at more?


4 comments:

  1. Can James Franco possibly be for real?
    This man, enrolled in masters classes who
    maintains an acting job with equal zeal
    and still manages to write a novel too?
    New York Magazine asked the question once
    but three pages in there wasn’t much to say;
    professors had attested these weren’t merely stunts,
    besides which, what of these roles he decides to play?
    Subversion: seems to be the key--not picking one:
    writer, artist, scholar or celebrity--
    but something of all, and something of none,
    an aspiration to which I feel affinity:
    Remember the renaissance, that time before,
    when success at one did not preclude success at more?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, he amazes me, too. He had a several-episode arc on General Hospital, of all things, as a psycho--not dead yet, so he'll return. Didn't he just get his master's degree?

    Anyway, sonnets...meh! But it's all about the process, anyway, and part of the process is writing everyday, so, carry on!

    ReplyDelete
  3. He's working on like three masters degrees, and just entered a PhD program at yell...

    I think writing in form is strangely liberating! Writing in sonnet form with modern language is...fun.

    ReplyDelete