Mark Fairchild's Poetry

What appears here are samplings of my poetry. Most of my poetry is unpublished and so is not available here, in recognition of some publishers criteria of not considering material published on the internet. I will, however, allow other poets to view it, upon request, so that they can offer critiques.

I have no training or formal education as a poet, which does not mean that I have not studied it. My poetry is, no doubt, nowhere as good as that of my wife, who had graduate training in poetry at UNL under Greg Kuzma (who introduced me to my wife!) and Ted Kooser. I do, however,  think that my poetry is unique and creative.  I want to achieve a better focus on metaphor, imagery, and detail. You decide on how well I have done; comments are welcome, via email.

I believe in the use of poetic devices in my poetry, for that very reason, but only when they arise organically, i.e. naturally, in my mind as I write ... thus far. Forced devices put me off. Metrics are fine, and I experiment with them at times, but I prefer free verse that tends to approximate my voice -- at least the voice in my head, which, at times, falls into metric rhythms.  Perhaps the time will come when I wander from that path more often, in search of the subconscious treasure that we all inherently possess.

As concerns renga, haiku, senryu, and tanka (for definitions see Jay Friedenberg's PDF "Haiku Notes"), I freely mix them in my section on Haiku. I generally try to write in free verse as well, since I do not speak or write in  Japanese. Personally, I prefer, however, to keep it short & pithy, and to follow the line-count structure (see CLPP History and Its Renga Theory: Writing Renga). Hence, in the case of renga, all bets are off. In renga, as I practice it, the point is to write quickly & interactively, in person, and to keep the flow & pace going so that everyone's minds can best tap into their subconscious reservoirs. 

I am finding that as I write more haiku recently, I am falling into classic syllable counting, which does not in and of itself make for a good haiku, in the classic Japanese sense; but the more I write such poetry, the more I tend towards that classic Japanese haiku, precisely because the syllable counting and staying on "topic" opens the subconscious, making for better poetry. Less than formal, classically defined haiku, still make for good or even astounding poetry and are worth reading.

In all cases, I refuse to be bound by "rules", at least in terms of composition; except when I am trying to write "in form", which I rarely do; all the while being interested in exploring "rules" to see what they bring to the effort. .  The value of writing in form is that it forces the mind to find creative ways of expressing thoughts; however creativity does not always require poetic form, and it can frequently inhibit it.

I am of the opinion that no poetry, mine included, should ever be considered "final" until after the poet has died. I reserve the right, and I feel every poet, however perfect, retains the right to accept criticism from fellow poets and critics so long as they live, and to then revise their poems as they see fit. Perhaps some are so far above constructive criticism that they will never have to revise anything. That is certainly not my view of my poetry and writing.