Welcome to StoriesEtc, a place where University of Wisconsin students can share their original creative writing with the community, whether it be poetry, short stories or anything in between. As a section dealing with the arts, it feels only natural to create an opportunity for students to share their creative talents.
This week, readers are introduced to a poetic form called ghazal, a form that “in some cases, uses art between stanzas and separates them into patterns like a tapestry or textile,” Daniel Crowley, this week’s contributor, said. “Traditionally, the form was a poem, visual art and sometimes music all kind of mixed.”
This type of poetry usually centers around themes such as love and separation, and is often presented without a title. It took root in the Arabian peninsula, and has been sung by Iranian, Indian and Pakistani musicians.
Let’s meet Danny:
The Badger Herald: Tell us about yourself. What’s your major? Year in school?
Daniel Crowley: Third year, creative writing major, also doing research with the Center for Healthy Minds.
BH: Define your writing, authorship and perspective.
DC: I begin with anything that strikes as something I would benefit from writing about — as opposed to thinking, or conversing. I am unknown to the people reading this poem; the reader has no basis for what meaning they create other than words — and weird words at that! I love the ghazal. It wants people to be creators rather than consumers.
BH: When did you start writing creatively?
DC: Almost exactly three years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I would fill up a piece of paper with riddles, poetry, flash fiction and doodles, and give them to friends and strangers. It was very productive and passionate work, but nothing remained in my possession from that time. It was an era of art for art’s sake. Now, every words transcends into the eternal internet.
BH: Talk about your creative process. What inspires you, and how do you get from an idea to a finished product?
The cliché answers are strong emotion and/or a concrete idea. Meditation and yoga have been key in cultivating a capacity for being inspired consistently and honestly. “Submit” is the word for how I get to the finished product, that is, I rarely achieve the actual “finished product,” I just submit, give up trying to make it a perfect representation of my thoughts. It’s a matter of saving energy. Most of what I start writing, I shouldn’t finish, but I can’t find out what I need to finish unless I start writing.
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Here is a sample of Daniel’s work:
The spectre came, reached through my skin, my neck,
with icy fingers, probing from my neck.
My turtleneck hides broken pipes.
A Heartbeat asked, and choked my neck.
The fuck and flight. Alone, today and next.
“Appear, puppeteers! laugh through thy neck!”
All giggles, the prancing yank of strings,
In time, those notes cry out: “my heart! my neck!”
Wise tracts are lines to untrained eyes.
Bending, reigning wind, saved my neck.
While holding séance for wraiths, I heard:
“Underground Man, for love, bend thy neck.”
