"The Art of Noticing"

And the journal entry as poem. Plus The Heard.

Yes, I was initially very excited to notice the title — several people wrote to me about it — for the latest episode of The Ezra Klein Show, a podcast I enjoy. But then I quickly figured out that despite the phrase “the art of noticing,” the episode has nothing to do with me or TAoN.

LOL — oh well, so much for my brush with greatness!

And yet … Klein’s interview with poet Jane Hirshfield is good, and does intersect with TAoN values in insightful, useful ways. So as long as I took the time to listen closely, I’ll share three entries in the digital notebook :)

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1: “Noticing what is ordinarily unnoticed”

Klein: One thing I appreciate about this poem [“My Skeleton”], which is true for a lot of your poems, is that it brings a very close awareness to something that is always close to us, and we are very rarely aware of. And I’m curious — because it is something you do often — how that process works for you.

Hirshfield: So thank you, first, for noticing that. Because I do think that for me, one large element that goes into this life of poem-making is a matter of noticing what is ordinarily unnoticed, both for me personally and also for poetry’s work in the world.

Obviously I endorse that sentiment — and well beyond poem-making! It’s a theme of the book and the newsletter, and I can’t say it too often: Always make the effort to notice what everyone else has overlooked or taken for granted. It’s the beginning of all creativity and innovation.

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2: “What the central focus of the culture is not looking at”

Klein: There’s a deep, intense focus [in poetry] on the tangible material existence we have, in a way that now seems quite different to me than other intellectual disciplines. And I’m curious why — first, if that feels right to you. But if so, why do you think that is?

Hirshfield: Well, it feels entirely right to me. But I do think that our job as poets — as I mentioned a little bit earlier, one of the jobs of all art is to look at what the central focus of the culture is not looking at.

Agree!

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3: Journal Entry As Poem

While I enjoyed Hirshfield’s comments on noticing the overlooked etc., my favorite bit of the interview was a little different — and perhaps inspirational (especially to those who might find poetry a little intimidating).

Klein asks Hirshfield to read the short poem, “Advice to Myself.” Here it is: