POETICKS

I felt good this morning, like I might actually accomplish something. But the computer was screwed up. That killed around five hours. Without my fixing it, just working around the mess. It’s now near noon and it looks like things are back to normal. It’ll need more work, but I need a break from it.

I thought I might write at length today about the maximuteur, my word (just minted) for anyone who makes a serious life-effort to produce a culturework of the highest order. There are two kinds of maximuteurs, culturateurs and aberrateurs, the first succeeding in producing major cultureworks, the second not. I coined the word thinking of myself, of someone who, if he’s a failure, is a failure at the very highest level.

On 26 July, I made a list of the works I wanted to finish before croaking.  Then, yesterday,  I suddenly remembered one I had left off the list, having entirely forgotten it till then.  A book of thoughts for the masses of the kind that are every once in a while very popular.  I had what I thought a clever subject that I might be able to rattle on about for 150 or so pages.  The result would have an excellent chance of being commercial–if I could ever find a way to bring it to the masses’ attention.  I have a list of the thoughts it would be about; they all need discussion.  I could probably write a good semi-final draft in a month or so.  At times, I thought it should be the first thing I should go all out on when I could.  As if I’ll ever go all out on anything again. . . .

Laughable as it may seem, I’m not going to say more about what it’s about for fear that someone more energetic than I will grab it and run with it.

Okay, for me to claim that I’ve never experienced a major happiness is ridiculous.  For Pete’s Sake, I can recall a book on oceanography for laymen that gave me major happiness.  Certainly all kinds of other books, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and music and painting have given me major happiness.  More than a few personal relationships, too.  However, there are degrees of major happiness.  What I haven’t experienced is the major happiness of the highest degree.

Everyone, I’m sure, has a different notion as to the value of different happinesses.  I, for instance, would never consider food or sex capable of giving me more than a minor happiness of the first rank.  Food and sex are all many people live for, on the other hand.  The happiness most important to me is the happiness of achievement–making a thing of beauty or discovering a new, effective understanding of some aspect of existence.  Art and verosophy (mainly science).

The rank of a happiness gained through achievement depends on the size of the achievement.  To illustrate, I experienced what I deem a major happiness of the fourth rank as a verosopher when, some 45 years ago–before the certified experts in the field, I believe–I concluded that hyper-activity in children was, counter-intuitively, due to insufficient rather than over-abundant energy.   The hyper-active kid, to put it simply, is over-active physically because he lacks the energy for self-control.

The major happiness I experienced in developing my theory of temperaments, which explains why his lack of energy limits the hyper-active kid’s self-control, and precede my lesser discovery, was a step higher because a larger achievement than the discovery, and the over-all theory of psychology I constructed, in which my theory of temperaments was just one thing explained, gave me major happiness of the second-rank.  Note: I’m talking about how much happiness an achievement gives the person achieving it.  This has nothing to do with its validity, only with how valid its fashioner believes it to be.  Obviously, if the achievement is eventually shown to have resulted in something of little or no value, its father will experience a major unhappiness.

I think my best happinesses as a poet have only been major happinesses of the third rank.  But I suspect there are people, perhaps many people, who have never experienced so exalted a happiness.  In any case, I consider the thrill of making a poem that seems good to be a major happiness of the fourth rank, and the delight of getting together a more or less unified collection of poems one considers good a major happiness of the third rank.  I feel I’ve done both.

This brings us to what a major happiness of the first rank is.  I can only tell you what it is for me.  I have to say in advance that it bothers me hugely to do so, for I’ve always admired myself for being independent, for not caring what others thought of me or what I did–at least much less than most others did.  Well, the irony is, that what I need to experience a major happiness of the first rank is large-scale recognition of something I’ve achieved as important to the culture of my time.  Basically, I need world-acclaim.

I feel, then, that I’ve already experienced major happinesses of the second rank.  I want the world, not just a few friends, to treat it as Something of High Significance.  Then I would experience a major happiness of the first rank.

If you look to the right you’ll see a new title under “Pages,” “Bob Grumman’s First Piece in SPR.”  I no longer remember how I happened to get it onto the pages of Small Press Review, but I suspect it had to do with the openness to visual and related forms of poetry of  SPR publisher, Len Fulton, because of his admiration for d. a. levy, and acquaintance with Karl Kempton.  (Note to all you grad students of 2055 research this, the diary I was keeping at the time probably has much more to say about it, but I’m too lazy now to try to find it.)

I’m eternally grateful to Len for accepting my piece, though.  Despite the fact that it didn’t do nearly as much for me as I thought it would.  I thought it was a terrific piece about a fascinating subject.  I further thought that being in Small Press Review, a much more recognized publication than any other I’d gotten (or would get) published in, would get me noticed by someone connected with an upscale magazine like The Atlantic, who–charmed by my style, and the subject of my essay–would persuade an editor of such a magazine to solicit me for a similar piece, which he thought would expand his readers’ horizons and give them a good deal of fun.  What a laugh.

One good did come from my piece: Len accepted a short review of mine for his next issue, and not too long afterward, took me on as a contributing editor of a new venture he’d begun, Small Magazine Review.  That didn’t get anywhere, so a year or so later he merged it with Small Press Review, keeping me on as a contributing editor, soon with a column in every issue (six a year).  My next column will be my hundredth.

Note: I’m pleased to say that although I’d change five or six of the words in my piece, I still consider it one of my best, and certainly of greater value than anything by Vendler, Perloff, Bloom or any other certified critic of poetry our our time.  (That may be why I’ve re-used huge chunks of it at least three times.)

Here’s a list of the Life Works I hope to get done (in the order I think I should get them done) before I croak.  Letter indicate how important I believe each other is compared to the others, “A” being most important.  It’s mostly for myself although I would certainly be interested in anybody else’s similar list.

1. Revision of A StrayngeBook

I have ideas for five to ten new pages; then I have to add color, which shouldn’t take too long.

It’s number one because it’s the only life work of mine that might actually make money as I have an actual commercial publisher who is willing seriously to consider it (after seeing the original).  It’s also tops because it should be a lot of fun and shouldn’t take long.  A

2. Final Revision of The Atlantreality Box

I have a full draft of this, my sci-fi novel, half revised, and the rest of the revision should not be difficult.  I discouraged about it, though, for I don’t have any idea qhat I could do with it once it was done.  Number two because it shouldn’t take long to do, and I consider it about as worth getting done as any of my life works.  I’m absolutely sure it would be a commercial success if I could find a way to get it to people’s attention. A (tie)

3. Publication of Writing To Be Seen, Volume 2

This needs an introduction and a little work, then getting a publisher and I think I know of one

I owe the people whose work is in this book to get it published as soon as possible.  C

4. Completion of A Summer Day Anatomized

I have perhaps twenty percent of this done but know what I want to say in the rest of it, for the most part. 

High on the list because I will enjoy working on it and it would make my mainstream critical reputation if I could get market it properly, and there’s a built in audience for it, Shakespeare being very popularand if I sent free copies to the many Shakespeare scholars I know, I think there’s a fair chance one of them would read it and like it enough to publicize it.  B

5. Critique of Diana Price’s Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography, An Investigation of Propagandistical Techniques

I have a rough draft of this but it’s not well-organized so will need a lot of work.

In some ways not even worth doing, but I think I can say valuable things about propagandistical techniques, and it will be satisfying to demolish so wretched a book.  A good outlet for the venom I have too much in me.  E

6. Construction and Testing of Zingkrieg

Zingkrieg is a board game I have pretty completely worked out in my head.  It is based on a previous strategy game I created forty years ago.  It  requires a number of decks of cards, a board, tokens, a booklet of rule of play and someone to play it with to find and correct the flaws it’s sure to have.  I consider it a superior game and, if I pull it off, will be as great an achievement as anything else I have done. A (tie)

7. Completion of Of Manywhere-at-Once, Volumes 2 and 3

I have lots of already-written material to draw on for these but probably a third of each book will require new writing.

This should be easy and it’s a project I’ve wanted to get out of the way for twenty years.

This would be a good change from my other projects, which are mostly writing projects.  B (tie)

8. Completion of The Importance of the Poetry of E. E. Cummings

I have an essay about the influence of Cummings done, but it would take a lot of addition words to make it book-length.

There might be a little scholarly interest in the book and I have a slight in with Cummings scholars.  B (tie)

9.  Complete Knowlecular Psychology

I’m sure I have enough already completed material for a book on my knowlecular psychology

but would like to produce a complete description of it, which would mean a lot of new wordage.  A lot of organization will be required, too.  A (tie)

Gotta get this done but shold wait becasue once into, I could too easily get bogged down and not only get nowhere with it, but nowhere with anything else.

10. Revision of Plays

I have eight to twelve full-length plays (and a few one-acts) I hope to make a collection of.  Three or four are finished, or just about finished; another three or four need quite a bit of work although I have finished drafts of them.  Two or three are in-progress first drafts.

The problem with doing this, perhaps more so than most of my other life works is what do I do with the result?  Also, Most of the better plays are finished, and the others are close enough to finished to allow others to finish them if the finished plays ever caught on, and that wouldn’t bother me.  C (tie)

11. Completion of America’s State Religion: Formal Education

This I’m more hazy about than any other of my life’s work but it will be based on my theory of temperaments to a large extent, and be polemical.

Last of the life works I should do because it would take a long time and isn’t that important.  D

12. Completion of Harbor View

Tis was to be my great epic poem of some hundred full-page visual poems but I now doubt I can get anywhere with it.  I have a few ideas for it and have made a few poems that will work for it.  I would need a much better computer and printer to get it done–and at least a year without medical or financial problems.

This is the work I’d most like to get done, but the one I have the least confidence of even half-finishing, so should leave it to last, or nearly last. A (tie)

13. Complete various Power Point Presentations.

I have two or three pretty good Power Point presentations that are from 30 to 60 minutes in length that shouldn’t need much work to finish.  F

The least important of my life works and okay as is, so there’s no sense in working on them–unless I suddenly get tremendously in the mood to, as I might if asked to present one somewhere.

Meanwhile, I need to continue writing my once-every-two-month column for Small Press Review and continue composing mathemaku and Poem poems.