Nourishing Enjoyment

Harry Eyres, writing in the Financial Times, found magnificently rigorous the enjoyment of Mallarmé’s great French poem L’après-midi d’un Faune (Afternoon of a Faun). He comments that difficult art involves “untangling the skein of meanings,” but can be most enriching. Eyres also says that difficult art has gone out of fashion because it clashes with demands for universal access. On the other hand, Ted Kooser, poet laureate of the United States and recent Pulitzer Prize winner, believes that “Enjoying a poem shouldn’t be hard.” Taste is in the palate of the beholder.

In the ForeSight Poetry article “A Sassy Art: New Poetry that Defies Formula” Melanie Drane mentions the many MFA creative writing programs, noting that some people contend that the result will be formulaic “workshop” poetry—”perhaps well crafted, but too careful and predictable.” Alexander Theroux (who learned the “ruses of the trade” from the likes of Homer, Shakespeare and Joyce) asserted that workshop students tend to write by numbers. Melanie revels in the high quality of selected poems in these new collections, with their diversity of voices, styles, and form; she did not find anything by the numbers here.

ForeWord is honored that she prepared this article, especially now, since Melanie the Conqueror’s feat: she was awarded first place in The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition 2005, sponsored by the London-based Poetry Society and The Independent. She’s the first non-Brit to receive the award in the twenty-eight-year history of the competition. Melanie’s poem, “The Year the Rice-Crop Failed” (printed on page 70 in the Special Notes section of this issue and available on www.poetrysociety.org.uk/comp/comp05.htm), was chosen from among almost 7,000 entries. She joins a long list of outstanding poets who have won this prize, including Jo Shapcott, Ian Duhig, Colette Bryce, and Carol Ann Duffy. “The very visual poem stands out for its stunning use of language, evocative sensory detail and original imagery,” said judge Bernardine Evaristo.

Enjoying history shouldn’t be hard, either, suggests Nelly Heitman, in her ForeSight Fiction essay on debut fiction, “Shattering the Myth: Entertaining Historical Lessons.” She writes that thoughts of history classes conjure distressing memories of arid memorizations dry as the desert, with little benefit to anyone except historians. Nelly finds these debut novels laced with historical facts and events that fascinate, nullifying the idea that history means boredom. Rather than tangling “skeins of meanings,” each novel entwines aspects of the past with imaginative writing skills.

Just as history and poetry are more meaningful when they are pleasurable, so it is with food. In his ForeSight Food article, “Tastes Great, Less Fulfilling: Asking More from Cookbooks,” Seth McEvoy cites recent studies that clearly indicate that the human body derives a much higher percentage of nutrients from food when it tastes good. He says, “appealing flavor causes us to salivate more, chew longer, and more effectively digest,” and thus we receive extra benefits from food that’s delicious. Seth describes books that teach readers how to eat nutritiously, as well as how to make food taste as good as possible.

These articles offer menus of cerebral and nutritious enjoyment.