September 19th, 2010 / 12:45 pm
Author Spotlight

The title poem in Natalie Lyalin’s UDP chapbook, Try a Little Time Travel, is funny. It begins:

Try it a bit, instead of sexing
One night. Close your eyes,

And think, Grandmother,
I’m coming to you, live!

(link to purchase)

I like capitalizing the first word in every line in poetry. Some people think it’s old fashioned. It doesn’t mean anything really, I just like it.

All the poems are good. Here’s a bit from another one, where the title is the same as the first line of the poem (a convention I also like, though not as much):

Jesus shows inside his flesh.
He is airy marbles and we are
All looking at his un-pain

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26 Comments

  1. Eric

      Try a Little Time Travel is a great collection. My favorite line: “Feel the stench of our swamp hearts!”

  2. jamie iredell

      Natalie Lyalin is the shizzzz

  3. Khakjaan Wessington

      Caps on the first letter of each line are used to help the eye read the line as independent syntax, rather than a fragment of a clause.

      When people don’t use caps this way, it just means they’re copying other poets and don’t know what they’re doing.

  4. Paul

      No, I wholeheartedly intended to write “dribble.” You know, as in “drool” . . . you see, the use of the word “dribble” functions as a pun.

      Of course what you’re writing is drivel–your comments are frequently wholly accurate representations of drivel. However, you seem like the type who considers your own comments/responses absolutely masturbatory–one can practically hear the drool (or dribble) dripping onto your keyboard as you type. Do you see the radical dualism going on here–the flow from dribble to drivel to dribble and so on?

      Hopefully you understand now. I’m sure you can understand why I would ask you something like, “Are you attempting to insinuate that Natalie Lyalin doesn’t know what she is doing?” since the comment doesn’t seem to be addressing anyone in particular. You didn’t exactly provide any kind of textual evidence either–leaving me forced to believe you possess ultimate omniscience. I could have asked you, “Are you attempting to insinuate that Adam Robinson doesn’t know what he is doing?” Were you attempting to do that? What was the reason behind your little epiphany?

      I should have probably never said anything. Judging by the caliber of the writing on TOYLIT, it seems you’re an absolutely perfect candidate to be defining what kinds of writers use caps at what time and what place blah blah blah

  5. Ted

      Well that certainly is a lot of copying, then.

  6. Paul Cunningham

      Are you attempting to insinuate that Natalie Lyalin doesn’t know what she is doing? Or have I somehow misinterpreted your dribble?

  7. Ted

      Lyalin is actually an amazing poet. This website dedicated a whole week to her, so if you want to form an opinion of her work all you have to do is search her name here.

      I have no interest in criticizing you or your online mag or your pointless argument, but you should be aware that if you google search ‘toylit’ this comes up: ‘Did you mean: toilet’

  8. Khakjaan Wessington

      No. Are you attempting to say ‘drivel’ when you say ‘dribble?’

  9. Paul Cunningham

      No, I wholeheartedly intended to write “dribble.” You know, as in “drool” . . . you see, the use of the word “dribble” functions as a pun.

      Of course what you’re writing is drivel–your comments are frequently wholly accurate representations of drivel. However, you seem like the type who considers your own comments/responses absolutely masturbatory–one can practically hear the drool (or dribble) dripping onto your keyboard as you type. Do you see the radical dualism going on here–the flow from dribble to drivel to dribble and so on?

      Hopefully you understand now. I’m sure you can understand why I would ask you something like, “Are you attempting to insinuate that Natalie Lyalin doesn’t know what she is doing?” since the comment doesn’t seem to be addressing anyone in particular. You didn’t exactly provide any kind of textual evidence either–leaving me forced to believe you possess ultimate omniscience. I could have asked you, “Are you attempting to insinuate that Adam Robinson doesn’t know what he is doing?” Were you attempting to do that? What was the reason behind your little epiphany?

      I should have probably never said anything. Judging by the caliber of the writing on TOYLIT, it seems you’re an absolutely perfect candidate to be defining what kinds of writers use caps at what time and what place blah blah blah

  10. Paul Cunningham

      She is marvelous

  11. Khakjaan Wessington

      Presumptuous, aren’t you? The original post said: “I like capitalizing the first word in every line in poetry. Some people think it’s old fashioned. It doesn’t mean anything really, I just like it.” My post spoke to that.

      Sounds like you have an axe to grind. That’s cool, but irrelevant to this conversation. And I’m totally game for hearing your criticisms of Toylit, but it sounds like you’re irritable (I know the mood well) and want to antagonize a conversation that probably doesn’t belong here.

      You might not like my writing, but I’m totally qualified to talk about the mechanics of poetry. Whatever flaws my verse has, poetic mechanics is not amongst them.

      Why am I even addressing you? You’re the one getting all verbose & indicting yourself (I know, you think it’s directed at me…). You get all worked up over a strawman position you wish I would take, when I know better than to judge a poet without reading him/her. I will say though that the lines cited were nothing special; not special enough for me to note by themselves. Maybe that’s what has you all riled up– ‘how dare this wannabe respond to this thread and ignore a better poet! It figures the author of Toylit would ignore his better.’ Why not say that? Chicken? Incoherent? It’s okay, happens to the best of us. Happens to the worst of us too, but notice I didn’t make that accusation? Heh he heh.

  12. Paul Cunningham

      I think the fact that you just used the phrase, “strawman position” and the phrase, “have an axe to grind,” in the same response speaks volumes about you. Perhaps, someone is quite familiar with being accused of being vague or accusatory (wink wink). Then again, there I go being presumptuous again.

      I would not have gotten “riled up” if you would have simply wrote: “Caps on the first letter of each line are used to help the eye read the line as independent syntax, rather than a fragment of a clause,” and nothing else, because then at least you’re leaving room for another person to respond.

      However, when one says something additionally like, “When people don’t use caps this way, it just means they’re copying other poets and don’t know what they’re doing,” a reader begins detecting a bit of passive-aggressive egocentrism. Another example of your questionable ethos is your passage, “I will say though that lines cited were nothing special.” Again, no reasoning for your stance given.

      Though I do agree–this conversation does not belong here and I will not be continuing it elsewhere.

  13. Khakjaan Wessington

      1) And yet the entirety of your post was about me, not about the poet. HTML GIANT has a memory hole if you wanna disavow your words, go and edit your post. But accusing me of holding positions I don’t hold and then saying I’m paranoid for calling you on your strawman is total bullshit given what you wrote above. Go hide the dirty evidence before you try playing oral argument games w/ me.
      2) I’m not allowed to make judgments? Then who the fuck are you to judge me? No, your real beef here is that you don’t like me. Message received. Too bad you had to do it in a passive aggressive, chicken-shit manner, but that’s not surprising. I’m catnip for dolts like you–the guy you love to hate. You seem familiar w/ that position too, so it sounds like you’re playing your own role in the ritualized combat.
      3) Bloviate often?

  14. Paul Cunningham

      Questions are not accusations.

      “Are you attempting to insinuate that Natalie Lyalin doesn’t know what she is doing?”

      Also, encouraging another person to elaborate on his or her points of view is not “judging.”

      If you want to be perceived as a credible writer who manages a credible online journal (TOYLIT), you need to express your opinions, avoid passive aggressive tactics, and elaborate on your points of view when participating in an open forum like this. If you don’t act intelligently, what is there to stop someone from making further assumptions regarding your position (as writer or manager).

  15. Khakjaan Wessington

      Interesting backpedal. There’s no rule that says I have to argue why a fact’s a fact. I am not interested in communicating with people who don’t see the technical advantages of capping the first character of every line in verse.

      And then there’s the ‘if I want to be perceived…’ crap–you mean, if I want YOU to perceive me: nice use of the passive form to universalize a controversial claim.

      My verse has its own credibility. You don’t like me? That’s fine. Don’t like my verse? Take it up w/ the verse. It’s not my fault if you aren’t emotionally disciplined enough to separate your feelings for me for your feelings for my verse.

      As for this point: “Also, encouraging another person to elaborate on his or her points of view is not “judging.”” I wouldn’t say so either, except that this is what you asked instead: “Are you attempting to insinuate that Natalie Lyalin doesn’t know what she is doing? Or have I somehow misinterpreted your dribble?” You weren’t satisfied when I said ‘no’ to your first question and seemed galled by my mockery of your failed cut (which you needed 2 paragraphs to follow up with–that’s utter fail… do you need an argument to buttress that claim? Lol!).

      Don’t pretend to be all dignified when you were hoping I would respond heatedly and play into your trap. Your gambit failed. You misread my character. And you were a total shit in your attempts to backpedal and regain the moral high ground. Blah blah. Weak-ass shit.

  16. Owen Kaelin

      Hit and run, eh, Khaki?

      On #2: One is given the right to judge you and your judgment when you make a pronouncement on a public forum as to whether or not someone who writes in a particular fashion knows what or she is doing or should even be writing in that manner.

      The latter is a particular annoyance to me, as others on here can tell you.

      Your first paragraph in your original post was okay. True: you’re pontificating on an obvious point, but… okay. You’re not incorrect.

      Your second paragraph was the inflammatory one: “When people don’t use caps this way, it just means they’re copying other poets and don’t know what they’re doing.”

      Allow me to bring up a comparison: When Donald Barthelme stopped using quotations or any other indicator (like the Joycean dash) that a person was speaking, and instead wrote lines like (flipping randomly through his first collection)…

        Goodbye, Inge, Paul said. Your wonderful blondness has been wonderful and I shall always remember you that way. Goodbye! Goodbye!
        The newsreel articulated the fall of Ethiopia.

      …does this mean that Barthelme didn’t know what he was doing? Does the writing confuse you? The reason that people are not only not-confused by this but that many, many modern writers have adopted this style bolsters the value of this technique. I won’t insult your intelligence by going on to explain the implications of a technique you probably already understand.

      Now… on verse poets who might decide to write without capitalizing each line: If you do this consistently: it becomes understood and confuses precisely nobody. If you do it inconsistently but there is an immediately perceivable pattern and/or the sentences imply, in themselves, to be ending at one line and then beginning at the next even though there is no capital letter at the beginning of each line (a period at the end of the preceding line, at any rate, would suffice if all else failed): it becomes understood.

      Be careful when you get the urge to tell people how they should and should not write.

  17. Khakjaan Wessington

      I can tell people whatever I like and visa versa. And you had to use a prose writer to make your point–what’s up with that? I was talking about poetry. And if my point was so obvious, then are you saying Adam is clueless? Because he’s the one who said: “I like capitalizing the first word in every line in poetry. Some people think it’s old fashioned. It doesn’t mean anything really, I just like it.” not I.

      Anyhow, I was only speaking to caps on the first character of a line in poetry. Find me a counterexample and we’ll talk. It’s a tool, that’s all. I think meter and rhyme are essential tools in a poet’s toolkit, but I think you’re being disingenuous if you think I’d be arguing that those who don’t use rhyme & meter are idiots. I only spoke to the use of caps in the first character of each line; I didn’t say anything about those who don’t use caps.

      If anything you’re just bolstering my point. Hey, I know I’m a dick & it’s hard to want to agree w/ me about anything, but you’re arguing that syntactic choices have semantic results; I never disagreed w/ that claim. I was speaking to the nachart writers of poetry (re: Dave Soldier’s essay on Nachkmusik http://davesoldier.com/articles/Soldier_Leonardo.pdf) who copy other poets, rather than examine their own personal language and write out from there.

      Be careful when you think you’re writing a rebuttal and you’re just writing a concordance.

  18. Ted

      Lyalin is actually an amazing poet. This website dedicated a whole week to her, so if you want to form an opinion of her work all you have to do is search her name here.

      I have no interest in criticizing you or your online mag or your pointless argument, but you should be aware that if you google search ‘toylit’ this comes up: ‘Did you mean: toilet’

  19. Khakjaan Wessington

      Maybe she is, I was waiting until I had some time to look her up.

      You seem eager to judge me by the judgments of others. Not feeling confident in your own assessment eh?

  20. Ted

      ?

      I just said I had not interest in criticizing you, which, if you aren’t aware, is pretty much a synonym for judging. I was actually bringing the focus back to Lyalin, whose chapbook this post is about and whose poems merit recognition. I literally have no idea who you are.

  21. Owen Kaelin

      Khaki, c’mon. He had to explain it because you didn’t get it.

  22. Trey

      yeah, it’s unfortunate that the comments got so far from talking about Lyalin so quickly. I’ve just recently started to read her (just got Saltgrass 5 in the mail not too long ago and it has several killer poems by her in it). She’s great.

  23. Owen Kaelin

      Khaki, stick to the point. Please.

      1. Nobody yet has made any mention of rhyme or meter. Talk about strawmen.
      2. My intent was not to find you a counterexample, it was to show that you were mistaken in your charge.
      3. Bolstering your point? How? Explain, please? You haven’t done so, yet.
      4. You say: “And if my point was so obvious, then are you saying Adam is clueless?” Nooo . . . I’m saying that since the point was obvious: it was not necessary for you to say. Adam knows why capitalization is so often used in verse. You did not have to explain it to him.

      Now…

      I used a prose & fiction writer rather than a verse poet because 1. Barthelme’s treatment of dialogue was the first applicable comparison that came to mind and 2. I’m not a student of verse, I’m a student of prose: poetics as well as straight narrative. Anyone who knows me should not find it odd for me to make a cross-reference: I make artistic cross-references all the time, wherever they are applicable. I do not need to stick to verse to demonstrate that betraying an artistic ‘convention’ is not something that’s bad, m’kay?

      The point was made. That’s all that matters. If you refuse to acknowledge it because Barthelme did not write verse poetry: that’s your problem, not mine.

  24. NLY

      I don’t know why I bother reading the comments here.

  25. Owen Kaelin

      Sometimes, I’m not sure why I bother contributing.

  26. Ben Fama

      Come on Adam, Natalie deserves a better endorsement than this! This is just nerdy-hater bait!