Form & Function Exist Not Without Feeling

Independent Study is awesome. I almost want to call it a Sabbatical Light except that I, humbly, have not experienced a Sabbatical and, respectfully, understand that many professors use that time to get published without which they’d perish.

The work to be accepted and earn admission for an Independent Study is not easy. It’s like making toast, except that you have to bake the bread and engineer a toaster yourself, then write out the instructions for the whole process of toasting. You’re creating a syllabus for a class which already exists but doesn’t exist at that exact moment, incorporating the basics: Assignments, Grading, Reading, Deadlines, and Objectives. And, because the schedule is a tad more loose than your average class, you are left with no regular reminders to do your work/research/writing.

It took me about two weeks of brainstorming with professors and fellow classmates to garner a general idea for what I wanted my I.S. to be. Another week of meeting, formally, with professors to get the proper signatures and paperwork filled out. Close to four drafts of the syllabus (yep, just the syllabus needed that many drafts!). And another week to finalize everything including making sure the bookstore had the books (or I could find them online).

So after close to 2 months of running around, talking, planning, writing, and some hoop jumping my I.S. known as Form & Function was born. I could bore you with the distinct details or present the syllabus but since I know my friend Greggles has probably given up reading this post I’ll cut to the quick.

Prose (short stories, novels, etc.) and Poetry (sonnets, free verse, etc.) each have distinctive forms and characteristics. While Prose is generally written in block paragraphs, it must adhere to strong narrative rules. Poetry can be written in any physical form (four lines, three lines, cascade, etc.) and also has lyrical characteristics which must be maintained. The questions I tried to answer in my I.S. were:

If the same story was told in different Prose and Poetry forms, how would the differences characterize the specific forms used? Would those varying characteristics show that each form has a different function? And are those functions pretty strict or can they be manipulated and played with?

Or...

Does a sonnet have to be about something romantic, tragic, or sad because of the strict meter and rhyme scheme it has?

Does a villanelle have to sound lyrical if telling a stronger narrative moment?

Can a 250 word Micro Fiction contain enough detail to convey the emotion of the story?

If you were expanding a story from poem to short story what would you add?

If you were contracting a story from short story to poem what would you take out?

What is up with the Brewers?

My final portfolio consisted of three short stories, three traditional poetic forms, and an environmentally unfriendly hybrid (cause it took a zillion drafts to write) called a Prose Poem. Yes, sounds clear, but boy was it the hardest to write. The seven pieces all contained the same story (as a further challenge I could not add characters, scenes, or change POV...I could cheat and give greater attention to certain times in the overall story and write in any tense).

And so I learned stuff...

-Poetry, while it looks easier to write, takes about the same time to revise as Prose does.

-No one can agree on the basic elements of a Prose Poem.

-Rigid Rule Poetry (MUST rhyme, STRICT meter) sounds poetic no matter the subject matter.

-Short Stories, while they have less rules, need more internal focus of the writer.

-Poems can tell stories; stories can be poetic.

-The Brewers need to send the Cubs a goat in order to win the World Series.

I once sent a verbose e-mail about form & function to my former supervisors/advisors while I was attending Arizona State. I realized that in our daily life when a consistent group of caretakers maintain a form (workplace, home, classroom, theater, etc.) it is likely that it will be more functional to new members. The firmness of that form can allow neophytes to build upon the foundation while dreaming because they don’t have to concern themselves with reinventing the wheel.

I’ve seen some great writing happen when the Professor gives a word limit to his/her students.

Likewise the caretakers or leaders must make sure that the guidelines of the form are not too strict lest they suffocate the good ideas of those they serve or manage.

Try writing a poem where each word can only be 2 syllables long, and every fourth word must rhyme in seven lines of four metrical feet.

My e-mail very much praised the traditional approach to form the department took, and, how, after the daily work was done, there was still time for dreaming, macro-project scheming, and even a little outside the box preening for those looking to invest themselves in new ideas.

And that was the last but most important lesson learned in my I.S...without passion FOR something, without passion to tell a story or detail a dream, the forms are just empty husks, still with function, yet pretty unfunky. I spent weeks alone toiling over what story to tell. But I couldn’t just throw a basic GIRL MEETS BOY, or GOOD GUYS vs. BAD GUYS plot in there.

I needed to put my heart into it. Own my writing. Own my voice.

I once heard the adage “fake it, ‘till ya make it.” Great adage...for Poker. Or Improv. I ‘spose that some people are great at that concept, and invest themselves little, or follow the basics for the sake of following the basics.

But there’s a reason why we don’t only write Shakespearean Sonnets...its because John Milton wanted to write them his way; Walt Whitman, his way; Langston Hughes, his way; Maya Angelou, her way.

I believe individuals can exist inside any focused collective, just as I believe that a consistent collective can create individuals. But those things can only happen when you live your life with heart. When you stop putting on the Beetle Bailey façade that you’re making it work; when you stop cueing in fate’s line waiting for something big to happen to you...when you start taking those creative changes, championing causes for others, or challenging change through small steps...that’s when the beauty of Form & Function starts to sing once more with feeling.

So, for your next independent study in life...the career you always wanted to pursue, the hobby you wanted to take up, the relationship you wanted to start...here’s an anonymously written mantra for you I discovered in my high school weight room, a place where it’s pretty hard to fake it:

All I had, I gave;

all I saved, I lost forever.

pb