EISWEIN POETICS

Sometimes, when one works in collages, appropriations, recontextualizations -- however one refers to it -- the notion of the result "being better than the original" comes up. But, really, if you think about it, and of course you do, when something inspires an artist to create anew, this isn't the way to think about the nature of inspiration.

Think of it as the creation of eiswein versus the creation of other dessert wines based on "noble rot". Eiswein is made from grapes that have frozen on the vine, but are otherwise healthy grapes. Other sweet wines (like Trockenbeerenauslese, Sauternes, Beerenauslese or Schilfwein) are made from grapes affected by botrytis (or "noble rot"). The latter creates something fabulous from sources that are otherwise ... icky.

Entonces, when fabulous writing inspires me to create new poems, I think of the process as Eiswein poetics because one wasn't trying to improve on the original sources which are healthy in their fabulousness -- one simply was inspired.

Which all leads me to what I was working on today -- the manuscript for my new poetry collection which I've since entitled

                  NOTA BENE EISWEIN

The "Nota Bene" refers to the what I noted or derived from existing writings, and the Eiswein refers to those writings' fabulousity.

Well, I don't know about you -- but that's a great way to start off cocktail hour for Moi! So, cheers!