• Freedom and Constraint
• Kathryn Weld (bio)

In a Poetry Foundation interview with Jill Magi, poet Jennifer Firestone explains, "I was originally taught that the poem comes from knowing and that knowledge should be written down in 'beautiful' words. But that model no longer suffices. Also, fundamentally, poetry is how I learned to think critically—I'm always trying to raise the bar on my own thinking." Firestone's fifth full-length collection of poetry, Ten is a book of implicit questions: What creative work is possible when pain and drugs control the body? What determines when a collection of lines is a poem? When does process become result? When does question become art? Is it possible to record experience without invisible interference of a lunging ego? And, can we make the inevitable interference a viewed experience?

While still caring for her toddler, and unexpectedly facing a painful knee operation, Firestone responded by adopting a discipline that would enable her to continue to write during her lengthy recovery period:

The narrative changed. Not the way you wanted or planned. The stories kept ricocheting, flying through car windows. The post-op was the "space" that needed designation. A nice outfit. A frame. Ten. It was clean. It could be done. Ten lines a page. If you did it in a day, you'd feel okay. That was work.

The resulting book, titled Ten, explores constraint and freedom in artistic self-expression via a simple logic. There is no table of contents. Instead, Firestone sets up a structure in which four untitled poems, each containing exactly ten lines, are followed by one-two pages of framing prose poems. This mathematically satisfying pattern repeats exactly ten times for a total of fifty poems. The prose poems read like journal entries and function to give context to the more experimental ten-line poems. The quote above is an example.

During her recovery, with limited mobility, Firestone continues to add constraints. She looks out the window, simultaneously attuned to her own looking and receiving, and records in the scene:

But now you will always hold that view. Preserve it. One might feel you are being forced. That is true. Or might feel you are being present. Also true.

In contrast with the prose-poems, Firestone's free-verse poems, populated with bones, a tiresome sea, light, death, straggling vines, robots and particles, are disjointed. They record and preserve the view while trying to remain true to the shockingly fragmentary way in which the mind moves and comments. The lines deliberately resist the process of making meaning, at least a linear, deductive meaning; instead, they allow the body, with its emotional intelligence, to have a more shaping voice.

Firestone, in the interview with Magi, says, "Inviting boredom and silence can be a great practice on many levels, including as a gateway to experimental poetry." We rarely welcome or even notice what happens internally in such a moment. By her example, Firestone suggests that here is fertile ground.

The swelling. Could be an enormous wave. Well,close to it. Always in water – so your thoughts.Farther away than noticed. Well.Ten seems somewhat bare today.For what? Wet ropes—sea knots.Noting the temperature by leaves. The breeze.Well, inside thickening. She notes [End Page 26] atmospheric dips. And at four someone at the door,regulating.

In saying that the intelligence of the body is given a "shaping voice," I mean that the poet allows her verse to pay uncensored attention and to voice impulses in feeling and body, as well as in thought, that are as subtle as the play of a fickle wind. In doing so, she broadens and questions a sense of self that our automatic functioning in the world regards as known. Here is Firestone, again in the Poetry Foundation interview: "We're so focused on answers—it paralyzes students or awards the most verbal or aggressive ones. I always think about poet Kaia Sand's statement, 'I am interested in a poetic practice that insists on inexpert inquiry, gathering ideas and ways of knowing to open a space for more...

• 自由与约束
• 凯瑟琳·韦德（生物）

诗人詹妮弗·费尔斯通（Jennifer Firestone）在诗基金会对吉尔·麦吉（Jill Magi）的采访中解释说：“最初，我被告知诗是来自于知识，应该以'美丽'的字眼来写下知识。但是这种模式已不再足够。而且，从根本上说，诗歌这就是我学会批判性思考的方式-我一直试图根据自己的想法提高标准。” 凡士通的第五部诗歌全集，《十本》是一个含蓄的问题：当痛苦和毒品控制着身体时，哪些创造性的工作是可能的？是什么决定一串诗何时是一首诗？处理什么时候成为结果？问题什么时候成为艺术？是否有可能在没有潜意识自我干扰的情况下记录经验？而且，我们能否使不可避免的干扰成为一种观看体验？

在仍照顾她的孩子并意外地面临膝盖痛苦的痛苦时，凡世通采取了一种纪律训练，以使她在漫长的康复期间继续写作，对此做出了回应：

叙述改变了。不是您想要或计划的方式。故事不断跳来跳去，穿过车窗飞舞。后期操作是需要指定的“空间”。不错的衣服。一个框架。十。很干净 可以做到的。每页十行。如果您一天都这样做，您会感觉还不错。那是工作。

最终的书名为《十》，通过简单的逻辑探讨了艺术自我表现的约束和自由。没有目录。相反，凡士通建立了一个结构，其中四首无标题的诗，每首正好包含十行，其后是一两页的框架散文诗。这种数学上令人满意的模式恰好重复了十次，总共创作了五十首诗。散文诗读起来像期刊条目，其功能是为更具实验性的十行诗提供背景。上面的引用是一个示例。

在康复期间，由于行动不便，凡世通继续增加了限制。她看着窗外，同时调整自己的视线和接收效果，并在场景中进行记录：

但是现在您将始终保持该观点。保留它。有人可能会觉得你被逼了。那是真实的。或可能感觉到您在场。也是如此。

与散文诗相反，凡士通的自由诗集散布着骨头，疲惫的海洋，光明，死亡，流连的藤蔓，机器人和粒子，它们相互交织。他们记录并保留了视图，同时试图忠于思维中移动和评论的令人震惊的零碎方式。这些线条故意抵制了意义的过程，至少是线性的，演绎的意义；取而代之的是，它们可以使具有情感智能的身体发出更具塑造性的声音。

凡士通在接受《贤士》杂志采访时说：“在许多层面上，鼓励无聊和沉默都是一种很好的做法，包括作为通往实验诗歌的门户。” 我们很少欢迎甚至注意到这一刻内部发生的事情。以她的例子为例，凡世通认为这里是肥沃的土地。

肿胀。可能是巨大的浪潮。好吧，接近它。总是在水中–您的想法。比注意到的更远。出色地。今天十点似乎有些空缺。为了什么？湿的绳索-海结。注意到叶子的温度。微风。好吧，里面变​​厚。她注意到[结束第26页] 大气下降。在门口有四个人在调节。

说到身体的机能被赋予“塑造的声音”，我的意思是，诗人允许诗人对诗歌进行未经审查的关注，并在感觉，身体以及思想中对声音进行冲动，这些冲动与戏剧一样微妙。飘忽不定的风。通过这种方式，她拓宽并质疑了我们在世界范围内自动运转所广为人知的自我意识。这是费尔斯通，再次在诗歌基金会的访谈中：“我们是如此专注于答案，它使学生瘫痪或奖励最言语或最具攻击性的人。我一直在想诗人凯亚·桑德（Kaia Sand）的话：“我对一种诗歌实践很感兴趣，坚持不熟练的询问，收集思想和知识的方式来为更多的人开辟一个空间。