Thursday, October 24, 2013

Chaco Canyon


Hey Everybody,


Thinking back to V.B. Price’s Chaco Trilogy and how all the poems are based on the location: Chaco Canyon. Do you think it made or would make a difference if you had been to Chaco Canyon? I know for me when I read the poems there was of course visual descriptions of the canyon and I kept trying to picture myself in the canyon. I wonder, however, would the poems speak to us more if we had been to said location? I know I enjoyed the visual description and the meaning that place brought to the poet, but I wonder if we would feel the same if we went to the canyon? It is funny after reading the poems, I really do want to go to Chaco Canyon. Let me know your thoughts.

3 comments:

  1. I have also never been to Chaco Canyon, but I think it probably would've made the poems even more effective if I was familiar with the area. The poems were already wonderful on their own, and the couple of black-and-white photographs definitely helped me picture the area being written about, but I really have no other concept whatsoever of the canyon, surrounding area, or its history to work from. The poems were so emotionally invested and in awe of this place in particular, that I think I definitely would get more out of them after I visit Chaco Canyon someday.

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  2. I have been to Chaco Canyon. The poems spoke to me in a lot of ways, which if I hadn't been to Chaco Canyon, might not have been the case. However, I have been to many different places that give the same spiritual feeling as Chaco Canyon gave V.B. Price, so I think even if I hadn't been to Chaco Canyon, I would've understood the feeling behind the poems. Have you ever been out in nature and marveled at how wonderful and strange it was?

    In German, there is a word for loneliness in the woods: Waldeinsamkeit. It is literally "wood loneliness." This came up when I was in Germany this summer, and there is no exact translation in English. We don't have a word for this feeling. In the woods, you can feel a special sort of loneliness--and I wouldn't call it loneliness, exactly. It's just that you're alone in nature and it feels special.

    That's what I got out of V.B. Price's Chaco Trilogy, at least.

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  3. I have also never been to chaco canyon. I loved the descriptions of the location in the poems. It made everything seem so magical. I think; however, that if I had been to chaco canyon, it might not have been as magical. It probably still would have been a little bit, but in my mind it was almost fairy tale like, which wouldn't have happened if I had a real place in my mind behind those words. This reminds me of our discussion about if we though Albuquerque could be the setting for cirtain genres of books... in the same way, having been to chaco canyon or not will change our reading. I think in this case, for me at least, it wouldn't have made it worse or better, just less magical and fairytale like.

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