Chasers of The Light by Tyler Knott Gregson
Chasers of The Light by Tyler Knott Gregson and My Blog
Chasers Of The Light • Tyler Knott Gregson is sociology and criminology graduate of the University of Montana • Former freelance writer and blogger • Been writing poetry since middle school • His reasoning for wanting to publish a poetry book was to make ‘poetry come alive’ again • Found an old typewriter at an antique store, inspired him to put the book together • He writes poems daily • Also is a professional photographer, he used his own photos throughout the book • He donated $2 dollars of pre-ordered Chasers of the light to the organization of Suicide Prevention called ‘To Write Love On Her Arms” • He has a facebook page where he posts poems daily
Style Choices • Style of poetry is that of survival and love, and the correlation that both can not exist without the other • In more than one interview Gregson has stated that his goal in writing poetry is to prove that it is not dead. His themes include love, hope, sadness, and survival. • There are several poems created through random book pages (as seen to the left) that have blacked out words, as if to emphasize his message through a mere few words. One of his favorite kinds of poetry writing is Haiku and some of these pages fit the form of Haiku. • I found his poetry thematically consistent, beautiful, intricate but simple • His style was relatable, and his process as well. He brings a nostalgic feel to the table by using this kind of medium. As a fellow poet, this is exactly my poetry writing ritual. Therefore I enjoyed this book very much. • I believe he chose this medium to emphasize the notion to ‘live in the now’ because that is the unique, and sometimes frustrating thing about a typewriter. But you can’t backspace, you have to live in the moment and just create, you can only feel and immerse yourself in your work. There is no looking back, and that is a powerful creative tool
Favorite Poem • “We are the memory keepers and the trappers of time; stealers of stolen glances and breathless lungs from all the have been taken away. We are the noticers of subtle signs hidden in plain sight by a benevolent universe bigger than we’d ever believe. ” (145). • The book concludes with a poem called Chasers of the Light and I felt as though it was written to explain the creative mind and its usefulness. As we’ve read in previous texts, I think it embodies the important use of the creative mind in the society we live in. That poetry and fiction, the humanities give us life and keep us going even in the darkest of times. • I feel as though the final poem was a tribute poem to the charity To Write Love On Her Arms. • It also ties together theme of survival and love.
Reviews • There were rave reviews on Amazon. com, five stars. People applauded the raw and simple nature of his writing. And that he did indeed pump life into poetry in a modern age with the aid of an old typewriter. • On Goodreads however, some said that it was a page out of a ‘girl’s diary’ which I thought was uncalled for. It is in his simplicity that makes him relatable to readers, especially those who are not familiar with poetry.
The Creative Connection • I wanted my blog to namely be about reviewing films, since taking an Echo. Horror film class with Dr. Foster. I love finding the meaning of subtle shots. Example I went and saw I Saw The Light a biopic film about the life of Hank Williams, there is a long running shot at the beginning of a grave yard, beautiful and sad foreshadowing. By starting this blog this allowed me to turn on my critical eye of films once more, something I like to do more than review books • My blog hasn’t really gotten more complicated, unlike my groups blogs who are so much better than mine. I’m still learning the ropes of how things work. I would like to incorporate twitter and Facebook but not sure how to do it. • I will be keeping up with the blog, with every film I see, just to keep that muscle strong • However, after taking this class I have learned how important networking is. I plan on creating another blog that will focus mainly on my poetry and photography. Like Gregson, I couple images with my poetry it was in fact that was what my Capstone project was. (That is one of my poems as the background). My goal is to mimic what Gregson did and try to write and blog daily if time permits. • So I must say, I’m grateful that we were made to blog, because I’ve found out from my own research of freelance writing and the creative community in general. Having a blogging space is very important in our network. • Since our presentation, from viewing others blogs, I have changed the formatting, I was not pleased with the long winding texts. I may still change it.
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