Automatic Vision

Summary

"Automatic Vision" is a poem by Mike Maher that reflects on the nature of vision and inspiration, drawing on personal experiences and literary influences.

Abstract

The poem "Automatic Vision" by Mike Maher delves into the complexities of perception, suggesting that what we see is a blend of our past experiences and future aspirations. Maher uses vivid imagery, such as a bicycle representing childhood memories, to illustrate how vision is intertwined with personal significance. He emphasizes the importance of inspiration, without which the world appears mundane. The poem also touches on the act of writing as a spontaneous and authentic process, akin to the methods of surrealist writers like André Breton and contemporary poets such as Dean Young. Maher muses on the creative process, expressing concern about maintaining originality. The poem concludes with a nod to Raymond Carver, highlighting the simplicity and complexity of his characters, and a thank you to Alyson Dalton for the vision prompt that sparked the poem.

Opinions

Vision is portrayed as a combination of past experiences and future desires, making it a complex and subjective experience.
Inspiration is deemed essential for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.
The act of writing is seen as an automatic, almost surrealist process, aiming for purity and authenticity.
There is a concern about originality in writing, specifically about avoiding the influence of other writers' styles.
The poem acknowledges the influence of other writers, such as Dean Young and Raymond Carver, on the author's work.
Maher expresses a personal connection to the subjects he writes about, including his lack of knowledge about birds and his childhood memories associated with a bicycle.
The poem is a response to a writing prompt on "Vision," and Maher extends this prompt to other writers, suggesting a collaborative and continuous creative process within the writing community.

A Poem by Mike Maher

What you see isn’t where you’re going but a combination of where you’ve been and where you’d like to go. Vision is tricky like that, the way you can look at a bicycle and see your entire childhood while a child just sees a bicycle. See also: swimming pools.

Without inspiration there isn’t much to see here, aren’t flags where the trees are supposed to go or mushrooms growing through the mulch or a comet that only comes around every 75 years just to check in on its fame. I don’t know the names of the birds I keep seeing in the backyard.

Let’s see what happens when you just start writing because you want the writing to come automatically the way Breton and the other ghosts would have liked or the way that Dean Young sometimes writes about telephone poles or anthropomorphic cartoon animals like Wile E. Coyote or about his heart before and after the heart transplant but then I worry that this is starting to sound like a Dean Young waterfall and not something automatic or pure or authentic or who the heck knows.

If you look around the room and squint, you can see Raymond Carver enjoying a cigarette and a cup of coffee while writing about characters enjoying cigarettes and coffee but also being exceptionally simple and complex at the same time.

At least, that’s what I see.

Thanks to Alyson Dalton for tagging me in her poem and nominating me to write a poem using the prompt “Vision.”

Mike Maher is a writer, editor, and publisher, and you can find him talking about books and sports on Twitter at @MikeMaher, publishing work about books, writing, and publishing at @PublishingWell, covering the NFL on his Philadelphia Eagles blog, The Birds Blitz, and talking fantasy sports and sports betting at FantasyPros, BettingPros, and his own site, Juiced Ball Era.