When Ron Silliman came upon the method that he'd use to write Ketjak and other poems, he spoke of this method as "something I had not been able to approach using a speech-based metaphor for the text." In other words, despite the imposing structural exoskeleton, Ketjak and such works are not just formalist exercises: they are actually very focused on content. What constitutes Silliman's content is nothing more or less than daily life itself. As Silliman explains, his conscious goal in Ketjak is to get at aspects "of American life not much acknowledged by the language of public institutions, which includes creative writing. Presenting these 'ignored' areas of experience was and is of definite concern to me, and in that sense Ketjak is extremely content oriented."
Silliman: "not less than daily life itself"
When Ron Silliman came upon the method that he'd use to write Ketjak and other poems, he spoke of this method as "something I had not been able to approach using a speech-based metaphor for the text." In other words, despite the imposing structural exoskeleton, Ketjak and such works are not just formalist exercises: they are actually very focused on content. What constitutes Silliman's content is nothing more or less than daily life itself. As Silliman explains, his conscious goal in Ketjak is to get at aspects "of American life not much acknowledged by the language of public institutions, which includes creative writing. Presenting these 'ignored' areas of experience was and is of definite concern to me, and in that sense Ketjak is extremely content oriented."
