Sorry, Josh, my shoulders have shrunk back to their California size. Maybe next time.
You know what? I take back the mean stuff I said about the poetry clubhouse. It’s great in here. The grown-ups are gone and my Barbie dolls are driving a dump truck while you’re playing with your blocks that say “truth,” “beauty,” and “chocolate fries.” A couple people are over in the corner watching Willy Wonka or making up the…
And knock off the “poetry clubhouse” crap, like we’re the kids and you’re the grousy adult.
Henry, I am fully aware of the difference between “disinterested” and “uninterested,” thank you. I did pay attention in grade school. My point: the “disinterested” reader is a myth; even TV doesn’t aim for the undifferentiated general viewer. Why not admit that our readers have interests, positions, prejudices one way or the other just like we do? You would have…
Me, Li, & Chris in Chicago? You’re on.
I don’t want disinterested readers, I want interested ones.
Henry implies that the poetry of “theme & subject-matter & more direct speech” has been swept away by the triumphant barbarians of the avant-garde, who now hold sway over the holy poetic empire. It’s an idea I see popping up in a lot of poetry debates, even (especially?) among self-identified avant-gardists: maybe we’ve swung too far in this direction, maybe…
My poetry might suck, but it’s not because it’s not about anything.
The list of books I have checked out of the library takes up 19 pages.
Better: “speech” in poetry is a mode, not a universal. “look in thy heart, and write.”