>I sort of wish Roddy Lumsden hadn't said so much at
>>the beginning as I think I would have enjoyed the poems even more had I
>>come to them cold.
>
>Sorry Douglas - you may well be right (presuming, and hoping, you're not
>opposed to a poet talking plainly and clearly about context - there is
>sometimes more than a whiff of the seminar rising from other FP
>statements!). Since John is anthologising the statement and not the poems,
>I presumed something more than a couple of paras was required and looking
>back to previous statements, about 1000 words seemed the norm. I'm
>increasingly asked to discuss the way I write, the background to the poems
>and though I don't find it easy, it was by listening to such stuff from
>those peers who encouraged me which allowed me to write better poetry - not
>just by reading their work. I often find myself between the hard place of
>over-justification / egotism and the rock of the 'death of the author',
>'ban-all-context' po-mo puritanism which I can't abide.
>
Dear Roddy
You'll note I said 'at the beginning' -- & that I think is all I was
arguing. I often enjoy reading poetics statements, but I do feel yours went
on a bit longer than others, & that, for me, your work being 'new', the
remarks set up a lot of expectations that I (& perhaps only I) felt as
restrictive, more so than the poems then revealed themselves to be. Also, I
believe John is anthologising the poems plus statements, not statements
plus poems, but I could be wrong.... I did enjoy the poems, & was intrigued
as I said at the range across the four poets, a sign of an inclusionary yet
tough eclecticism on John's part....
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
O deceptive mouth
covering up
for the heart like that.
Jenny Bornholdt
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