Well, Candice, you know me, always the good empiricist. My observation was based
on ten years of opening the mail that comes to me as poetry editor of The Wallace
Stevens Journal. So perhaps I should have said more clearly what I meant, to wit:
"when I open a poetry submission & find center-justified text, I know for a fact
. . ." I haven't been wrong yet, though I have myself written center-justified
poems (for I also had my reasons). I'm glad you sent your poem to Kinsella,
though, not to me, thus keeping my record intact. Anyway, as a good empiricist, I
intended to make no claims that couldn't be supported by experience & I don't
think I did.
Mr. Ed.
[log in to unmask] wrote:
> Boy, are these words going to come back to haunt you boys
> (Mr. Eds.?) with a vengeance! And I hope at least one of you
> already regrets expressing such an unquantifiable notion of
> personal taste as this one in such terms as "I know for a
> fact" (come on).
>
> And that's without even getting into the (to me, obnoxious)
> condescension of your joint and separate tone.
>
> Whew,
>
> Candice
>
> P.S. Without making any claims for the greatness of my own poetry,
> I'll add only that I've been writing and publishing it for over 30
> years and, just a couple of months ago, wrote my first-ever centered
> poem (I had my reasons!), which will appear in a forthcoming issue of
> _Stand_.
>
> P.P.S. I didn't write it in the female voice, though, whatever that
> is....
>
>
> At 06:48 PM 7/10/00 -0700, you wrote:
> >Joseph wrote:
> >"...but I have to admit that as a poetry editor, when I see a poem center
> >justified I know for a fact without reading a word that it is written by
> >someone who has read almost no poetry, but for whom this arrangement _says_
> >poetry."
> >
> >Hi Joseph,
> >If I were editing new work by new writers I'd be wary too of center-set
> >copy. However, in the case of poets whose credentials are already clear I've
> >got no problem with their choice to center-set their lines; Michael McClure
> >and Hafiz for example. And I've learned to appreciate the staggered lines of
> >poets like Larry Eigner and William Carlos Williams.
> >
> >Was a time in my youth when my copy was all over the page. It was a part of
> >exploration and growth. For the most part my lines are flush-left anymore
> >but not always.
> >
> >If the work doesn't stand as a poem the devices are easy to spot. Mine or
> >anyone else's.
> >
> >best
> >-fp
> >
> >***************
> >Frank Parker
> >[log in to unmask]
> >http://now.at/frankshome
> >
> >
> >
--
________________________
Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts-5750
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699
[log in to unmask]
________________________
"Always come down from the barren heights
of cleverness into the green valleys of folly."
::Wittgenstein
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