Dear Frederick
You may be familiar with the response
"Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy; and you're not him"...
I have read Milton *and Reznikoff extensively and repeatedly...
But perhaps you are right. As you are clearly an expert on the strengths of
your own work, I am bewildered that you should bother seeking the opinions
of the rest of us. I suppose you wanted us all to enjoy the deep pleasures
to be obtained from thinking about your own poetry. You are, after all, a
thoughtful man
Re "Omeros", clearly, a book which is a total failure would be unreadable;
so by saying that you find it unreadable you added little to the exchange.
That's not like you. You usually add bucketloads.
But, for some reason, I behaved as if I didn't expect clarification; and I
looked briefly at Walcott, as dispassionately and sternly as I could; and
for the first time - it just hadn't occurred to me to compare the two of you
before, and I find him almost entirely lacking in the kind of ironies and
ambiguities you have made your own
As to your political theories, youre right about my being evasive. I know
the feelings an engagement with your political philosophy engenders in me;
and I don't think I am strong enough for them
Someone is ringing at your door bell; but it isn't for you
L
|