Hi Frank

thanks for your thoughtful post. I've been pondering this issue rather hard:
where I think the problem lies in the fact that 'American' can be an
ideological statement as well as a geographical description, one hears
continually about the 'American way of life' or the desire of the US to
export its 'culture' to everywhere else, to make all otherness the same, one
sees it in the global aspirations of MacDonalds for instance, and obviously
in Hollywood.

There's much more could be said on this, but it's rather late at night here!

Thanks

and

Best

Dave



David Bircumshaw

Leicester, England

Home Page

A Chide's Alphabet

Painting Without Numbers

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Parker" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: Billy Collins/Robert Creeley (Editor)


>I have met some of the politest and apparently friendly people in USA but I
>have no problem when he says _but the cultural imperialism of the States is
>undeniable_
>
>L

Hi Lawrence,

I don't think anyone is denying the validity of David's statement on its own
merits. "the cultural imperialism of the States is (as)
undeniable" as the historical imperialism of Briton. However, I do not hold
an
individual poet (you, David, any poet on this List) accountable and/or if I
note
an assumption on his/her part based in such imperialism I address that in
the
framework of political poetics. What I perceive happening is a deep seated
and
justifiable anger leveled like a shotgun blast at any mention of the word
American. Dude, I cannot deny my birth certificate and I'm not the enemy.
Nor will
I be made to answer for the multitude of sins of the country I inhabit at
any
mention that refers to my local experience.

Almost (I say almost) every poet at poetryetc has proven to be in common
cause. We
vary in form and substance which is to say we need each other much as a
family to
check our assumptions. And while I have at times argued with my brother I
cover
his back and stand by him; that I've learned in the streets, am I wrong?

Best,
Frank
**************************
Frank Parker
[log in to unmask]
http://users.montereyisp.com/frank