I also cherish Trevoir's collected. But sierra still seems wrong to me, and
the US understanding of it should, I would think, be pretty widely
disseminated by the movies. It's just a distraction. But it's not the end
of the world.
Mark
At 09:14 AM 4/21/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>Rebecca:
> >That's interesting, Trevor, I think there is a great difference
> >between the poetry of what can be called American and European
> >English. Though the terms could probably themselves be subjected
> >to endless refinement, I think they serve as general markers.
>
>this is probably right, but that 'endless refinement' begins in the US, or
>NA. I mean the local at work, as well as the many different poetries at
>work across such small boundaries. I wasn't bothered by 'sierras' because,
>way up north here in Canada, it doesn't carry the regional thickenings that
>it seems to for you & Mark (also because you have the Spanish language
>conenction to the south). i responded to other aspects of the poem.
>
>But although, because Canada is a relatively small nation (in terms of
>population), most of us writers get along, there are still some fairly
>obvious lines of demarcation between kinds of writing. my sense of the US,
>however, is that some of those lines are deep, uncrossable, etc. Meanwhile,
>because i was lucky enough to visit Australia & BNew Zealand & begin to
>read the poetries of those countries, I think I have some sense of their
>20th century manifestations, & latch onto some of the as well as part of
>what i take to be english-language poetry today. On the other hand, one of
>the interesting things about this list is that I get to meet & know a
>number of British poets (& Irish ones) whose work I might never even see
>were I to pay attention to the mainstream representations of poetry in
>those countries (& I find the ones here more interesting in many ways than
>many of the ones that mainstream media celebrate).
>
>Also like Alison, I have, & have read with great pleasure, Trevor's huge
>Selected, which perhaps gives me a sense of what to expect from him that
>sets me up to enjoy it in ways that those who have not had that pleasure
>might not...
>
>I guess Im wondering how much direct connections to an oeuvre help. And
>also how much that finally does relate to unconscious (& 'local', ie,
>connected to what we 'knew' as children) language development etc. Perhaps
>there are layers in the language we use in poetry that will always remain
>opaque to most readers, especially those far away, in other countries,
>etc...?
>
>Or maybe i dont know what i'm on about here... <g>
>
>Doug
>
>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
>
> he said the President said
> he would not kill anyone
> anymore and the way he would not kill
>
> would be to let the killers kill
> and then he would not be a killer
>
> Eli Mandel (circa 1970)
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