Oo, Frank, yes, I'm hard, dam'  hard.
Perhaps the people you mentioned have had less exposure to poems about
writing poems than I have over recent months, As a novelty, it's fine, -as a
constant diet, it palls -LOL.
Kind regards,
   grasshopper

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Faust" <[log in to unmask]>Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003
8:00 PM
Subject: Re: [THE-WORKS] Discussion topic? Poems about writing poems.


> A very harsh view Grassy
>
> I think you're wrong about the umber of people that write poetry, at least
> at some time in their lives. I think you're wrong that they are
uninterested
> in the writing process - I read to 400 in a small country town once about
> writing processes and had non-literary townspeople approaching me to
> comment/discuss/praise throughout the weekend - an amazing and affirming
> experience.
>
> If my life is poetry, and my art is expressed through writing, of course
> I'll pen verse about writing poetry - it's part of the reflective process
> that is critical to development at a personal level.
>
> The only point I'll concede is that it needs to be written with the
> reader/listener in mind - directed outwardly to be a positive shared
> exploration or whatever, rather than an introspective wank.
>
> You're way too hard on your fellow poets in this stance grassy, in my
> mumbled opinion, at least.
>
> The reason people feel alienated from poetry and don't buy more books is
> that not enough poets write witht he reader in mind as the recipient of
the
> verse. Too much poetry is inaccessible and doesn't care for the ear or
lives
> of the folk out there in suburbia. Not enough stories are told with
populist
> intent.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank
>
> > I'm surprised, reading various poetry lists, about how many poems are
> about
> > poetry and writing poems. It leads me to wonder what the expected
audience
> > of these poems is.
> > I suspect the majority of people do not write poems - so why should they
> be
> > expected to connect to the writing process? Is is not rather solipsistic
> to
> > expect a general reader to be as fascinated by this subject as an author
> is?
> > I'll confess my personal feeling about this. I think Art should mainly
be
> > about life, not about art. Poems about poems can get very incestuous and
> > inbred-- frankly I think it's rather an unhealthy trend.
> > I've found most people don't respond that readily to poems about poetry,
> but
> > about things they can relate to more strongly -about living life, rather
> > than the process of writing about it.
> > Could this be why often people feel alienated from poetry these
days--they
> > feel much of it is aimed at fellow writers rather than the general
public?
> > I'd be interested to know what others think.
> > Kind regards,
> >   grasshopper
>