Dear Bob,
You write:
"It might be that the impulse behind the poems you (and probably I) don't
like is that they're written by people who're more into being a poet than
into making poems. "
This put the finger on it for me.

I'm all for the people who write poems, but spare me from the people who
spout Poetry, and feel that they exist in some refined dimension where they
access higher truths and more profound truths than the rest of us.
What writing good poetry boils down to, if you render it down, is having a
way with words. That may be pretty magical--much magic is done with words-
but it doesn't automatically raise a poet into a higher sphere. What all
artists have to be careful about, I think, is being pretentious and taking
themselves far too seriously.

Kind regards,
   grasshopper

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [THE-WORKS] Discussion topic? Poems about writing poems.-Bob


Hi Grasshopper,
Sorry it's taken a couple of days before I could get back to this machine,
and close the door and focus...
Because you write:
"Of course we will sometimes write poem about writing poems because that's
what concerns us - and there are some good poems about writing poems - but I
think the impulse should be avoided as much as possible."
And I think everything you write in that sentence is right!
I think the list I included (which is a good starter - and I would include
more) contains a few things I, as a person who writes poems, feel are
important to say. And it's amazing that so few poets have published more
than one or two - even though they've had books and books of poems about
other things published. Some of the poems are mischievous, too - possibly
complaining about the poetasters of their day! Some are offering insights
that are hauntingly profound - and could be enough to vaporise any effort I
may make to get to grips with poem making in a poem!
I know I would never encourage a person to write a poem about writing a
poem. Why? Cos there's far better subjects for poems - and I feel you've got
to have been doing it well for years before enthusiasm's sublimated behind
insight. (I don't mind people talking about poetry, or writing about poetry,
but not making poems about it!). I think I'd not bother visiting a site
again if I found more than one poem about the skills of writing poems! I
guess in the face-to-face world it could be easier to point out to a person
how irrelevant/awkward/irritated/bored/cringeworthy/uninterested other
people, particularly other writers, feel. Even those who read and write them
must feel they're living in one of those sea-side amusement hall of mirrors.
It might be that the impulse behind the poems you (and probably I) don't
like is that they're written by people who're more into being a poet than
into making poems. Like Laurence Olivier was focusing on the acting - "I
act. It's my job" - and Melvin (I'll let you) Brag couldn't see what it's
actually all about. If I came across someone who'd been writing poetry,
seriously or assiduously, for 30 or more years who said, "I don't think I
could write one about writing yet." I think I'd know what was being said.
All the best,
Bob

And a P.S.,
Colin,
Yeh, interesting thought... but why Apricots???? LOL! I've been eating plums
of late - juicy!