Visitors who know the States much better than me were talking gloomily
of the changes in the social warp & woof (in the States & Germany) last
night at dinner, a cameraman & a German-American journalist who lost her
job in the States for mildly suggesting that there were complex reasons
for the events of 2001. All this is deeply depressing. But how can
poetry address the issues you mention, unless as socio-political satire?
Some successor to Ed Dorn, perhaps. Can there be a global equivalent of
Williams' City (so local)?
>Many friends with whom I talk in this country agree that it feels like the
nation - is dying. A nausea in the air.<
Maybe a whole lot of stuff has to be vomited up by the body of society. Look on the bright side - Britain died a
long time ago, it stinks but the corpse is still emitting messages & signs of activity.
It's not just poetry, it's meaningful speech that is at risk, but this process has been going on for a long time.
I just don't know. When I think about it, my tongue feels swollen.
mj
Stephen Vincent wrote:
>1. On CNN special report today I learn 50% of Air Force Academy cadets
>(future officers) are self-identifying Evangelicals.
>
>2.Other CNN news (as well as other channels) document huge popular anti-US
>uprisings in Afghanistan in response to Newsweek's recent article
>documenting official reports that Guantanamo interrogators desecrated the
>Koran - setting the book on toilets, and even flushing one down the toilet.
>
>3. Is there any American (or other national) poet addressing what appears a
>fulfillment of Bush's original post-Sept 11 analysis of American intended
>response (revenge) as a rebirth of the Crusades?
>
>I suspect most of us (at least US citizens) on this list live on the margins
>of this war - possibly very well informed - but insulated from direct
>involvement with its literal manifestations in this country's institutions -
>military Pentagon. State Department. Between our marginalization - in the
>body of text, so to speak - the country is being led by a Biblical seeming
>leadership bent on consuming us in an ancient Biblical dynamic set on
>crusading, vanquishing, etc.
>
>Our immediate isolation from this dynamic, I suspect, is going to ultimately
>and inevitable bite us in the butt big time. Unless.
>
> Is there any MFA program that encourages crossing these boundaries -
>investigating and incorporating the news (disclosed or not)?
>
>What will be the Global literary equivalent of William's City, a global
>Patterson - if that work can be seen as a model? Or Zukofsky's "A"?
>
>Many friends with whom I talk in this country agree that it feels like the
>nation - is dying. A nausea in the air.
>
>Just ruminating here before going to dinner.
>
>Stephen V
>Blog: http://stephenvincent.durationpress.com
>
>
>
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