Ah, throw them pearls before us swine, Mairead.
Mark the Pork
At 10:59 PM 11/29/2005, you wrote:
>Dear Knut,
>
>I could post my sexist poem but that would not be very loyal. Why send it
>out like a lamb to the slaughter without a warm voice to protect it, or
>the creamy covers of a chapbook to give it refuge if need be.
>
>I'm a believer in the Muse. Also variousness. So I take responsibility
>for what I write but have some tolerance for anomalies, in my own work and
>that of others.
>
>The question of audience plays into it as well.
>
>Cryptically yours,
>
>Mairead
>
>
> >>> [log in to unmask] 11/29/05 6:43 AM >>>
>On Nov 26, 2005, at 21:55, Mairead Byrne wrote:
>
> > Do we have critical standards for poems about flowers, sunrises, and
> > rivers? Anyway,
> > I'm much more interested in questions about sexist poems I have
> > written myself.
> > They're good poems, I think. They make people laugh. But dammit
> > they're sexist. Should I be ashamed?
> >
>
>I'm curious about these, Mairead. I see poems which are overtly
>offensive to the point of being on the verge of camp, and I see some
>which are offensive-with-a-sense-of-humor, but sincerely
>sexist/"incorrect" poetry surely is a rare thing in today's
>publications.
>
>These last lines graced a poem of John Stammers' in this summer's
>Poetry Review:
>
>The minx's eyes ignite,
>"Oh Johnny", (Johnny!) she purrs,
>"Could you bear to give me a lift up to Elstree?"
>She shifts the weight of her sweet little backside;
>her thighs kiss like delicate lesbians.
>"Well, naturally, what I meant is
>she gave me the /use/ of it, /sometimes/.
>I spoke using what's called a /convention/,
>as you'd've realised if you had half a brain
>you talentless little bimbo."
>
>Clearly in the camp category. It's marked "after Catullus," by the way,
>so those more well-read in the classics may be able to point out an
>original for this.
>
>--Knut
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