I like what you say here Rupert, and what you relate of Joe Sheerin.
My understanding of poetry and writing has changed greatly over time.
I certainly appreciate: "there is no such thing as good writing and
bad writing - there's writing." Thanks for the imagination and soul
you bring to discussion.
Mairead
On 8/24/05, mallin1 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm sorry Geraldine and others if my allotment analogy to poetry/poets
> offended or upset but--
>
> Greens have the slogan - dig where you stand (which I think is kin to some
> poets). Truth is, 'dig where you stand' either elevates the digger or buries
> the digger (in the grave dug). Poetry as individual on high is that
> problematic. You can't do that on an allotment: what you perceive as your
> individuality is its dialectic opposite. The richer each element of the
> tapestry, the richer the whole.
>
> I know I sound crass but - an Irish teacher and poet, way back in the early
> 1970s, was my mentor. We were at some folk club in an overspill town and Joe
> Sheerin turned to me (me, headlong into Hart Crane and The Beats), and said:
> "there is no such thing as good writing and bad writing - there's writing."
>
> I kicked like a mule then - I've kicked like a mule these years hence - for
> surely there is 'arbitration' - there's a cannon, there are university
> certificates, there are great poets arbitrating, there's a poetry God to say
> what's 'good' and what's 'bad!'
>
> No. Joe was/is right: there is writing. Just writing.
>
> I'd like to know how you arbitrate over 'good' and 'bad' writing?
>
> Until 1990 Shelley's 'Peterloo Writings' of 1820 were not published in
> Britain. Editors of his work would not publish 'Mask of Anarchy' or his
> polemic prose. The poetry/publishing world split Percey Byshe into two
> people: the intellectual of 'Queen Mab' and 'Prometheus Unbound' and the
> "juvenile" who extended Thomas Paine's writings - who was thereby, in my
> view, the bridge between Blake, Chartism and Marx.
>
> ***
>
> As said, what are your criteria?
>
>
> Rupert
>
>
>
>
>
|