Performance would be interesting Doug: I recall seeing Christopher Logue
once, he did sections from his Homer. He is a superb reader, unfortunately
he did a passage that included an extended quote from Milton. He read the
Milton beautifully. He's a trained actor so that's not surprising. But it
highlighted just how threadbare his own writing was: it was in some kind of
inverse proportion to his ego which was immense (the only writer I've ever
met who demanded a taxi for a two hundred yard walk).
Geraldine's ability to bring the poem (or extortion) off in performance is
quite simply irrelevant to any objective discussion of its merits: what
struck me was how good the Donne poem is, nice to be reminded, Geraldine's
words vanish as soon as the eye leaves the page, I really don't know what
her point, in the poem or the essay, is.
All I came away with was some kind of garbled notion that she feels somehow
oppressed as a woman by Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins (and fuck knows how
anyone can claim they're oppressed by Hopkins - one of the ultimate lonelies
of poetry - along with his contemporary Emily Dickinson. This was the guy
whose dying words were 'I feel so happy', even his fellow priests used to
take the piss out of him)
My best wishes to Geraldine's and her husband's small business.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Barbour" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Fascicle 2: Monk's Donne
Hmmnn, I tend to agree more with george than Dave about these. I found
the slippages intriguing, & her appropriations, so clearly meant as
such, also.
I did not feel that she was putting her (what? Romantic?) self forward
but rather disappearing in a way into the words taken on.
I suspect that, in performance, which she is noted for, these pieces
would be quite exciting....
Doug
Douglas Barbour
11655 - 72 Avenue NW
Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
(780) 436 3320
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no nearer here
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