Yeah, I like my refrigerator too, but remember all those adverts from the
Fifties, with the All-American housewife twittering away about her fridge,
her kitchen range etc, in the commercial breaks from 'I love Lucy', that
quintessential piece of US propoganda, with the daft but loveable guy who is
her bank manager who comes around to her huge flat daily. In war-recovering
Europe fridges were luxury items, I was born 1955 we never had one till
after I'd left home, circa 1974.

Williams' rhythms are those of narcissism, there is no anger in the feel, at
the same time I would have loved to have met him, he comes across as a
really nice guy, but his practice as a poet opened the door for the legions
of greedy babies, what vitiates such an exemplary and industrious effort as
Ron Silliman's blog is its ultimate Amero-centricism, Ron did a summary of
English language poetry by period and school a little while back that
conforms to no known idea of reality that I am acquainted with because after
c. 1950 it pours into this model of US schools who are to put it kindly
neglible.

Ron posts his notices onto this and other lists but of course is far too
important a person to engage in dialogue with scum like me - or yourselves,
Fred, Mark (I once got a patronising b-c from him telling me to 'keep up the
good work')

I was thinking the other day of what quotes from contemporary or near
contemporary English language poets have actually entered the language: the
result was so depressing, as far as I know you have Larkin's 'They fuck you
up your mom and dad' which even gets on to tee-shirts, and of course Stevie
Smith's 'Not waving but drowning'. I can't think of any others (suggestions
welcome, they'd cheer me up, I don't like my cultural pessimism, it makes me
sound echt-conservative!)

Awake early here because I'm worried about little Vicky, she nods off about
9 or 10 at night then awakes about 6.30 a.m. she lives on the ground floor
of that Stalag block I live in, remember it Mark!, whereas I'm on the sixth,
but I always leave her in peace for beddybyes, our relationship is based on
giving each other space, (besides she likes to watch the TV soaps before
nodding off, typical female!) but she's been putting a very brave face on
things these last few days when in truth she's brokenhearted aboutr her
second-eldest emulating her eldest in being sent down. To nick that is.

I'll wake her up in about an hour's time and then we'll go off for 'walkies'
(Vicky, like all truly disabled people has a wonderful sense of humour about
her plight) then to church and to brekkies. I of course have my own woes but
contrary to some opinion I have no current interest in reciting them (can
when I want to though, boo hoo!)

I dunno if I've been off-base Mark (we don't play baseball here y'know) but
even if I have it's better to take that risk than not. I recall vaguely
something Hardy said about it being impossible to write well unless you were
prepared to chance writing badly. I know I can make a prat of myself in my
posts (unlike, I hope, my poems) at times, but at least I'm attempting to be
human.

All the Best

Dave


----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Pollack" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 4:10 AM
Subject: Re: Help! The grass is singing


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 10:03 PM
> Subject: Re: Help! The grass is singing
>
>
> > This is so off-base, Dave, that it's useless to respond.
> >
> >
> > At 09:58 PM 3/28/2006, you wrote:
> >>Yeah, Mark, I know WCW's big attempt was Paterson, which is a dull
> >>failure,
> >>I have read it me ducks, but I think his big push, as a lyric poet, I'm
> >>one
> >>meself so I do notice these things, was the 'Asphodel'. It starts well,
> >>but
> >>it doesn't sustain itself, it's too I want to sell you something it's
the
> >>American way of life be a consumer in it's feel. The greedy baby
> >>narcissism,
> >>which is the besetting sin of US literature, undermines it, rhythmically
> >>WCW's threadbare technique exposes itself.
> >>
> >>As I said before, the highlighting of WCW's fridge poem, I have eaten
the
> >>plums, so nice, fixes him, as the unwitting bard of consumer US-global
> >>culture, the possession of fridges, as well as big gas-guzzling cars,
was
> >>a
> >>kind of selling point of US supremacy to the masses. I'm not being
> >>anglo-centric in this, the UK was a willing and nowadays a very large
> >>partner (now worldwar-recovered) in all this, dear sweet Aus is joining
> >>in
> >>too, ( I've noticed the utter silence about the international festival
of
> >>shots for tv in the name of sport called the Commonwealth Games that has
> >>just taken place in Melbourne, surely Alison should have noticed, I
> >>thought
> >>one or two shots were actually taken from the Strand in Williamstown,
and
> >>as
> >>for Ireland, well, words fail me, to be sure)
> >>
> >>Best
> >>
> >>Dave
> >>
> Dude really doesn't like Americans. I myself love my refrigerator,
wouldn't
> be without it, and want an even bigger one.