Likewise.
At 03:34 AM 9/13/2006, you wrote:
>Dear Mark,
>
>A lot of this amounts to putting words in my mouth. Work away. I'm
>neither stopping your nor attempting to intimidate you. But I
>reserve the right to respond.
>
>best
>
>Randolph
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 4:32 AM
>Subject: Re: [POETRYETC] O my america
>
>
>>This is more than a bit chilling, and, given your position as list
>>owner, carries a faint whiff of intimidation, whatever your
>>intention. It's also more than a little unseemly. Are you saying
>>that one aught to balance one's positive and negative comments? Do
>>you quantify everyone's posts? Have you done a thematic analysis of
>>the posts of Alison's that I've responded to? Is it possible that
>>Alison's also predictable?
>>
>>This evening I attended a wonderful talk by Ammiel Alcalay, who
>>quoted John Wieners to the effect that some post-WWII American
>>poets had brought the medium a new rigor of thought, analysis and
>>attention. I think those are pretty good criteria, and they're what
>>I tend to bring to bear in discussion of ideas and poetry, which I
>>thought was what this list is about. I find lazy thought offensive,
>>whether it's about poetry or otherwise, and I find poetry that's
>>lazy in thought, analysis or attention offensive. Ammiel, speaking
>>about the culture we live in, said "The idea that poets think is
>>foreign to the culture." Like Ammiel, I find that offensive, as well.
>>
>>In point of fact, I rarely comment on poems--fact is, I find it
>>uncomfortable reading poetry on line--tho I do comment on ideas
>>about poetry. To the best of my knowledge I've never commented on a
>>poem of Alison's before. Why now? Maybe because of the significance
>>of the day, and maybe also because it uses America as an
>>abstraction in ways not very different (tho with an opposite
>>meaning) than those in America who would try to convince me, and
>>the better than half of the population who think that voting is a
>>useless exercise, and the half of the remainder who feel and vote
>>as I do, that we're exiles in our own country. That pisses me off.
>>And I don't think I'm being unjust.
>>
>>But please, Randolph, don't globalize the issue, and don't indulge
>>in ad homina. Apparently you either liked the poem better than I
>>did or think that it's a violation of tact on a poetry list to
>>criticize a poem. Let's leave it at that, shall we?
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>At 05:44 PM 9/12/2006, you wrote:
>>>Just had a look at e-mail after a long, but not unpleasant day.
>>>
>>>Mark.
>>>
>>>"cheap contrivance" ??? do you prefer the expensive kind? And the
>>>"cost" of a poem as an indicator of its quality doesn't seem to hold water.
>>>
>>>But to get to the point, I can't remember the last time your
>>>posted anything positive in response to Alison.
>>>I'd hate to think you were getting predictable, or even, unjust.
>>>
>>>best
>>>
>>>Randolph
>>
>>
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