I think they'll know it's bad--a chimpanzee would know it's bad--but
if they've never read another recent poem, and few chimpanzees have,
they may generalize from that to thinking all poetry is bad.
At 06:56 AM 1/31/2007, you wrote:
>What worries me is not any of us on this list, who know a good from
>a bad poem, but any casual member of the public who may happen on
>the thing with little or no poetic background to aid judgement. To
>them, it's in print, so it must be good.
>
>joanna
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Jennifer Compton"
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:04 AM
>Subject: Re: very bad poet
>
>
>>It does seem Doug, that everyone who has commented on this matter,
>>has agreed that it IS a very bad poem.
>>There may be some on the list who quite like it and are lurking and
>>not speaking their mind.
>>But of those that have spoken - we have all agreed it is bad.
>>So it is possible to say - that is a bad poem.
>>But I suppose it has to be really bad. And in this, at least,
>>Patrick has succeeded.
>>
>>cheers - jen
>>
>>----Original Message Follows----
>>From: Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
>>poetry and poetics <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: very bad poet
>>Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:10:27 -0700
>>
>>Strange, all those readings, & he seems to have learned nothing, on
>>the evidence of that piece, of what makes a poem work.
>>
>>Good on him for doing some work in the field, but being a
>>good organizer does not a writer make.
>>
>>Doug
>>On 29-Jan-07, at 5:07 PM, Max Richards wrote:
>>
>>>Quoting Jennifer Compton <[log in to unmask]>:
>>>
>>>>however - he has also been very gentle with me and witty and amusing on a
>>>>few crazy nights in melbourne - the night the nz poet went for his throat -
>>>>the night i got chucked out of Kevin Pearson's place for
>>>>smacking some woman
>>>>in her third eye - as i sat in the gutter he smiled and waved
>>>>from the other
>>>>side of the street - so you know i am a bit torn - which is why i just
>>>>emailed him and kind of said - what the fuck?
>>>>one must concude i suppose that although he is a human being
>>>>and capable of
>>>>human inter-reaction - he is also just a very bad poet
>>>>
>>>>and that is the saddest thing - to be really bad - realllllllllly bad
>>> Here's P McC's self-description from Divan, the poetry e-mag:
>>>
>>>About the Poet
>>>_______________________________________________________________________
>>>_________
>>>_________
>>>
>>>
>>>Patrick McCauley was born in the city of Melbourne, Australia,
>>>in 1949. He has
>>>been reading, writing and performing poems since 1970. He
>>>has developed over
>>>twenty major poetry readings throughout Melbourne and
>>>country Victoria. He has
>>>attended at least one poetry reading per week for thirty years,
>>>and has probably
>>>heard in the vicinity of 30,000 poems read live by their authors.
>>>He has been
>>>developing The Big Read at the Celtic Club in central Melbourne
>>>for the past
>>>three years.
>>>
>>>Email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
>>>
>>Douglas Barbour
>>11655 - 72 Avenue NW
>>Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
>>(780) 436 3320
>>http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>>
>>Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
>>http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>>
>>
>>NATURE MORTE
>>
>>It's still
>>life. It
>>just ain't moving.
>>
>>Robert Creeley
>>
>>_________________________________________________________________
>>Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au
>>http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&referral=million&URL=http://live.com.au
>>
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