Another reason I chose to draw attention to Vendler's lectures was their
apparent morbidity ("The Binocular Poetry of Death"), especially in an
auditorium where a number of films on John Cage had recently been screened
in support of an exhibition by Jasper Johns. The possibility of
extrapolating from Cage's compositional processes, and his upbeat attitude
("I was born with a sunny disposition"), struck me as the absolute opposite
of what one could expect from Vendler. In fact, I could imagine naive
poets in the audience aspiring towards winning contests and awards, perhaps
rebuffed by Vendler in the past or courting her for the first time,
eventually being infected by Plath & Lowell and committing murder/suicide
after the example of Washington DC's own Reetika Vazirani:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A30475-
2004Feb10¬Found=true>
You'll probably have to register (free) with the Washington Post to access
this article. I checked the URL numerous times but occasionally there's an
error message. The alternative method would be to do a google search on
Reetika Vazirani and click on the article entitled "The Failing Light" by
Paula Span. Barry Alpert
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