I'm not even sure if Pound was doing 'prose poetry,' even as I agree
more or less with what you're saying here, Roger. It was his desire,
not always well fulfilled, to bring some of the topics given over to
'the novel' back to poetry that I was pointing to, actually.
But the thing of it is, Pound was a master craftsperson; so that,
reading his work, early & into the Cantos, I learned a lot about how
to write a poem. Not that that means I forgive him his human failings,
or even evils if you want it that way, but the poetry, as such, just
exists as centrally important to many practitioners, such as me.
I'm always reminded of Bunting's poem about the Cantos, along the
lines of
'These are the alps...'.
You don't have to climb them, but you can't pretend they arent there....
Doug
On 31-Mar-08, at 9:20 AM, Roger Day wrote:
> Pound was a anti-semitic pain-in-the-ass, and probably a fascist. You
> could have mentioned his truly mad belief in some forgotten nutter of
> an economist which led him to his theories of usury. Eliot never
> re-canted his anti-semitism. Maybe Auden's recanting of his younger
> days makes him a better poet? So as to justifying your attack on a
> poet via his or hers character, I'd say, meh. So what. Poets are not
> nice, ordinary people, they are usually verbose, highly articulate, at
> odds with the world. Poets more often than not think that the world
> owes them a living all because they can string a few words together.
> Poets write and say inconvenient things, believe odd things. In short,
> they're hard to get on with. I include myself in these category: I've
> unfairly lambasted would-be friends because of some imagined point of
> contention over my poetry. I'd point at your own erratic presence on
> this and other lists which must testify to something going on.
>
> When does "fact-checking" come into prose or poetry? How does that
> undermine *anything*? A problem with the facts? Isn't that called the
> human condition? I myself am notorious for conflating three sets of
> facts together and coming out with Sunday ... the prosaic isn't
> necessarily the "right" facts. So, no, I do not accept any of your
> assertions.
>
> I suppose it comes to this, so soon. You don't like prose poetry. It's
> as simple as that. You've invested your time and energy in a certain
> sort of poetry, and you declaim against the other sorts you don't
> like. That is your right, and I would not have it otherwise. I happen
> to think other sorts of poetry are equally important and worthy of
> attention. Meh, this leads nowhere. But I would rather have said this
> than not.
>
> Regards
> Roger
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
to rid me of
the ugh in
thought
i spell anew
weave the world
out of the or
binary
bpNichol
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