Lordy, lordy! When will someone come down from the mountaintop
and tell us all what to do and how to do it.
Now, back to dancing around that Golden Calf.
Hal
"Most of our problems proceed from our inability to sit quietly in a small
room."
--Pascal
Halvard Johnson
================
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http://www.hamiltonstone.org
On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 3:06 AM, Stephen Vincent <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Stephen wrote: >As much as I think right now the practice of poetry has
> become a mix of saturation and disconnect by us makers of the stuff.<
> I can't
> parse this."
>
> Yes, David, that sentence don't read too good! Short hand is, "the
> market's flooded!" And, hopefully not to overstate, I find it's hard to
> manage either a critical view, or a way into making one's presence felt,
> defined or given much in the way of public weight
>
> People do try. Ron Silliman's review today of Notes on Conceptualisms by
> Vanessa Place & Rob Fitterman (Ugly Duckling Press) is a look at some kind
> of attempt to define the most contemporary landscape, as well as the power
> struggles within that territory. I suspect for many here the book's concerns
> will estrange. At least it has an edge to it that may be useful in provoking
> some thoughts one way or the other. Healthy I think.
>
> I appreciate what Alison put into the mix here - tho I find confusing the
> willingness to go with different kinds of responses to the genres of
> writing( poetry versus fantasy versus theater). Alison, I suspect many of
> us would crave for our poems the attention you get from your fans in the way
> they go over your sentences, etc. (When my poems are discussed in classes,
> wrong headed or not, I appreciate hearing the different kinds of attention
> and often learn from it). On the other hand, Pound,good Mandarin, was
> happy in the Cantos to settle for a small, critically bright. educated
> audience and never expected or wanted more.
>
> Jumping out here, I'd say we are in a weird period/ space where the
> language(s) are suddenly not solidly rooted in any space. Print on Demand,
> Online publication, the death of most literary magazines, etc., etc. has
> shaken things up in which practically anything goes and stops at the same
> time! The struggle to find how to put things back on some kind of stable and
> mutually accepted playing field seems to be the art of the present!
> My sense, at least in my local backyard, poets are struggling and working
> to figure that out.
>
> Stephen
> http://stephenvincent.net/blog/ V
>
>
> --- On Wed, 6/3/09, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: "Previously unpublished"
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 12:26 AM
>
> Stephen wrote: >As much as I think right now the practice of poetry has
> become a mix of saturation and disconnect by us makers of the stuff.<
> I can't
> parse this.
>
>
> 2009/6/2 Stephen Vincent <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > Ah, yes, Martin. EKB is a West Indian that I read and very much liked. I
> > think he is no longer with us, as well!! Walcott I have read little
> because
> > there was not much impulse to read more. An ambitious emulative "iam
> pentam"
> > colonial subject, methought. Which probably fit the officially desired
> > Oxford "Professor" template, I suspect.
> > No, I have been around a lot of, in my opinion, great poetry written by
> > 'ungreat' people who are of and have connected across various classes. As
> > much as I think right now the practice of poetry has become a mix of
> > saturation and disconnect by us makers of the stuff. As much as I try
> also
> > to remain connected and connect, etc.
> > And I am blessed to
> live in a City and region where a ton of poets and
> > poetry stuff happens - readings, talks, etc.
> >
> > Stephen V
> > http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Tue, 6/2/09, Martin Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > From: Martin Walker <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: "Previously unpublished"
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 2:13 AM
> >
> > Bra(i)thwaite, Stephen? Methinks you got your West Indians mixed up ;-).
> > Edward Kamau B. is as you say not so well known, but in the poetry world
> > Derek Walcott has
> been much read and fêted. And has poetry ever - at least
> > since bardic times - been much more than a diversion of the clerisy &
> > purveyors of high-class entertainment to the ruling caste, he asked
> > wickedly?
> > mj
> > Du siehst mein Sohn, zum Raum wird hier die Zeit. - Gurnemanz
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Stephen Vincent
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 3:06 AM
> > Subject: Re: "Previously unpublished"
> >
> >
> > I been thinking - and maybe others have, as well - that a poem does not
> > exist in any of the public spheres (online, print, etc.) until it
> 'breeds' a
> > review and/or critical response in the eye/ear in a similar or
> entirely
> > separate public channel (online,print, etc.) And something continues to
> grow
> > from there.
> >
> > I am thinking that most poetry, no matter how well or diligently
> written
> > has become absolutely frivolous. Frivolous because it has no visible, or
> > useful function in the culture(s). It's just dead on arrival! The
> mechanisms
> > for making it so appear entirely devoid of vitality.
> > At best Hermes is talking to Hermes.
> >
> > Until such public means (call and response) are constructed (again), no
> > matter our skills and muse fidelities, in terms of any longer being a big
> > public animal, we be sweeping salt. (i.e., there is much work to be done,
> > and why the weekly poetry snap here can be and is valuable).
> >
> > Whatever his graces, flaws, etc. I suspect Padel was able for a bit to
> > play her
> ruse on Braithwaite and make it persuasive was because not many in
> > this world had read his poetry. Where issues of sexual harassment are -
> and
> > rightly so - required literacy and training in multiple (academic,
> > corporate, etc.) environments. And consequently publicly persuasive and,
> for
> > a time, ruled this discussion
> >
> > On this this joyous note!
> >
> > Stephen V
> > http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> David Bircumshaw
> "Nothing can be done in the face
> of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>
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