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Subject: Re: "Previously unpublished"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/
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