> the choice of
examples seems dulled, and based on a who's who in a part of a poetry scene
that, like all the others, thinks itself the centre of the universe.
It's more ignorance coupled with enthusiasm, in my view. If one's map
isn't that detailed, it only includes the prize winners, the faculty,
the capitals.
Some of these people are notorious for some of these lines in
particular, or for using this grab bag of tricks, Harvey, Fulton,
Shaughnessy, Bang, in particular.
> This usage 'moves', it has some curious tones, does it not?
I immediately thought of Libby Rifkin's _Career Moves_; her own career
got a big push when she happened to be researching at UC San Diego
during the pagemothers conference --
Of course, my sneaking suspicion for the past twenty years is that
free verse which relies on rhetoric, logical fluff ups, and a few
slippery workshop tricks is dead. I have been proven wrong. And my
work which is like this has been more difficult to get into print than
the other stuff. There is a key variation, which is a sort of
clotted, gothic, decorated style. And Cole Swensen's version of found
poetry, especially now she teaches at Iowa.
I am perhaps not proven wrong: the MFA culture has gotten larger and
more powerful, and this is the writing which "comes across" to the
converted, while not being "poet's poetry." I have been trying to get
rid of books again, and the ones selling are just exactly this type of
new work that's sort of dull.
--
All best,
Catherine Daly
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