O Roger,
I thought you’d vanished, so your word ‘unwell’ is a small reassurance,
but - is there for you a way out of unwellness?
You have a sub for the LRB that lets you read the whole article.
For others just the first few lines comes up on the screen.
Your thought for the day is interesting and helpful. Thanks.
Max in Seattle
[I confess not to have read yet the Prynne on Gaza.]
On May 29, 2016, at 12:19, Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n11/robert-potts/smirk-host-panegyric
>
> Reading this review, something which had been bubbling away suddenly
> surfaced. Indulge me whilst I take a trip down memory lane.
>
> 1. A long time ago, before I was unwell, I was a sly member of
> subsubpoetics - I had no idea what they were on about but I'd blagged my
> way in. I remember someone saying something about the "political efficacy"
> of poetry. (As a full disclaimer, I support politics in poetry. Like any
> minority interest - like religion, say - it should get a mention. It
> shouldn't be the be-all or end-all of a poem, but it's a legitimate topic.)
> Should one write poetry which influences politics? I think, yes. But it
> shouldn't be a polemical piece, show not tell.
>
> 2. I attended a reading by a Nigerian poet with lots of political poetry -
> particularly on torture. Peter Riley was there, and I remembered him saying
> something like "He says what he means." The poet, unlike Cambridge poets,
> laid out his political agenda for all to see, no hiding.
>
> 3. The thing that connects to the JH Prynne is his poetry on the Israeli
> occupation of Gaza. I suspect he's against it, but his poetry is such that
> one could easily deflect any accusation that he might be against it or even
> for it. The unbidden thought came to me that his - and the Cambridge school
> of poetry - is an example of moral cowardice. One can take a position, but
> at the same time one's poetry could take a matrix of meanings either for or
> against one's own position. That's the beauty of the Cambridge School poem.
> BTB, the Cambridge School of Poetry doesn't exist.
>
> Anyway.
>
> That's my thought for today.
>
> Regards, Roger.
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