My condolences and sympathies on your parents too, Roger, and glad you feel
somewhat, and musically too! , improved.
From what I've read of Prynne's poetry and prose, that's much of the
former, less of the latter, and from one experience of seeing him read, I
suspect he's not a covert elitist himself though possibly some of his
followers and acolytes are. I admire his writing rather than love it.
Myself I'm reading a lot of a poet whose writing I really do love, that's
the Swede Gunnar Ekelof.
dave
On 30 May 2016 at 16:02, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> All very interesting, Roger (& condolences on your father & mother).
>
> I read the earlier Collected Prynne (& remember reading much earlier a few
> of the pamphlets). Then about a year ago read a PhD thesis on him that was
> as obscure (or obscurantist) as is poetry. Did go on about the political
> subtext(s). Some of which I believed. The writing (in the thesis) was
> rather shoddy, but some interesting ideas did sneak through).
>
> I tend to thin P is sui generi & not a member of any school, but who knows
> for sure.
>
> I dont pretend to ‘understand’ his poetry, but some of it hits had (& I’d
> say the learning how to eat comes through reading).
>
> Do I return to his work the way I return to the poets I most love? No. His
> work deliberately repulses, I think…
>
> Doug
> > On May 29, 2016, at 1:19 PM, 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.
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
> https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations
> 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>
> Oh, goddamnit, we forgot the silent prayer.
>
> Dwight D, Eisenhower
> [at a cabinet meeting]
>
--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
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