It's true that women don't contribute as much to these lists--same true at
Buffalo. I'm not sure why; maybe we just do have less time! But to get
back to the language poetry thread, I shall be very pragmatic and just say
that the loose grouping now known in the U.S. as "language poetry" is
defined more by what it opposes than what it stands for--very varied. A
poem by Charles Wright or Frank Bidart or Robert Pinsky or Robert Hass or
Adrienne Rich or Maxine Kumin or Sharon Olds--all these, well established
and widely known poets is never going to be considered a language poem by
anyone. There's no argument. In these poems, language is largely
transparent, just a vehicle to get you to various important "themes" and
ideas. Language poets or linguistically innovative poets or
countercultural poets--pick your term of choice--cannot be "read through"
that way. In this sense Maggie O'Sullivan is just as much a "language
poet" as is Charles Bernstein. It's a basic attitude toward the role
language plays in writing poetry and it's not really all that obscure.
Would anyone argue that James Fenton is a language poet? Andrew Motion?
Anne Stevenson?
Beyond such basic distinctions, there are mostly differences--and that's
exciting.
Marjorie Perloff
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|