The problem is that poetry, or the attention poetry receives, may be
creating or furthering unnecessary divisions within society. That while
claiming to heal social wounds it is encouraging them.
We are still talking about it as if it were a religion, as if you have to
follow this path or that path. But it's not a religion it's a practice. I
don't see any necessary contradiction between a meditative poetry written
and read in solitude and protected calm in a meticulously precise learned
language, and a stand-up-and-shout routine in colloquial idiom with
somersaults, and all the grades between. I don't see whythrese different
poetries should be exclusive. You don't have to like them all, they can't
all be for everyone, as I said before, we have a personal right to draw a
line. But the range of practices betokens a plurality of persons which is
exactly where we are, and which we have to live with like it or not and
probably the sooner we like it the better.
We need both intelligent poetry and stupid poetry. What we don't need is
ordinary poetry.
-------
By the way, for the hundredth time, Poems by JH Prynne (his collected
poems, and a very large book) is published in this country by Bloodaxe and
can be ordered from any bookshop in the world, price £12 paperback., £25
hardback. People seem not to want to believe this for some reason. It has
also been reviewed recently in every major British newspaper, mostly at
length or as a feature review-article, by a load of regular poetry
reviewers most of whom are suddenly saying "Well of course I knew about
this all along..." but for unexplained reasons kept quiet about it.
Bet-hedging of course.
Prynne exegesis is going to be the major new academic industry, it's going
to be enormous, it will out-do the Celan industry in Germany because it has
the whole English-speaking world as its playground. Reeve & Kerridge were
just precursors. It is already getting going: I heard just last week that
AB-C is proposing a book to XYZ University Press...... I can't say I'm
looking forward to it, any of it. Because it's all going to be huge claims
and waving keys. It's going to be socially divisive.
/PR
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|