I must speak up for Monsieur Tate. Douglas, surely it ain't so that you
couldn't find a poem in the 1997 Best American Poems worth spending a
moment on? I'm not going running to the bookshelves at the moment, so
forgive me -- but even the introduction (by Tate) is a joy. As for El
Tate's Selected Poems -- how can you be so cold? Oh, even for Lewis and
Clark alone I'd buy Signor T all the wine and spare ribs he could swally.
But as for the Other -- well, it was the "Irish" in the title that grabbed
me. Getting my paws on the book was preceded for me by many weeks of
joyful anticipation: well, wasn't it going to be great to discover or be
reminded of all these Other Irish poets. Well, I'm still not going
running to the bookshelves but I think there were three or four or
possibly five Irish poets in the book, and most of them were decidedly
internationalist. For me the most striking thing about the Other, other
than its handsomeness and the hearty welcome I gave it, was that there
weren't many more women poets than Irish poets in the book. Still,
there were *double* the number: I think it should have been called The
Other British and Women Poets. I was thrilled to be introduced to
Veronica Forrest-Thomson, and I have since procured both her books from
the Cornell library. However, I was mighty disappointed with the
introduction to the book, which didn't take up the idea of how few of the
Others were women (okay I have since gone running to the bookshelves: 45
men and 10 women, nine of them living, as far as I can make out).
I haven't seen any reviews of the book so maybe this topic has been done
to death. The gentlemanliness of the "Irish" in the title is sort of
ludicrous, to me. Why should the "Other" be defined by nationality
anyway? What part does nationality play in Other poetry? The gender
issue (and the race issue, but I'll leave someone else to play that card)
may have you running away with your hands over your ears shouting "Pain
Pain Pain." Sorry for hijacking your message with my views on Herr Tate
and the Other, neither and none of which may grab your interest.
All the best,
Mairead
On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, Douglas Clark wrote:
> Today I sat down beside my sick cat and read `Other'. It reminds
> me that the avantgarde is as mediocre as the mainstream. Only a
> few gleams of light.
>
> But I am now 80 pages into Keith Tuma's book and it is a feast.
> Everybody should get hold of a copy. But I am a bit puzzled about
> his complete confidence in the superiority of American poetry
> when I recall that a couple of months ago I read James Tate's
> edition of The Best American POems of 1997 and could hardly
> find a poem worth spending a moment on. But then I have since
> read James Tates' SElected POems and find that he can hardly write
> a poem himself, so it was no wonder.
>
> But all strength to Keith Tuma. Although I wonder if he can understand
> and distangle the regional differences to be found in British poetry
> as you move away from the fat Southeast.
>
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