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>From: Matthew Francis <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and > poetics <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Interview with Matthew Francis (Featured Poet #2, new series) >Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:08:51 +0100 > I get the >impression that to write in form in the US is tantamount to announcing that >you disapprove of everything modern and postmodern. (Well, perhaps not, but >it is at least a gesture that needs explaining if it's not to be understood >as an extremely conservative one.) I think it's the opposite. It's not that writing in form is understood as tantamount to a conservative gesture, it's that there are people who seem to think the use of open forms is a political gesture. Though my observation of their politics is that it is of the grudgingly liberal variety rather than conservative, per se. I've been amazed by the number of times I've seen places like The Formalist and EP&M connect free verse with political correctness, the Sixties, identity politics, confessionalism, etc. Their representative free verse poet is, with boring frequency, a shrill, hippie feminist intent on haranguing the patriarchy with poems on her menstrual flow or incest experiences or what have you. I remember reading one astonishing poem in the Formalist which made it sound as if women discussed incest experiences just to be boorish. But, on the other hand, these same magazines are also quick to cite a Marilyn Hacker or a Molly Peacock when they want to argue against the choices of a Adrienne Rich or Gwendolyn Brooks. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp