Interesting, this.
I have a review of Rachel Zolf's latest, which is an attempt to 'do'
political poetry in a contemporary manner:
http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/rachel-zolf-neighbour-procedure/
Doug
On 14-Nov-10, at 12:01 PM, Jeffrey Side wrote:
> Robert Archambeau interview at The Argotist Online
>
> http://www.argotistonline.co.uk/Archambeau%20interview.htm
>
>
> Excerpts:
>
> “[T]here are certainly instances where poetry can fill an important
> political need, and where, perhaps, it can have “major” political
> effects. As for experimental poetry in the contemporary West—I agree
> with Andrea Brady, when she says, of such poetry, “At my most
> optimistic, I hope it encourages its readers—who, as readers seeking
> out this kind of work, aren’t likely to require encouragement—to
> think critically about politics, or perhaps to be inspired by such
> thinking to participate in collective efforts to overcome the
> tyrannies of capitalism.” That is, I think that thinking about this
> kind of poetry can be an important spur to critical thinking about
> one’s assumption—although, like Brady, I do feel there’s a component
> of preaching to the choir involved. Also, I’m not sure this is a
> kind of politics in which poetry has any special role over, say,
> sociology or history or ecology. I’ve always been suspicious of
> claims about the specia ness of poetry: my colleague Josh Corey,
> whom I admire, claims that “only poetry can undo the Big Lie — I’m
> not at all sure that’s true, I’m not convinced that film, or music,
> or street protest, or editorial writing, or talking to one’s
> friends, isn’t similar in its effect. There’s a kind of narcissism
> one encounters sometimes in poetry circles, a sense that this thing
> that we care for must be of central importance not just to us but to
> others as well. Sometimes we even see the lack of evidence for such
> importance as a sign of importance—as proof that we’re Shelley’s
> “unacknowledged legislators” after all. My instinct is to distrust
> such claims, though I’m open to demonstrations to the contrary.”
Douglas Barbour
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