Just want to remind you American folks that Peter's views are his alone and that his negative opinions about some Brit left-field poetry are just as forceful, only he kind of blames Americans for that too, for tempting people like me away with your 'novelty'. I always found much more to like in C20 American poetry than British until around 2000 when it somehow tipped the other way. My influences are mainly French anyway.

On 19 Oct 2016, at 17:58, Jaime Robles wrote:

Hey Peter (the following with no vehemence of any sort),

As an American poet I object to having Kent’s words taken as representative of my own. I’m perfectly happy to have Shakespeare as he is traditionally and historically known to remain as Shakespeare. Nor do I see American poetry as being in “advance” of British poetry. Very different, yes. For most of these arguments, I find my attention better placed elsewhere.

May I suggest for those interested, for example, Amnesty International’s decoding project. They are asking for volunteers to go over satellite pictures of western Sudan, searching indications of burning and the destruction of villages so that they can determine how much damage has been done in Darfur. For me, a more worthwhile use of time than arguing over the identity of Shakespeare.