Maybe, but it's a nonsense argument I think. Some of my favorite poets
are women, such a the oft-mentioned (by me) Phyllis Webb, but take
note of many others, starting with Sappho & moving through, at least,
Emily Dickinson, & on.
It's not that Bassett's poetry is 'girly,' but how it moves, what it
does, that seems to bother some of us. Actually, I thought the
villanelle was the best of the 3, & had no problem myself with the
light, which seemed to work as a way of getting into the painting.
A certain sentimentality in the other 2 left me cold.
On the other hand, I'm not sure she really pushes the forms all that
much, or all that much more than many others who have taken them up;
think of what Ashbery has done upon occasion.
Doug
On 12-Sep-08, at 1:50 AM, Judy Prince wrote:
> Have decided that her poetry's what men would
> mark as "girly".
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
Language is sound as sense.
Music is sound as sound.
R. Murray Schafer
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