Possibly not, Fred, but without such 'stylistic experimentation' I'm
not sure anything else can happen in the art, either. Admittedly,
I've just reread Susan Sontag's essay, 'On Style,' so that, along with
my own biases when writing, may be leading me on right now.
But take those two poems you just posted; we can certainly discuss
what they say, but I admit my admiration for your work has to do with
a 'style' of discourse within them that creates a tone for whatever we
mean by their 'content' that in fact is the core of it.
It's complex too, not a simple tune, & I see your poems, the way they
move through their paces, as constructing that emotional/moral/ etc
complexity....
Doug
On 6-Apr-09, at 3:21 PM, Frederick Pollack wrote:
>
> The "implicit preface" to any poem, insofar as this idea suggersts
> anything to me, is the society that gives rise to it, and the deep
> unexamined prejudices (including the progressive ones) of that
> society. The function of poetry is to expose and transcend these
> prejudices. This function cannot be fulfilled by stylistic
> experimentation alone.
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
The covers of this book are too far apart.
Ambrose Bierce
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