Thank you.
Like you I admire his work, rather than love it. Each piece, to me, is a
highly polished diamond. I'm struck by the brilliance, I get lost in the
reflecting and refracting fields, but I cannot love it.
I'll look up Gunnar Ekelof.
Roger.
On Mon, 30 May 2016 at 18:18 David Bircumshaw <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> My condolences and sympathies on your parents too, Roger, and glad you feel
> somewhat, and musically too! , improved.
>
> From what I've read of Prynne's poetry and prose, that's much of the
> former, less of the latter, and from one experience of seeing him read, I
> suspect he's not a covert elitist himself though possibly some of his
> followers and acolytes are. I admire his writing rather than love it.
>
> Myself I'm reading a lot of a poet whose writing I really do love, that's
> the Swede Gunnar Ekelof.
>
> dave
>
>
>
> On 30 May 2016 at 16:02, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > All very interesting, Roger (& condolences on your father & mother).
> >
> > I read the earlier Collected Prynne (& remember reading much earlier a
> few
> > of the pamphlets). Then about a year ago read a PhD thesis on him that
> was
> > as obscure (or obscurantist) as is poetry. Did go on about the political
> > subtext(s). Some of which I believed. The writing (in the thesis) was
> > rather shoddy, but some interesting ideas did sneak through).
> >
> > I tend to thin P is sui generi & not a member of any school, but who
> knows
> > for sure.
> >
> > I dont pretend to ‘understand’ his poetry, but some of it hits had (& I’d
> > say the learning how to eat comes through reading).
> >
> > Do I return to his work the way I return to the poets I most love? No.
> His
> > work deliberately repulses, I think…
> >
> > Doug
> > > On May 29, 2016, at 1:19 PM, Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >
> > > http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n11/robert-potts/smirk-host-panegyric
> > >
> > > Reading this review, something which had been bubbling away suddenly
> > > surfaced. Indulge me whilst I take a trip down memory lane.
> > >
> > > 1. A long time ago, before I was unwell, I was a sly member of
> > > subsubpoetics - I had no idea what they were on about but I'd blagged
> my
> > > way in. I remember someone saying something about the "political
> > efficacy"
> > > of poetry. (As a full disclaimer, I support politics in poetry. Like
> any
> > > minority interest - like religion, say - it should get a mention. It
> > > shouldn't be the be-all or end-all of a poem, but it's a legitimate
> > topic.)
> > > Should one write poetry which influences politics? I think, yes. But it
> > > shouldn't be a polemical piece, show not tell.
> > >
> > > 2. I attended a reading by a Nigerian poet with lots of political
> poetry
> > -
> > > particularly on torture. Peter Riley was there, and I remembered him
> > saying
> > > something like "He says what he means." The poet, unlike Cambridge
> poets,
> > > laid out his political agenda for all to see, no hiding.
> > >
> > > 3. The thing that connects to the JH Prynne is his poetry on the
> Israeli
> > > occupation of Gaza. I suspect he's against it, but his poetry is such
> > that
> > > one could easily deflect any accusation that he might be against it or
> > even
> > > for it. The unbidden thought came to me that his - and the Cambridge
> > school
> > > of poetry - is an example of moral cowardice. One can take a position,
> > but
> > > at the same time one's poetry could take a matrix of meanings either
> for
> > or
> > > against one's own position. That's the beauty of the Cambridge School
> > poem.
> > > BTB, the Cambridge School of Poetry doesn't exist.
> > >
> > > Anyway.
> > >
> > > That's my thought for today.
> > >
> > > Regards, Roger.
> >
> > Douglas Barbour
> > [log in to unmask]
> > https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
> >
> > Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations
> > 2 (UofAPress).
> > Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
> >
> > Oh, goddamnit, we forgot the silent prayer.
> >
> > Dwight D, Eisenhower
> > [at a cabinet meeting]
> >
>
>
>
> --
> David Joseph Bircumshaw
> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
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> blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.com
>
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