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I read recently that many are suffering from what is now called, "information disease"- that is many live in a information swamped state of paralysis, including, I assume, what can be a swamp of poetry publications, photographs et al. I confess. I think I suffer from that disease. I can spend hours looking closely at trees and birds - delightful in itself, but a relief from the constantly looming market bull dozer (ah, a pun!) of Art. Personally I also like the solace of a well made book - one that creates a space around a small gathering of poems in which I can really concentrate on the there of there, and take its slowly or, however, as I want. (Something that is much more ephemeral on a monitor) This is not to reject being once in my twenties and gobbling up everything in sight, poetry et al. That was necessary 'food' for flesh and bone. But I now I even get fed up with 'critical pointers' - online review mags with 50 etc. reviews. Oy & where to start. So I kind of agree with the root disturbance behind David's proposal - as in 'give us a break'. Then, again, frankly, I think there has always been a load of particularly young work that comes, and shortly disappears from public sight. Even when I remember (if that) of the work that I have quickly disposed without even 'going public.' As natural, I suspect, to the creative process as waves that rise with some power then crash and wash quite flatly back down the beach. Stephen --- On Fri, 4/23/10, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: A Modest Proposal To: [log in to unmask] Date: Friday, April 23, 2010, 7:59 AM Not sure about that, Dave, as all they might notice would still be those papers. I do recall Robert Duncan taking 15 years off from book publication, while writing some of his major late work; now that was both possible, & a nervy attempt to avoid too quick public review while exploring the possibilities of his poetic. Doug On 23-Apr-10, at 2:42 AM, David Bircumshaw wrote: > as there would be no strictures against > re-publication, we would have ample opportunity to assemble retrospectives > and collected works, reputations could be thoughtfully and fastidiously > examined, perhaps people would begin to remember how to read, other than if > scanning a newspaper, and most of all there would be restoration of poets to > what should be their true proving ground: the blank solitude of the page. Douglas Barbour [log in to unmask] 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 secret I was immediately set upon by two or three critics, who hurled sophistries and maledictions at me that were astonishing in their dimness. Jorge Luis Borges