[New-Poetry] Berragain

[Chris Lott]

On 12/21/06, Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net> wrote:
> And one, as I
> suggested, can read a book ten times and still not know what's in it.

Fair enough, but my point remains that until you do read a book at
least once you can't really be sure, can you? I mean, how do you know
the people you are then relying on actually read the book and that the
book they are guessing about it like the other books they think it is
and aren't aesthetic responses incredibly complex and subject to
personal vagaries that can make even the well-read person shake his or
her head in surprise at something they unexpectedly find an affinity
for? Those are the greatest moments in reading, in my opinion-- when
something defies expectations or genre or the critical word of mouth
or historical time etc...

Without that it comes down to trust, faith, etc. that one's guesses
are pretty accurate. And I can understand going with that, I suppose,
but I don't understand the presumption of proposing them to others as
evidence for some kind of argument.

For me, given the choice between someone commenting who has read the
book and someone who has not, I'm more likely to choose the first,
even if they are less astute. Then again, look at Silliman-- he is
happy enough reading some books ten times and still not knowing what's
in them (though I suspect his lack of apprehension across a wide
swathe of poetry comes because he, as it sounds like you sometimes do,
is talking about things he has not read, having determined ahead of
time that they are not for him) and I would definitely trust your
surmises over his lengthy-readings had I to choose :)

c