[New-Poetry] Art of Finding, Linda Gregg's essay

[Chris Lott]

I find the value in these kinds of explanations of poetry and writing
to be that they are little philosophical confections-- works of art in
and of themselves. That value has precious little to do with their
actual, direct, material application to being a writer. I suspect many
of us are here because we believe in a kind of communication that goes
beyond the denotation of the words, as most mathematicians I know have
a practically mystical appreciation of numbers and the "art" that
informs higher math. Sometimes things just ring true without being
able to figure out exactly why.

Gregg's essay doesn't rank that high on my scale of such things, but
reading it and being disappointed that there aren't concrete rules and
practices and directions is like directing someone to read Keats and
having them complain that it isn't like Dr. Phil.

c