[New-Poetry] Poetic dialogue?

[Joseph Duemer]

It pains me to agree with Billy Collins, but David Wagoner told me much the
same thing when I was an undergrad 35 years ago. "Not bad, he said of my
work. Now go read everything in the Library." I've been trying ever since.

I disagree with Anny about imitation, though. If you like a poet imitate
them until you own them, then move on; that's how one learns. Raven may not
have heard of Baudelaire, but there is some of that sensibility in the work,
which, yes, is very raw, but has authentic feeling. So, Raven, get the to a
used bookstore & pick up some Baudelaire prose poems.

Linda Sue Grimes writes "This kind of stuff sounds fake to me.  As if the
writer just put down on paper anything that popped into his/her head.  But
in this you have a lot company in contemporary poetry.  So your
grammar/usage errors could be intentional for all the reader can tell."
That's nonsense. An example of the rhetorical fault of the sweeping
generalization, or painting with too broad a brush.

jd



On 12/27/06, TheOldMole <tad at opus40.org> wrote:
>
>  Raven -- this is something else you need to work on, that comes with
> time. One of the most important things you can do is to read -- everyone and
> everything. This is from an interview I did with Billy Collins.
>
> Equally important in Collins' work is his sense of a connection with the
> great poets who have preceded him. "In a sense," he says, "all poems are
> about some other poem. You're always riffing on earlier work. As William
> Matthews has said, 'A poet is never alone. You're always in the company of
> the beloved lines of your predecessors.'" At the same time, he points out,
> influence becomes a fascinating dialog across time. "While you are the
> audience for great predecessors, they're your audience, as well. Influence
> is a two-way street. For example, Whitman was an important influence on
> Ginsberg - but because of Ginsberg, we now read Whitman differently."
>
> This sense of history is important to Collins, and as a teacher, he
> believes it's one of the most important things a young poet has to learn.
> "The history of poetry is one of cross-historical conversation. And you have
> to listen to that conversation before you can jump in and become a part of
> it. It's not just self-expression, as a lot of young would-be poets think."
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Rebuketheworld at aol.com
> *To:* new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 27, 2006 7:10 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [New-Poetry] Poetic dialogue?
>
> Amy, I have never heard of the word Baudelaire.  I actually did a yahoo
> search after I received that comment.
> ~Raven
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-Poetry mailing list
> New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-Poetry mailing list
> New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>
>
>


-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[chujoe.net]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20061227/285d3c7a/attachment.html