[New-Poetry] Poetic dialogue?

[Joseph Duemer]

Raven, you can call me Joe. Now, let me speak some truth: You don't write
anything like the Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner. Nor do you write like
Immanuel Kant, who wrote in German anyway. You are a beginning writer & what
you need to do, as others have noted, is read, read, read. Like many others
on this list, I actually get paid to teach people how to write. I am glad to
read what you wrote: "Now I need to read & learn from others." But I am
bothered by the sentence you wrote just before that one: "I like the idea
that I haven't been influenced in my style as of yet because its [sic]
solely just me and a starting place of my own." I guess in some sense we all
start from nowhere & in that way your sentiments are admirable. As a poet,
you are an innocent, which means, in fact, that you don't really have a
"style" because having a style involves absorbing the work of other poets &
then making your own way among those others. A lot of beginners think that
writing poetry is a form of self expression, but it's not. Poetry is about
discovering a path through language. The self will only get in the way. Pay
enough attention to language -- which means reading other poets -- & some
shadow of the self will get cast against the wall, but that's not really
your job as a poet. Your job as a poet is to pay attention to language. Of
course, it is entirely possible that you are not a poet. I can't say. But
there is no shame in not being a poet, god knows.


-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]
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