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

[JforJames at aol.com]

Suzanne, et al, 
It's a matter of 'trying to articulate', as I said before I  left the country.
It's not that Linda Gregg has entirely nailed down what we need to do 
writing our poems (or what students need to do) but she is get at  what
it means to be a poet in world. Lorca's essays often operate in this  way.
Not specific...a stepping back and taking stock of 'irst  things' Isn't
most poetry a little too vested in the pyrotechnics of its  saying? She
wants to marvel at what the poetry is seeing.
 
I need to go back and read Karr's essay. But I don't think it's of the  same
ilk as Gregg's piece. 
 
Whatever one thinks of the merits of Gregg's essay...I'd say it is  
'different'
from what is generally served up in any poetry class, be it 101  or advanced
workshop.
Finnegan
In a message dated 12/19/2006 10:33:53 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
queenmouse at gmail.com writes:

She  commends a  student for writing of "a mirror reflecting  nothing."?  
Good grief, I remember the very workshop when she wrote that  line in one of her 
poems, or maybe it was in her list of six things she  noticed.  And yes, I had 
the same reaction:  it is very decorative  and poetic.  Its a tad satisfied 
with itself. Its bland.  It lacks  grit.  Carolyn Forche called this sort of 
thing "the cult of the 'silent'  tick"-- the tendecny for poets to skirt around 
difficulty by getting all  breathy and empty. 

Here is what I wanted to get at:

When you  get past the vague, subjective language (and yes, I think Gregg 
overuses about  twenty or so words in her work to the point where they really 
start to lose  meaning-- it would be interesting to run one of her manuscripts 
through Word  to see how many times she uses the word "sacred", for example) and 
examine the  content, the guts as it were.... 

It's just not very  interesting.

The essay doesn't really doesn't say much beyond what is  easy for the reader 
to agree with, and it keeps even that nice and  vague.  

In fact I would go further to say my impression is that  this essay was 
written to elicit agreement, approval, and the nodding of  vaguely pleased heads. 

I would really love to see Gregg write an essay  that really takes a stake in 
a strong idea.  That eschews adjectives for  a while.  An essay that 
challenges the reader's expectations and  assumptions, that takes a real aesthetic 
stand.  An essay of aggressive  vitality that throws its drink against the wall 
and invites  disagreement.  

I think she is capable, but to tell you the truth,  I think she is just too 
damned nervous as a writer.

I highly recommend  Mary Karr's essay "Against Decoration" if you really want 
to get to into the  meat of these ideas.  




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