[New-Poetry] Deborah Garrison

[TheOldMole]

You don't have to romanticize the dark places to know that they exist, 
and the best writing doesn't.

Suzanne Burns wrote:
>
>
> On 4/3/07, *TheOldMole* <Opus40-01 at opus40.org 
> <mailto:Opus40-01 at opus40.org>> wrote:
>
>     Well, we do look to literature to be our guide to the abyss that
>     we hope
>     to only glimpse in our lifetimes, and for that flash of the
>     unknown, I'd
>     go to Plath or Thomas sooner than Garrison or Judith Viorst. I
>     wouldn't
>     go to Plath for a parenting guide, but I probably wouldn't go to
>     Garrison either.
>
>
> I don't particularly care about angst, nor do I romanticize those 
> "dark" places-- Plath is just a  better and more vital poet in every 
> way.  She is proof that one can be a mother without sacrificing the 
> bite and fierceness of one's language.  Even her most maternal poems 
> avoid easy predictable sentiments. 
>
> I am biased though-- I generally don't get much out of work that can 
> be described as sweet, domestic, sentimental, or too anchored in the 
> backyard. I feel like this has been waaaaaay overdone in the SofQ and 
> it needs a break.  But that's just me.
>
> I agree-- I wouldn't want Plath or Garrison as a mother. One is too 
> creepy, the other too syrupy.  My own mother bore a striking 
> resemblance to the "Soccer Mom Ho" currently taking YouTube by storm ( 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqF1izJnK7M) with the exception that 
> she didn't rap (darn!). I wouldn't have it any other way.  :-)
>
>
> Suzanne
>
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-- 
Tad Richards
http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/