[New-Poetry] Does Poetry Have A Social Function?

[Joseph Duemer]

Of course, no one has ever heard of Jason Quackenbush & Joseph Duemer is
known the world around!

Seriously, I think the question is misconceived. The misconception, I think,
lies in the notion of "function." Every human activity has a "social
function." One reason I was (lightly, I hope) disdainful of the original
post is that it's just another way of asking, What is poetry good for, you
parasite? And the Poetry Magazine answer is, Poetry is good for elite
cultural refinement. It is an obscure & faintly erotic form of urban status.
Pound dealt with this in "Mauberly" & he took an earlier, youthful, version
of himself as target, which took guts. (That he wrote some of the most
beautiful quatrains in modern English is another subject.) Anyhow, thinking
of Christian Wimin, I am reminded of the final lines of James Wright's poem,
"Ars Poetica: Some Recent Criticism": Reader, we had a lovely language. / We
would not listen. / Ah, you bastards, / How I hate you. [Lineation from
memory.]

jd

On 1/2/07, Jason Quackenbush <jfq at myuw.net> wrote:
>
> i'm maybe inordinately proud of the fact that i don't think either
> publication would consider printing anything of mine. i find both of them
> skull
> crushingly boring, and as far as i can tell christian wiman and the influx
> of cash have only managed to make Poetry more irrelevant than it was before.
>
> Joseph Duemer wrote:
> > Well, Finnegan, over the years APR has published quite a ferw of my
> > poems & Poetry has published exactly zero, so you could say I'm biased.
> > I disagree about APR, though.
> >
> > jd
> >
> > On 1/2/07, *JforJames at aol.com <mailto:JforJames at aol.com>*
> > <JforJames at aol.com <mailto:JforJames at aol.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     In a message dated 1/2/2007 2:07:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> >     duemer at gmail.com <mailto:duemer at gmail.com> writes:
> >
> >         Wimin's panel looks a lot like the Iraq Study Group to me. A
> >         group of eminences whose conclusions are known before they
> >         begin. With neither side of the debate, ultimately paying any
> >         attention to them. Political Kabuki at Poetry Magazine.
> >
> >
> >     To quibble, Joe, I wouldn't call any of that crew an 'eminence'. In
> >     the big circulation poetry
> >     mags of which there are only two, the APR rag is looking more tired
> >     these days. Poetry
> >     more full of spit and vinegar than I can ever remember it. Either it
> >     was Wiman's doing or the
> >     Lilly heiress' cash...but something's changed in Chicago other than
> >     the address of
> >     their offices.
> >     Finnegan
> >
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     New-Poetry mailing list
> >     New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu <mailto:New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
> >     http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Joseph Duemer
> > Professor of Humanities
> > Clarkson University
> > [sharpsand.net <http://sharpsand.net>]
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]
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