[New-Poetry] Re: poet finds God

[Chris Lott]

On 6/10/07, Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net> wrote:
>
> I'd posted the piece before reading it...now that I have I find the caption
> I gave it a bit flip. I had no idea Wiman's had an incurable disease. It's a
> moving essay, straightforward and sincere.
>
> I'm afraid I found it at the level of what's in Poetry and the American
> Scholar, at best--although I certainly hope Wiman lives another fifty years
> with no significant ill effects from his disease.

I thought the essay was well done, but perhaps I am biased because of
my own diagnosis.

I no longer understand the role of objectivity in writing and reading.
At least a few of us found Wiman's piece moving; I doubt all of us
have a terminal condition beyond life itself. but sympathy/empathy
seems a fundamental part of the aesthetic response. Maybe some kind of
objective approach is what separates the good authors from the rest
(including myself), but in most cases I'm just not that interested in
achieving the distance to find out. In others I don't think it's
possible.

c