[New-Poetry] What I witnessed

[browning]

So we just have to be good readers/critics, as always. And as poets, we
should apply our highest standards to all our poems, as always.

 

 

**

Sarah Browning

Co-Director

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

c/o Institute for Policy Studies

1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600

Washington, DC 20036

 <mailto:browning at splitthisrock.org> browning at splitthisrock.org

 <http://www.splitthisrock.org/> www.splitthisrock.org

202-787-5210

 

  _____  

From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
[mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of John Jeffrey
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:08 AM
To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News & Views
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] What I witnessed

 


 

-- "Now, was that applause for me, for the poem, or for the sentiments in
the poem? You know, applause can be so ambiguous."


THAT is what (at least) I am talking about, that sentiment makes many people
raise their opinion of a poem, praising flabby, bland poems to the status of
"powerful" if they agree with the point of view put forward by the poet.

John Jeffrey



--- On Wed, 7/2/08, David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu> wrote:

From: David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu>
Subject: [New-Poetry] What I witnessed
To: "new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu & Views" <new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 9:00 AM

I haven't read CD Wright's book & have no opinion on it as poetry,
journalism, or anything else. I confess her work has left me cold for some
time, but I also haven't kept up with it. 

 

The Poetry Of Witness, though, is a phrase that I find interesting, in part
because of its basic ambiguity, coupled with the fervor with which it often
is deployed, both by fans and by skeptics. 

 

Back in the late 1970s I witnessed a wonderful moment at a reading given by
Robert Francis. This would have been in Amherst, Massachusetts, at the Jones
Library. After reading a number of his charming, simple-seeming lyrics to
the polite murmurs of the audience, Francis then recited a fairly strident
anti-war poem--to enthusiastic applause. 

 

The poet stood there, looking quizzical for a long moment (I am aware how
studied his performance may have been), waiting for the applause to subside
into smug silence. Then he very delicately inquired, "Now, was that applause
for me, for the poem, or for the sentiments in the poem? You know, applause
can be so ambiguous."

 

 

 

 

 

========================================

David Graham

grahamd at ripon.edu

 

Home Page:

http://web.mac.com/drjazz

 

Poetry Library:

http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html

==========================================

 





 

_______________________________________________


New-Poetry mailing list


New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu


http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20080702/5aa9dabc/attachment.html