[New-Poetry] Concerning "fauxpo"

[James Cervantes]

from The Writer's Chronicle (AWP), October/November 2008, "A Recognizable
Life: An Interview with Dick Allen," by Leslie McGrath:

"McGrath: What are your thoughts about the fragmented, elliptical,
'difficult' poetry written by many young American poets today?

Allen:  If you're talking about Language Poetry, I don't consider it
'poetry' but faux poetry, fauxpo, done by theorists.  That's fine and
enjoyable in the head, just as Dada was fine and enjoyable, but it's not
poetry.  Poetry is an emotional art, which may contain a great deal of
reason, but without emotion, without strong ties to understandability,
fragmented, elliptical, 'difficult' writing of that sort is just words in
arrangements.

     In the future, this sort of stuff might mutate to become sections of
larger future poems in which there's much weaving through nonsense to
meaning.  Some young poets seem to be starting to work in these directions,
but we're still waiting.  When the general public, or even the non-English
major college student begins buying and quoting these works, then something
will have happened.  But it doesn't seem to me that we're anywhere near
there yet.

     I'm also wondering about the amount of trivia included in many of
today's poems.  It seems necessary to include trivia because trivia is so
much part and parcel of the 21st century consciousness and day-to-day life.
Yet will the future care to remember X-men or a cell phone ring, even when
footnoted?  I think there are still new and specific and memorable ways to
write about the eternal."

Talking points:

Isn't all poetry "words in arrangements"?

Who is writing the kind of poetry Allen  hints at in the second paragraph of
his response?

Who has the answers on what is eternal?

Why won't Allen pal around with terrorists?

- Jim

"Whatever gets you through the night, babe." - Frank Sinatra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Salt River Review: http://www.poetserv.org
http://www.hamiltonstone.org/catalog.html#temporarymeaning
http://www.fieralingue.it/documenti/mr_bondo.pdf
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