[New-Poetry] Re: New-Poetry Digest, Vol 59, Issue 7

[Bob Grumman]

> Speaking as one who's simply eager to find more good poetry I don't 
> know yet, I'd like to ask Bob, or anybody else, to name some names of 
> the poets writing better poems than Duffy.( For the record, I agree 
> with Bob that "Prayer" uses resonant images admirably.)
>
>  I'm an American and find it difficult (and lately, expensive) to 
> purchase UK-published books), so I 'd appreciate recommendations 
> before I plunk down cash.
First off, Maryann, I have to tell you (to be very snippity) that I 
spoke of people /making/ better poems than Duffy--because many of the 
best poems today (in my opinion) are only partly written.  As many at 
New-Poetry know, I'm a fierce advocate of visual poetry, contending that 
a good many of the best poems created today are by visual poets.  Those 
among them I count an order of magnitude better than Duffy, at least, 
are Scott Helmes, K. S. Ernst, Carol Stetser, Guy R. Beining, John 
Vieira.  A special case is John M. Bennett who is not only a terrific 
visual poet but (again, for me) a terrific solitextual (solely textual) 
poet, though very peculiar.  Michael Basinski.  Lots of others, 
including me.

There are also some very interesting language poets, such as p. inman 
and Clark Coolidge, who seem to me better than Duffy.  I'm not up on 
sound poets, but suspect there are a lot of good ones since they seem 
paralleling visual poets.

Turning to conventional poets, I would probably rate Heaney above 
Duffy.  Wilbur, for sure.  Even Ashbury is.  As well as our own Mike 
Snider, and some others who post to New-Poetry.   I'd prefer not  to 
name New-Poetry names (even though no one here would think a zero-sum 
game were under way if I did).  I think any standard anthology will 
expose you to conventional poets you'll like as well or better than 
Duffy.  I see lots of conventional poems I like better than those of 
hers I've seen but didn't like enough to remember their authors' names. 

Remember, I'm a partisan, so you needn't take my position too seriously.

--Bob



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20090503/8a324637/attachment.html