[New-Poetry] Gerstler's Best American Poetry

[David Graham]

One problem I have with this line of argument is the fact that "the mainstream" has long included critical discussions of technique along with theme.  Anyone remember the New Formalists?  So I don't recognize this particular either/or, nor do I see how Gerstler announcing some themes she likes means that she is uninterested in technique.  

Another one of my problems is with the notion that "the mainstream" is just "one way."  An unduly aerial view always obscures the most interesting distinctions.  If when you look at Rubens, the best you can do as critic is to announce that he paints fat women, then the problem is not with analyzing theme but with seeing themes reductively.



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David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.me.com/drjazz

Poetry Library:
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On Sep 25, 2010, at 6:28 AM, Bob Grumman wrote:

> 
> On 9/24/2010 7:12 PM, Tad Richards wrote:
>> Those are pretty much my themes.
> Am I the only New-Poetry participant who automatically looks down on editors and critics who think in terms of subject matter when discussing poetry?  It seems to me like someone's trying to indicate what Monet, Cezanne and Rubens were like by telling you that they depicted lily ponds, mountains and fat women.  I think my problem is with the implication that there's only one significant way of doing poetry, the mainstream way, so only the subject matter varies.
> 
> Glad to hear from you, by the way, Mole.  You've been pretty quiet of late.
> 
> --Bob
> _______________________________________________