Ropes Course

You were all in my dream last night -- Lauren and Cat, you both got transported to a soggy lawn here at Earlham College (I'm in Richmond, IN right now). I was working on some collagey-ass poem and the two of you just weren't having any of it. I remember you, Catherine, especially making a scrunched-feline face of dismissal when I wrote the first line, "The canyon is great for conversation." Soon after that, you pointed your finger, Lauren, because Jared was walking toward us across the grass, and even though he was tiny with distance we could see he was wearing a long rainbowy scarf.

This brings me to two things. First, what's this bullshit about putting off grading, Jared? Am I mistaken or did you not just teach the tiniest writing class in the long and esteemed history of UC Mer-Dead? Yeah, that must have been brutality... (Wow -- I think I just dialed in the classic snotty-sarcastic po-blog tone for my first time ever (and the crowd goes wild...))

Second, I haven't checked out those essays yet, Jared, but the excerpt below is food for thought. I can't help but wonder what kinds of poetry people would hold up as being somehow impervious to criticical analysis. Personally, my criticism of a poet or poem usually grows out of an initial reaction to the work, and I can't think of too many reactions, even indifference, that aren't developable. And this was one of the beauties of the Iowa City-era reading group for me -- even if my thoughts were cloudy or muted at first, hearing what others had to say usually helped me to focus in a productive way. I'm hesitant to make many suggestions for group activites here -- last time I suggested something I left everyone else holding a stinky RoJo bag -- but it might be interesting to post a few criticism-resistant things and give them a shot. Hard to imagine a collection of words on a page or glowing screen that we as a group would be completely stymied by.

It could just be that critical apparatuses haven't shifted alongside recent poetry and now there's a bit of a lag in the ropes. There have historically been numerous occasions when poets themselves led charges or gave good sharp tugs, and who's doing that now in a formal, well-distributed way? Not many avanty poets that I'm aware of (as if I would be if there were). I mean, sure there's blog-world, esp. Sillomancer, but much of the back-and-forth here seems to be about stoking one's friends for all to see and read. (Maybe it's all secretly going down in the bowels of the Buffalo listserv, I'm not a po-Mason so I wouldn't know...) The current climate does blow sharp and shrill -- it's understandable that few brace themselves and actually step outside. Reading the intro to Messerli's anthology a few weeks ago I hoped for some kind of critical discussion of the book's content and how it's distinct from, say, the Norton. Sadly, there was nothing of the kind, just a ramble about the difficulties of anthologizing poetry...

Thus a national flailing-about happens! So much writing, with little or no discussion to follow, keep company, etc. (This is likely my mistaken thinking, course, because I baldly refuse to read the things that would prove me wrong.)