Ashraf’s last entry brings up so many relevant points I fear it will be impossible to respond to them all at once. However, as my first contribution to this excellent endeavor I shall attempt to marshal a few thoughts.
Firstly I would like to make a positive observation. The thing I find refreshing about all of the articles cited is that they do, at least, offer genuine critical thinking. By this I mean that they dare to make comments about well-known poets, such as Strand and Olds, which have a negative slant. Comparing these with the puff reviews and politically couched essays which are perhaps the more common fare in many literary journals, I hope we are seeing a revival of old style non-careerist criticism.
I found the article about Strand very readable, but possibly a little narrow in scope. Strand may not be writing it or advocating it, but there is certainly much fine political poetry being written in America today by poets of all ethnicities and genders. I might recommend Poetry After 9/11: an Anthology of New York Poets for example. Or work by Tony Hoagland and Thomas Sayers Ellis for two perspectives on race. In the upcoming issue of my e-zine, the Barefoot Muse, I will be publishing a fine sonnet sequence by Anne Babson, which addresses various contemporary problems with American society including womens’ issues.
Turning to the Slate discussion, I did find it somewhat rambling. Dialogues have a tendency to become so, especially between writers! And perhaps the question it debates on the appropriateness of autobiography in poetry is of less significance than the question of whether enough poetry today is reaching real people. But I did feel both contributors made sensible statements about poetry in general. There is, after all, a place for academic discussion of esoteric art.
There is also a place for poetry in the New Yorker, as I have already suggested in this blog entry which I wrote not in response to the New Yorker piece Ashraf links to, but to the New York Times Book Review essay by David Orr which all but vilified Ms. Goodyear.
I need to wrap this up, alas, because I have commitments, but in conclusion I would like to emphasize that the marginalization of poetry is in our hands–mine, Ashraf’s, all of the Mad Poets, and anyone who reads this blog. Simply by having this discussion, we are bringing poetry more into the mainstream. Thanks for the impetus Ashraf. Let’s continue to do so!
