skip to main | skip to sidebar

The Virtual World

Poetry, the imagination, and the creative life.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

An interesting review/article of The Consequence of Innovation: 21st Century Poetics, Craig Dworkin, ed.(Roof Books, 2008)from the Brooklyn Rail here:

The problem with poetry these days isn’t the literary magazines run by pharmaceutical industry businessmen, or the grants granted by pharmaceutical industry heiresses, or even the grant-granting bodies composed of pharmo-conservo-politicos (and heiresses). And it’s not all the writing about writing, either, or even the writing about the writing about the writing (which, okay, can get annoying). It’s the poetry about the writing about the writing about the writing.
. . .
Perhaps theory should listen to poetry, give up the ideal of the subjectless text, stop denouncing the space between subject and object as simply false, and begin to see it as a devious and sophisticated and thoroughly artificial structure, where something new and alien might come to life.


I couldn't agree more. I am so sick of theory and "poetics." Let's get back to the poems. The poems you read/write because your life depends on them.
Posted by Peter at 8:18 AM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

1 comment:

T. said...

Amen.

September 28, 2008 2:15 PM

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • (no title)
    Wow. Spring has FINALLY arrived! Gorgeous weekend. We were able to get out in the yard, sit in the sun and rock on the new glider. Went out ...
  • (no title)
    Wow. Go to the 1:10 mark and listen. This Chinese kid does an *amazing* pitch-perfect cover of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Lov...
  • (no title)
    Fun weekend. Had a lovely poetry lunch Saturday with K at the new Macrina in SODO, which is my new fave place to read and write and have sou...
  • I *Heart* Mary Oliver
    Mary Oliver is reading tonight in Seattle, at Town Hall, a venue that seats about 3000 people and is SOLD OUT (correction: the hall seats 90...
  • (no title)
    The weather in Port Townsend is awesome. Sunny and blue with a light breeze blowing in from the sound. Everybody seems to be in great spirit...
  • Borges and I
    I am a big fan of Borges' speculative and experimental fiction. Stories like "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," "The Garden of...
  • I guess I'm gonna be late . . .
    From the PI online this morning: Crash shuts down West Seattle Bridge By HECTOR CASTRO Three people were killed on the West Seattle Bridge w...
  • The Four Tribes of Art
    Got the link to this article from C Dale . I have seen this formulation before, and I think it is a fascinating way to look at things. I thi...
  • Margaret Hodge RIP
    Seattle poet Margaret Hodge died April 28th, from complications of TTP (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura). Margaret was a kind and gentle...
  • Me So Happy!
    The Dawgs won BOTH games, against ASU and Arizona. Both were close and full of drama: last minute lead changes, an overtime, crunch-time fre...

Some Poems Online

  • "Magnolia Blossom"
  • Body Talk
  • Crossing the Pear
  • "Wordsword" "Adagio"
  • "Twenty Years After His Passing, My Father Appears . . ."
  • "Think or Swim"
  • "The Cruciverbalist"
  • "Reconsidering the Seven"
  • "October Journal"
  • "Nursemaid's Elbow"
  • "Lost in Translation"
  • "Holy Shit"
  • "Her Name is Rose"
  • "Fugue"
  • "Anagrammer" (video)
  • "Anagrammer"
  • "After the Pillow Book"

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (15)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (3)
  • ►  2012 (44)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (4)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2011 (96)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ►  November (6)
    • ►  October (3)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (7)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (9)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (10)
    • ►  February (13)
    • ►  January (10)
  • ►  2010 (121)
    • ►  December (12)
    • ►  November (7)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (9)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (11)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (12)
  • ►  2009 (147)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (20)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (19)
    • ►  January (18)
  • ▼  2008 (246)
    • ►  December (22)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (27)
    • ▼  September (22)
      • Poetry Bailout
      • It is just gorgeous outside today. Warm and sunny ...
      • An interesting review/article of The Consequence o...
      • Looks like the debate opened with the customary ar...
      • Finalist Bridesmaid & Suicidal Genius
      • Entheogen?
      • Well, I didn't get my call from the MacArthur's ye...
      • I liked this poem on today's Verse Daily:Popular S...
      • From the internet "Relationship Advice Files:"Fart...
      • Baby stilletos? Now I have seen everything. Heelar...
      • RIP Richard Wright:Shine on you crazy diamond. Enj...
      • I love this quote from today's Word a Day:"If you ...
      • Back from PT. I had a nice trip. The weather that ...
      • As many of you know by now, Reginald Shepherd pass...
      • I had a fun time at the Floating Bridge reading la...
      • Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award Nancy Pagh wi...
      • It's been sunny in Seattle this weekend. Summer's ...
      • This little ditty from The Stranger is just too fu...
      • I was going to read a couple poems from Ted Genowa...
      • Who says it's only poets that suffer from a typo? ...
      • This is an interesting story about the fight over ...
      • Great cover, eh? I have to admit, I am really look...
    • ►  August (27)
    • ►  July (25)
    • ►  June (28)
    • ►  May (23)
    • ►  April (21)
    • ►  March (21)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2007 (340)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (26)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (24)
    • ►  August (24)
    • ►  July (35)
    • ►  June (31)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (30)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (30)
  • ►  2006 (421)
    • ►  December (30)
    • ►  November (28)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (34)
    • ►  August (41)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (35)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (47)
    • ►  March (34)
    • ►  February (34)
    • ►  January (36)
  • ►  2005 (414)
    • ►  December (41)
    • ►  November (36)
    • ►  October (45)
    • ►  September (32)
    • ►  August (42)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (33)
    • ►  May (39)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (35)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (19)
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetry can communicate before it is understood. ~T. S. Eliot

*


Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~ Plato

*


A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. ~ Salman Rushdie

*


Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~ Novalis

*


Poetry is what maintains our capacity for contemplation and difficulty. — Carolyn Forche

*


Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild. — Denis Diderot

*


Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used. — Paul ValĂ©ry

*