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Contrarian
I have a knee-jerk reaction to contrarians. I automatically like them. It takes me a while to step back and decide how valuable their views are because I enjoy their spirit of opposition. I’ve been following a contrarian named Thomas Brady for some time now. His blog is Scarriet. I like the punning sneer at the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog, and I like some of Brady’s critiques of the current situation of poetry. But I’ve come realize that his views aren’t finally very valuable, despite his contrarian credentials. The problem is this: Brady is a fundamentalist.Read More
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If You Happen to Be in or around San Francisco…
I just got a copy of this one, translated by my friend and mentor George McWhirter, who also edited (with Betty Ferber) Aridjis’s Eyes to See Otherwise (Ojos de otro mirar): Selected Poems 1960-2000 Aridjis is wonderful! And George is a sensitive and inventive translator, so I’m looking forward to reading it in Mexico come mid-April….Read More
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On The Incorrection
A couple of weeks ago I received my copy of Canadian poet George McWhirter’s new collection of poems, The Incorrection, and I’ve savored my way through it, first at one serial go, then dipping in and out like a sandpiper nibbling amidst sliding sea foam at the beach.* There is no way to summarize, coherently characterize, or anatomize this collection. First, it is large: 186 pages, or roughly three of what we’ve come to accept as average-in-length poetry books.Read More