tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post8323174924628356762..comments2024-01-19T21:33:09.716+00:00Comments on E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK: Seth's Death To SoQ?EYEWEARhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01900801847916951522noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-66992267890242946792010-07-20T12:41:42.581+01:002010-07-20T12:41:42.581+01:00I do have some symoathy with Ron Silliman's po...I do have some symoathy with Ron Silliman's point, at least in the sense that labels do exist for other poetries than the mainstream (whatever that is): even the label "Women's poetry" assumes that poetry by women isn't "mainstream" or that it's somehow different because it's written by (or read by) a woman. Nobody talks of "men's poetry" or "white poetry" or "abled" poetry. Or for that matter, "non-experimental" poetry.<br /><br />I would agree, though, that the whole thing is a diversion from the business of actually writing poems. I would probably characterise my own poetry as "The Lyric: Problemitised."Steven Walinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09843948765720382682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-73396417482455600352010-07-16T11:25:08.697+01:002010-07-16T11:25:08.697+01:00I was wondering if anyone else noted this. No one ...I was wondering if anyone else noted this. No one commented on it on Silliman's blog (and Seth's doesn't seem to have a facility for comments). I was delighted that he made that point about O'Hara; something that had often occurred to me. I think Silliman's SoQ label is broadly meant as anti-American, 'American' in this instance representing language ideally freed from what Silliman perceives as the pernicious, stuffy English tradition. This let's-wipe-the-slate-clean fantasy reminds me of Pound's obsession with 'Usura'; there is something distinctly xenophobic about it, or at least anti-English/Irish (I remember Silliman at one point actually declaring that '"Yeats is interesting, tho problematic, operating out of a context that has little to do with U.S., frankly" (note that lack of a definite article). And yes, I think lyric poetry is supposed to be a 'neophobe' hangover from that tradition. As far as I recall, Silliman also recruited Dickinson to fight the good fight. <br /><br />Silliman's last comment on his recent SoQ post was: 'If a term like School of Quietude isn’t to their liking, I’d suggest that they come up with one of their own.' Prior to reading that, I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that SoQ had by now become an acceptable, if rather specialised, term by that (possibly) significant minority who like their poetics tidily sorted and labeled. But there is a note of desperation in this spiel (especially that parting shot), which amounts to an unusually arrogant and disingenuous argument, even by Silliman's standards.Mark Granierhttp://markgranier.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com