The London Magazine was not properly supported by the Arts Council recently, which was a shame, given its storied past, and impressive cultural credentials. Fortunately, an intrepid band has gathered to keep it going. I have edited a special and very brief feature on the rising generation of 21st century Canadian poets, dubbed Minus 50, for its latest incarnation (the December 2007/January 2008 issue), which will be celebrated at The Troubadour next Monday, March 10. There are about 30-40 Canadian poets born since 1960 or so that are worth reading, and a larger anthology would try to represent more of them (such as Carmine Starnino, Ray Hsu, Joe Denham, Lisa Pasold, David O'Meara, Louise Bak, etc.) but the nine I selected, in this instance, were Elizabeth Bachinsky, George Murray, Steven Heighton, Stephanie Bolster, Jason Camlot, David McGimpsey, Mike Kavanagh, Sina Queyras and John Stiles; I felt this various and transcontinental clutch of talented, lively poets showcases the ways in which new Canadian poetry can veer between pop culture, experiment, and the Tradition, with ease. Do find yourself a copy of this issue, and support Canuck Poets.
When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se. What do I mean by smart?
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