Canada has changed. No longer boring, it is now one of the richest countries in the world, with the largest reserves of oil after Saudi Arabia - alas, it is also becoming more conservative, in a Bush-like way. The Canadian government has signalled it will not renew its Kyoto obligations. Indeed, the decision (aided and abetted by the UK) to develop the Alberta Tar Sands, is horrific - if this goes ahead, dangerous global warming will be unstoppable. I am not sure what to do, as an expat Canadian, except to say there is a new kind of international figure swaggering on the world stage: The Ugly Canadian - the Toxic Canuck.
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....
Comments
Canada is not becoming more conservative, rather it is now governed by a conservative party that managed to eke out a slim majority through winning a mere 39 percent of the vote in the last election. The opposition, which garnered over sixty percent, consists of four vote-splitting parties that range from centre-left to left. Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is found in the New Democratic Party - social democrats all.
No new international figure is swaggering on the world stage - it's just a more cocksure Stephen Harper. He is the Ugly Canadian; his tar sand tramps are the Toxic Canucks.
Majority in hand, the Conservative Party of Canada now feels safe in revealing itself. Mark my words, they it will be turfed in the next federal election.