3.11.2003

No, Ron Silliman, you cannot purvey Great New Poetry to me every three days. I don't buy your economy of millions of Great Poets kept down by a conspiracy of mainstream schools of quietude. I don't care if it's impossible to read everything being published. A critic can have standards even if the view is restricted.

There is something to be said for running the gauntlet of mainstream publication : it enforces necessary solitude & purpose.

The standard may be something finicky & whimsical on the surface. But it will allow the poet time to win the critic over despite the strictest judgement.

Even if poetry is blooming everywhere, I still want the critic to find it rare, profound, substantial, absolutely convincing. I want the critic to be tough to win over, knowledgeable, sensible, responsive.

I want poetry to go & hide somewhere, in some old abandoned shack in Hungary maybe, to get away from all these glib, pretentious poets.

This gets back to Jordan's comment about the "yucky" feeling of doing reviews.

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