Robert Archambeau writes a brief note on In RI : a kindly reminder that my books & poetry actually exist outside my own head. Not sure he's actually read much of it, since that "gently melancholy" tone he describes changes as the poem goes along. There is a plot, centered on Roger Williams's successful evasion of theo-cats in Massachusetts Bay, & getting of independent charter for colony of religious toleration & sep. of church/state (you know, lil' Rhody). Concomitantly the poem's tone becomes less "melancholy" & more varied. (p.s. Rosmarie Waldrop's take-off on R. Williams' Key into the Language of America was published in '94, so apparently we were consulting this text at about the same time. I was not aware of her book until later.)

Olson is part of the background - but perhaps more so is Williams' Paterson. I remember I was also reading at the time (the poem was written in 1994-95) Jeffrey Walker's critical study, Bardic ethos and the American epic poem, which takes a rather dim view of Olson.

The blog & the DIY books have allowed me to sift & shape My Very Own "oeuvre" - so somebody could come along & discover this little Rhody Cosmos if they wanted to. As it is though I exist in a virtual webspace or self-enclosed Netherland, a non-entity in Poetry World. Very strange. My past WERKE weighs heavily. I need to write a novel or something, get out from under this oppressive sense of frustration. Am actually very pleased with Fontegaia (poem) of last few months - writing can be its own reward, but I'd like it to be more. Gets lonesome in My Own Private Siena.