Perjury Marloff Handicaps the Poets! [by Walter Carey]

In a rare interview with the gun-shy Ms. Marloff, I got her to open up about the current situation in poetry last Friday.

First (she said) let me say a few words about the late Adrienne Rich (pictured left). We would be poorer without her efforts though lug und treig through thin and thick und so weiter.

OK in the face of the scandalous book awards and the continual neglect of what is truly cutting edge in poetry, let me just say this:

If all metaphor is linguistic, and post-modernism a coded name for neo-romanticism, then what about the meta of metaphsysics, let alone world peace, for those who pass the R Test? And what is this quasi (modo) feeling I keep getting?

I therefore nominate the following ten:

Mike Ehrmantrout
Arlene C. Bass
Newt Minnow
Sasha Torian
Joanne Ashberger
Frederick Sydorder
Cate Flounder
Countee Quennell
Reynaldo Artest
Barbara Erster

They honor the poetics and politics of "Ray-gun" indeterminacy, Clintonian diplomacy ("I didn't swallow," he said straightfaced with a half-empty glass of Dewar's in his fist) and, in a satirical vein, the good-natured if unfortunately inept efforts of John ("You've Got a Friend") Kerry trying to broker the peace, or threaten the tyrants, or whatever.

With thanks to Stacey Harwood and David Lehman for giving me this space. -- W. C.

 

Comments

[Chad Roe]

Something fishy about this.