The Poem And The Page

Take a self-proclaimed performance poet - yes, lets install it a most stereotypical one a vernal woman who in one nights reading will prototypal regale the audience with a verse form most the misadventures of her vagina, good up into another meter about something topical physiquered the oil-spill, and then end with a titillating number that proclaims that ex-president bush is still the worlds biggest idiot and that the war in Iraq is still stupid. stick to the reception of these poems. The artsy fartsy students snap their fingers; the untested women raise their fists in solidarity; the dreadlocked young men shake their locks and shout Jah! (Yes, Im pretending were in the Caribbean). sanitary take this poet and the transcript of this performance and put it in an MFA shop class and the poems will be greeted with a very different variety of reaction.



Silence at first. It is a silence in which the regulars are thinking the same thought. Finally someone will be brave enough to say it, I think these poem do not work so well on the page. Yes -- I want to dip my toes into this old, old argument again - the poem and its place on the page.



Ive been thinking about this kind of critique. You see, it is the kind of thing a certain kind of poet will often say. I should be more genuine than that.



It is, quite frankly, the kind of thing I have said. In fact I probably I said it yesterday, and I probably will say it again tomorrow, depending on what poem I am asked to advert at. But I curiosity about it sometimes. There is a world of snobbery there. And it isnt that I am against snobbery. A certain noble laureate at once whispered to me, Poetry isnt a democracy, Edward. It is an aristocracy. Still, sometimes I feel we ought to look at our snobbery, if we can, examine it closely, be a little ruminative for Gods Sake !!



In the poetry world that I locomote in, there is a general privileging of poems that are mostly at home on the page. By contrast there is a general disparaging of poems...If you want to get a to the full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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