This is going to be a bit meatier than a link round-up, but that’s how it started, and I don’t want to cut it down to make it a single-topic piece.
First, three poems:
“On Provenance” by Brian Blanchfield. There’s a compelling dryness in how this poem opens up what might be an unremarkable “slice-of-(academic)-life” accounting into something more. “The notes are where all the action is” indeed!
“Diagnostic Quiz for Human Ghost” by James Fujinami Moore. His idea of using non-traditional forms to spark ideas for poems would be a great one to play with (see the note following the poem). So many other contemporary poems use this technique to great effect.
“The Pages You Loved” by Khaled Mattawa, a lovely poem sent out as Friday’s AAP Poem-a-Day, which perhaps intersects (if only at a point or two) with themes in the rest of this week’s post.
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A few days ago, I saw a friend post on Twitter that Jerome Rothenberg had died last Sunday. See tributes to him here, here, and here, with I’m guessing more to come. I never met him and I don’t think I ever saw him read, but I had been thinking about him a lot lately. His Poems for the Millennium anthology has been a resource I’ve been glad to have on hand as I’ve been diving into poetry again after my time away, and I’ve been curious about his work bringing to light (for readers of English) poets from indigenous backgrounds. I also continually run into his Jacket2 blog.
There have been two other poetry deaths in 2024 that have stood out to me: Lyn Hejinian (of My Life fame) and critic Marjorie Perloff, known for her work writing about experimental American poetry. Perloff is often mentioned as a contrasting figure to another big critic, Helen Vendler, whose work tended to cover the more established canon. I’ve found both of them helpful. My affinity for Perloff is probably obvious for those who have gotten to know me. But Vendler’s intro book Poems Poets Poetry is one I’ve recommended multiple times to those who are looking to learn how to read and to get ideas of what they like (the book has a small anthology with a good range of classic and late 20th century poems; the two later editions may have some later poetry (mine is the first one from 1996)). I knew Vendler must be getting up there, so on occasions when I’d google her for one reason or another, I’d check to make sure she was still with us.
With both Rothenberg and Perloff on my mind Thursday afternoon, I thought: “But Helen Vendler is still alive, right?” I typed in her name and imagine my surprise to see this (I still had the “Past week” filter applied when searching for remembrances of Rothenberg):
Since 2022, we’ve lost so many remarkable poets and lovers of poetry. Beyond those I’ve mentioned above, there’s also Dean Young (two links there), James Longenbach, Bernadette Mayer (again two links), Keith Waldrop, Louise Glück, and I’m sure others I’m forgetting or whose work I regrettably never got to know. Most of them I never met, but I at least own books by all of them and at least in a small way, their work has shaped mine. One of the sad things about coming back to the poetry party after so many years away is that some of the people who played a big role in your memories are leaving just as you’re coming back in. For me, all this is mixed up with last year losing both my father, and an old-boss-turned-friend who didn’t deserve what he got the last ten years of his life (but who spent his last years writing poetry prolifically).
Now, after a few days of thinking about this and googling around, I realize that, especially when it comes to the critics, the amount of goodwill towards them from people in my generation and younger varies. And of course, there’s a variety of poetic styles and personalities among the names I’ve mentioned above, and with a crowd it’s harder to make conclusions. Thinking about Dean Young and Keith Waldrop, the two I had as teachers, there’s a pretty big gap between the lively, playful, outspoken, suffer-no-fools disposition of Dean, and Waldrop with his slight frame and long white beard, who was gentle, quiet, and understated.
But the influence of the two critics, certainly when it comes to how they lead cultural conversations about poetry, is perhaps clearer. With Perloff the rumor seems to be that she was a diva, and had her belittling moments as a professor. Those who criticize some branches of poetry today for being too academic and obscure might say she contributed a lot towards that (for what influence academics specializing in avant-garde poetry have on the larger world – any grumbling seems a little silly since if you don’t like such things, they’re easy to ignore). And while those who met Vendler remember her warmly, I’ve seen harsh words for her as well. So, while yes my tone is mournful, I do think there are questions we can ask about legacy, where they took us, and what their errors may have been.
I have more that I’ve written, but I would like to get this up today and need to think more about the paragraphs that come after this point (if I end up publishing those thoughts at all – I may not be the one to write them). I’m not linking to the obituaries for the critics since I’m not sure I’m done yet, and they’re easy enough to find. I recommend searching for their names on social media, especially Facebook (some of the moving personal recollections people are posting are public).
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