They're a little too sentimental for my taste.
Yeah. Fuck sentiment.
I wrote some notes on a poem of Justin's that I still haven't given to him (or he still hasn't picked up). But I wrote something that I'd like to share with everyone. Regardless of context, I wrote, "As a reader I don't want to be told things, especially about things that aren't concrete, physical things, and as a poet we should never assume we know anything our readers don't, should we? We are revealers of truth, not fabricators--we act as subtle directors."
It's strange that I don't necessarily like imposing anything on a reader, but for some reason think I can impose something on myself, let alone another writer. It's only meant to be an open dialogue for the acquiring of poetic knowledge. I don't have any, so I'm taking suggestions.
3 comments:
define "told things"
-paul
well i would like to see your notes. i didnt expect them to be stored at your work.
sheesh.
I suppose by "told things" I'm saying, proposing things in a definitive way--an absolutist with little to no room for experience to change a perspective. Something lacking an openness to the possibility that what is proposed is incorrect. Uncertainty? I'm not really sure how to define "told things." I mean I guess we can look at poems themselves as not a definitive end in and of themselves, but rather a means to a certain end which is understanding and revelation. I guess proposing certain things in a definitive way isn't necessarily out of my bounds, but for some reason I read ever poem as if it's the last poem on earth to be written sometimes. That's probably my fault.
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