[B. N. Faraj]

"I wish you went after what's possible!" That was about your nudging me to pay attention.

I’m not a fan of any of the imagists, but I do value what Pound wrote about poetry. A lot of that advice can be useful regardless of the form you use.

No I don’t think I misattributed those lines to WCW. You delineated them clearly in your post. My question about your “How do you like it” was meant playful, but apparently it fell flat. No great loss there!

[William A. Baurle]

Just for the hell of it, here's my favorite poem from WCW:

Pastoral

When I was younger
it was plain to me
I must make something of myself.
Older now
I walk back streets
admiring the houses
of the very poor:
roof out of line with sides
the yards cluttered
with old chicken wire, ashes,
furniture gone wrong;
the fences and outhouses
built of barrel staves
and parts of boxes, all,
if I am fortunate,
smeared a bluish green
that properly weathered
pleases me best of all colors.
No one
will believe this
of vast import to the nation.

Did you know that WCW began as a formal poet? I have a collection of his early poems on Kindle, and believe me, it was for the best that he abandoned rhyme and meter and broke new wood.

I gather from your latest poem you don't like free verse? I think some of the best poets were those who wrote an even balance of formal and free verse, like James Wright and Theodore Roethke, just to name two.

Then there are guys like James Dickey who famously hated the traditional forms, who nonetheless wrote some very formal, rigidly structured poems (and brilliant ones at that).

I have a big hardcover book called The Book of 1,000 Poems, and it's stuffed full of some of the most sickly sentimental poetry you can imagine, all of it in well-crafted rhyme and meter.

I think it's best to judge works of art like one judges people: as individuals, one at a time. Generalizing is never wise.

Sorry if I seem snarky and defensive at times. Just try and bear with me!

[Quincy Lehr]

And here I was thinking that it was perhaps a bit cerebral, but smart and well-wrought.

[William A. Baurle]

Quincy,

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts, if you'd care to elaborate?

[Allen Tice]

Sam, the lead poem (Ben Mazer's) means: Life is a bitch, and then you die (preferably quickly). Further, that western religion is bunk, and all religion is bunk, and that Francois Villon is dead and so what, he's bunk too! These are not new ideas, some go back, if not to Homer, at least to ancient Athens. The poem means exactly, if you pardon me, what Wallace Stevens proposes in many poems, with the difference that Stevens likes the colors and "gaudiness" of momentary life: that is, that life isn't a bitch, that it has "ice cream" to enjoy. Within ethical limits, carpe diem. The message of Ben's poem is arguable; his way of laying it out is leaden and almost not worth the trouble, despite the tolerable form. I'd like some pleasure in reading it, but Ben choked that off. It is not required that one agree with Mazer's despair to fish out his "meaning". At a minimum, he needs more flowers and fresh air, some flavor of ice cream.

"The famous city"? Anyone's guess. Civitas Dei? It must be an attractive nuisance for many people, like a Venus Fly-Trap.

[William A. Baurle]

"The famous city"? Anyone's guess. Civitas Dei? It must be an attractive nuisance for many people, like a Venus Fly-Trap.

- Allen.

I was thinking the Vatican, but that's almost certainly not the city of God.