Wilbur actually did embrace the far left as a college student, and he got into a bit of trouble with military intelligence about it. However, the far left was embraced by many college students during the depression. Most drifted into the New Deal mainstream later, though some became more radical while others became conservative.

Once upon a time I published poems and reviews in Chronicles. Eventually I had to step back because of the loony factor. I continue to get New Criterion because I love the cartoons. And I get The New Yorker because of Pauline Kael. I read both exclusively in the bathroom. First Things is beyond my religious pale, which could stand some neighborly help in mending it to good again and keeping my apples from straying.

The title above Quincy's links is all the introduction his thread needed. His reputation precedes him here. He could have said, "Well, here is some stupid crap" as a preamble, I suppose.

Sam,

At first glance I thought CHUD stood for Cattle Hosting Udder Diseases; but then I remembered I was reading Eratosphere, and not Hoard's Dairyman.

Did you make a promise to her before she died?

Re Sam's post, I really think it's hard to define "far left" anymore within American (US) culture. The far right is becoming clearer and clearer (as if it needed that). But I'd like someone to really define what "far left" means. We've drifted so so far to the right I'm guessing "far left" could mean any number of ideological stances.

Left blood? Well, my stepmother knitted socks for the good eggs in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. And my father got the Manchester Guardian in the 1950s.Some of that must count for something.

Roger Slater, the short answer is "Yes, I did." But reports of Kael's death are untrue. She continues to write, albeit under the name of "Anthony Lane."

"Far left" for me would be remaining an admirer of Stalin after the purge trials, but he was our "trusted ally" only a few years later. The only "far left" position I can think of today would be Anarchism, but that's just Libertarianism with brass knuckles. Maybe there are still some Trotskyites around.

In what way is recent anarchist thought related to Libertarianism and brass knuckles, Professor. Like butterflies are related to dairy? Name some actual recent works you have read by serious anarchist thinkers, or anarchist thinkers ever. And relating the far left to Stalinist apologists when so many of them saw him coming, called the sh*t out before it hit, and died for it is pretty much some stupid. Maybe your just working on a description of the regional scene?

Butterfly milk is a living for some, you elitist Andrew. My overall thrust is that the far left, again, in the states, is imaginary. Talking points from the right. Anyway, whether I'm right or wrong, clearly the US is far more at risk from right wing "activists," than anything that exists on the left. It's been like that for quite some time.

Libertarians are white men in four-piece suits. That is all I know on earth, and all I need to know.

All Kudos to you, Andrew M, especially for your wonderful post #40, which says it all and pretty much sums up a substantial reason our false flags of left & right are much ado about how best to continue to destroy our planet and all that's in it indiscriminately and to our own destruction as well. To that end, I've seen a few good formal poems in the New Criterion, noted to be conservative but in which I haven't actually read anything but poetry.

As to why many formal poets have notoriously right-wing views, maybe it's the idea that formal poetry is "traditional" whereas free verse, which is now the dominant type of poetry, is still oddly considered closer to experimental or "contemporary" -- like pop music maybe. I always thought it was an affinity for music that would cause a poet to lean towards meter & rhyme rather than politics. But maybe people really are influenced by the power of suggestion, read a word like "traditional" and feel attracted to it (just now I sort of dozed off and found this space filled with the words "amassed zombies"— must be the Mysteries of iPhone trolling me again)... or maybe conservatives like doing things the hard way. :) Whereas the mass of "pop" people prefer to just write some stuff out with line breaks and hear the oohs and ahhhhs pouring in. Let Andrew and Quincy be living proof that formal poets can also be strong voices against oppression in all its manifestations, whether "traditional" or "progressive."