In which the author reveals perhaps more than he intended about the state of poetry in America -- in, naturally,
Poetry.
Also, here are a bevy of poets who answered the question, "
What is American about American poetry?" in 1999 and 2010.
Best,
Ed
P.S. Here's part of what Tom Disch had to say on the subject: "Usually one can distinguish American poets from other poets by those cultural markers by which one can distinguish Americans from other peoples. But it's surely possible for any writer to write English "as if" one were English. When I lived a long while in London many of my poems took on a London tone, and to this day some readers and critics assume I am English on the basis of a few poems and
mistaken assumptions as to what constitutes Americanness in poetry. Usually, lack of formal constraints and minimalist syntax." [Italics added.]
With all due deference to the estimable Mr. Disch, I'm not sure that's a completely "mistaken assumption," for "lack of formal constraints and minimalist syntax" seem par for the course in most of the more prominent journals here.