[Julie Steiner]

M.A. Griffiths had a lot to say on the subject. Here's a snippet:

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Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 08:42:25 +0100; From: grasshopper; To: The Pennine Poetry Works; Subject: Re: New sub: No (Sue)

C,

     I’ve mentioned before my notion of the Magnified Moi that spoils so much poetry – the assumption that whatever Moi, the author thinks, feels or whatever, is automatically fascinating because it’s embodied in a poem – as if a reader has a duty to be interested.

     I think a lot of people need to be reminded of the obvious truth that it is an author’s task to entice, entertain, delight a reader. I think reading poetry should be a pleasure, not a chore.

     Moi often forgets that. Moi often goes off on one.

     Moi needs to be sat down in a corner occasionally and given a good talking to.

     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

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Most of Maz's grumbles relate to the phenomenon of poets who are not only writing poetry about mundane details of their own lives, but about just how difficult that noble undertaking of memorializing it all in verse really is. It's just more reinforcement of the attitude that because they are poets, whatever they do in their personal lives (including struggling to write poetry during a dry spell) is inherently riveting subject matter.

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Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 15:27:39 +0100; From: grasshopper; To: The Pennine Poetry Works; Subject: Discussion topic? Poems about writing poems

     I’m surprised, reading various poetry lists, about how many poems are about poetry and writing poems. It leads me to wonder what the expected audience of these poems is.
     I suspect the majority of people do not write poems – so why should they be expected to connect to the writing process? Is is not rather solipsistic to expect a general reader to be as fascinated by this subject as an author is?
     I’ll confess my personal feeling about this. I think Art should mainly be about life, not about art. Poems about poems can get very incestuous and inbred – frankly I think it’s rather an unhealthy trend.
     I’ve found most people don’t respond that readily to poems about poetry, but about things they can relate to more strongly – about living life, rather than the process of writing about it.
     Could this be why often people feel alienated from poetry these days – they feel much of it is aimed at fellow writers rather than the general public?
     I’d be interested to know what others think.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

Dear S—,
     I’m all for lighthearted poems, and I think they usually go down well, regardless of the subject. What I was thinking about are the endless earnest poems about writing poems and being a poet, unleavened by any humour.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

Response to G—’s quotation from a recent anthology of poetry about poetry:

Dear G—,
     The poem you quoted tends to prove my point, I think.
     It begins and ends with the poet – it frankly doesn’t concern me.
     What would we think of a doctor who told us how poor a doctor he was, and what a mess he made of his last cases?
     This sort of poem is ultimately about self-aggrandisement to me. It assumes whatever Moi, The Poet, writes is automatically fascinating to everybody else.
     Nah, I’m not convinced, sorry. LOL!
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

Dear A—,
     It seems to me that often an author forgets that an important function of poetry is to entertain, to give pleasure to the reader. I agree with you that often obscurity is thought of as a virtue. I’ve lost count of how many poems I’ve read that seemed to be written to demonstrate how clever/erudite the author was, rather than to communicate anything else.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

Dear B—,
     If writing poems about writing poems was like painting self-portraits, I’d have no reason to complain. But it isn’t. It’s more like Rembrandt faffing on about the difficulties of mixing pigments and choosing the right brush, and the mental strain of it all – rather than getting down to paint a self-portrait.
     In a way, every poem is about poetry – but the process shouldn’t overwhelm the product. Of course, we will sometimes write a poem about writing poems, because that’s what concerns us – and there are some good poems about writing poems – but I think that in general, the impulse should be avoided as much as possible.
     If we want to express the difficulty of writing about a certain subject, say, there are ways to do this subtly, while writing ABOUT the subject.
     I remember years ago seeing Laurence Olivier being interviewed. Melvin Bragg began to ask him reverently about how he approached a certain role. “Oh, goodness me,” the Great Man replied, “I can’t be bothered with all that. I’m an actor. I act. It’s my job. You don’t ask a baker how he makes bread.”
     I thought this was a refreshing change from the usual pretentious attitude – and it’s what I think about poems. Writing them is an author’s job. So just do it, don’t witter on about the technicalities, unless you want to poke fun at your pretensions.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper


R— had said “You’re way too hard on your fellow poets in this stance grassy,” and related the positive reception of such poems at his readings.

      Oo, R—, yes, I’m hard, dam’ hard.
     Perhaps the people you mentioned have had less exposure to poems about writing poems than I have over recent months. As a novelty, it’s fine; as a constant diet, it palls – LOL.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper

Dear B—,
     You write: “It might be that the impulse behind the poems you (and probably I) don’t like is that they’re written by people who’re more into being a poet than into making poems.”
     This put the finger on it for me.
     I’m all for the people who write poems, but spare me from the people who spout Poetry, and feel that they exist in some refined dimension where they access higher truths and more profound truths than the rest of us.
     What writing good poetry boils down to, if you render it down, is having a way with words. That may be pretty magical – much magic is done with words – but it doesn’t automatically raise a poet into a higher sphere. What all artists have to be careful about, I think, is being pretentious and taking themselves far too seriously.
     Kind regards,
          grasshopper


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The Four-eyed Git Addresses Poets

I wish you would not write poems On Poetry,
particularly about your Poems and Poetry. I find
myself blushing for you, fidgeting in my reading chair,
adjusting my poem glasses because sweat has pooled

beneath the rims. I have to blink – it is Moi mist
that fogs the ground plastic. My literary lenses flinch
like a lemoned oyster. Write about anything, Dear Author,
except Poetry. Adopt any tone, except the self-reverential,

except melting appreciation of your poethead & poethood,
narcissusness reflected in your own words. Echo. Ecce.
Don’t wallow in your ultra-sensibility. Swallow your primp
and pomp. Watch a rolled cat – how it spreads its back legs

and licks its arse with a rough fastidious tongue, without self-
conscious spittle. Watch the busy little digits of monkeys
delving in their nether fur. It is not my place to draw
comparisons. I threw away my mirrors years ago.


Posted 2006-01-16 to The Gazebo.
Source: private copy saved by B.J. Preston.

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Me again. (heh)

Sorry you're not feeling well, John. Your exasperations are good food for thought (although I'm probably incorrigible in this regard).

I try to remember that just because I've put a lot of time and work into writing something on any topic, personal or not, that doesn't necessarily make it something of particular use or interest to anyone but myself. I'm a great believer in the notion that 99% of everything is crap, and that that's perfectly normal and okay. Manure is necessary for the production of more fruitful stuff. The trick is to recognize that something is crap before I post it for workshopping, or (worse) spend a week defending my own mediocrity from good advice that I don't want to hear. Still working on that....