There's only one solution: write like McClatchy.
He seems remarkably uninformed and illogical for such a fancy literary critic. He acknowledges that there has always been bad poetry, even in the days when all poetry was in meter, yet he seems to think the presence of bad metered poetry in today's day and age makes a mockery of the formalist endeavor.
I think he is also way off the mark in claiming that the aims of those who write formal poetry are to drive out mindlessness and sloppiness, or that there is necessarily such a high-minded superciliousness behind the writing of formal poetry. I write it with complete respect for those who write free verse, not with scorn or intending to reproach my free-verse brethern. I write it because it seems to suit my talents, such as they are, and because I enjoy this kind of verse. I really don't need to be told by a second-rate free-verse poet that I have a political or social agenda simply because I like to rhyme.
It's sad, though, that an influential person like JDM doesn't encourage all poets to find the voice and mode that works for themselves, whether it be free or formal verse, instead of making snarky comments that bless only the boring middle-ground he is hoping to claim as his own.
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