Robert,
A singer-friend whom I have known for most of my adult life, just phoned me in tears because she was moved by a poem on my website that was about a shared experience--that of being New Zealanders living abroad for our work. Foreigners in an alien landscape. She is the sort of receptive reader who occasionally reads poetry. These are our most valuable readers I think.
She asked me about the poetry scene and I said that although splendid FV poems were being written they were submerged in such an avalanche of inferior stuff that many fine poems would inevitably be over-looked. I also said that although there was nothing more ghastly than a bad metric poem, good metric poems were retained in the mind in a way that FV poems tend not to be. Therefore, metric poets who feel depressed and discriminated against will probably prevail in the long run.
I too appreciate Rhina's loving comments--loving in the sense of total dedication and openness of mind.
Thanks to all who made this forum possible.
Janet
|