I stand by my argument, am happy to see it supported by Jennifer, and now by Deborah. I just have never seen anything like this. I've hosted seven sonnet bake-offs here, and our material is every bit as good as the Nemerov poems. And the women have simply blown the men out of the water. And think of the men, Williamson, Lake, Sullivan, Rosenthal, Gwynn, Murphy, Crawford, Anthony--not exactly a bunch of lightweights. Furthermore, most of the judges were men, traitors to their sex! I think Crawford was the only outright winner, though some of us showed honorably.
I have probably come to this realization from an extreme perspective, XXX chromosome homosexual who decided to master poetry rather than mass murder. Ninety percent of my stuff is sailing, hunting, farming, trekking. No domestic life whatsoever in my work. I grant that isn't the case with many fine male poets. But I stand by my assertion that women are bringing a new sensibility into formal verse. Elizabeth's Red Dress or Jennifer's Dark Lady Sonnets or Rachel Hadas' little masterpiece about sending her little boy off to school in his red hat could not have been written by men. Again, our poetry is richer for it.
[This message has been edited by Tim Murphy (edited November 17, 2008).]
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