AE said:
So how do you get away with using something seriously that has been triumphantly made fun of? The "New Formalism" itself inevitably struggles with this, if not usually very consciously. How do you not sound naive? or, if not naive, exactly, then limited, private, parochial, "special" in the pejorative sense?
AE,
I think the answer is obvious. Musicians (classical) suffer no pangs about drawing on all periods of creativity. Performers move effortlessly through various centuries and forms and composers too make use of anything within their experience, regardless of time, nationality or original purpose.
I find poets are amazingly inhibited and self conscious and too ready to complain about something that breaks some piece of early toilet training. I actually believe that a true poet is driven by need and that the rest is a technical exercise.
In other words I advocate a little less talk and a lot more writing and reading for most poets who emerge from the factory-farms of our various education systems.
best wishes,
Janet
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