[Norman Ball]

An essay of mine from a few years ago 'Being Diffult' has been rehabilitated and appears in today's Rattle daily content newsletter. It's sort of a glancing commentary on poetry boards, a composite of them really, but more a discussion of poetic difficulty.

Should any one board sink into a sea of self-doubt and self-recrimination over this little ole essay, it would be unwarranted.

http://www.rattle.com/poetry/2013/01...y-norman-ball/

[Janice D. Soderling]

Norman, that's what I call Writing.

I wasn't a subscriber back then so I'm glad to read it now.

Oh, I wish I could write an essay. Even half as good as that one.

Hats off.

[Mike Lane]

I saw it today Norman, as usual, it was a very good read.

Mike

[marly youmans]

Hard to ignore an essay with a line like "A successful poem—no less a cryptic one—should not be mere launching pad for dollops of explanatory cock-waddle." XD

[David Rosenthal]

"The message to poets is, beware the kindness of strangers. Those who would rescue a poem from ‘incomprehensibility’ may actually be advancing death-by-explication. " How true, how true -- this is one of the many dangers of what I call "the parsimonious microscope of workshop critique." Nice piece, Norman, and congrats on the re-post.

David R.

[Charlotte Innes]

Nicely said, David!

And yes, I saw it today too, Norman--since I'm on the Rattle e-mailing list. Bravo! Nice to have something aired out again, like that. I hope you got a million readers.

Charlotte

[Norman Ball]

Thanks folks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm off now to congratulate the Nemerov embarrassment of riches here at Eratosphere.

take care
norm

[Jennifer Reeser]

Norman is a remarkable essayist. If you do not own at least two of his books of essays, then you should.

[Jesse Anger]

I must single out the Internet again as, for all its salutary effects on artistic collaboration and community, it beckons with an immediacy that can be the undoing of careful composition.

Hells yes, I've fallen into that trap meself.

Great writing, Norm!

J

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

In this Age of Truncation, poetry should strive for the lonely promontory; stake out the oblique leisurely stroll, the unhurried voice of truth to power before being led away in hand-cuffs. Let the Gestapo goons beat their heads against the wall struggling to put into words the precise nature of the poet’s offense. His crimes should be impossible to explicate on a writ or a summons. To all real poets out there, I say: Your inscrutability is a birthright. Follow your destiny. Take the long way home

When I grow up and become an adult maybe I shall write out some sort of Code for Poetry and other Spellcastings, lest I forget. This would make a great section 3.11
Nice piece.
Thanks,
A