[Mary Meriam]

I've been reading Anne Sexton's Transformations. I also read the intro to Sexton's collected: "How It Was: Maxine Kumin on Anne Sexton" here are some quotes --

In addition to the strong feelings Anne’s work aroused, there was the undeniable fact of her physical beauty. Her presence on the platform dazzled with its staginess, its props of water glass, cigarettes, and ashtray.
...
During this period, all of us wrote and revised prolifically, competitively, as if all the wolves of the world were at our backs...There was no more determined reviser than Sexton, who would willingly push a poem through twenty or more drafts. She had an unparalleled tenacity in those early days and only abandoned a “failed” poem with regret, if not downright anger, after dozens of attempts to make it come right. ... As a result of this experience, Anne came to believe in the value of the workshop. She loved growing in this way...
....
Initially, however, she worked quite strictly in traditional forms, believing in the value of their rigor as a forcing agent, believing that the hardest truths would come to light if they were made to fit a stanzaic pattern, a rhyme scheme, a prevailing meter.
....
But for all the sought-after and hard-won poems Anne wrote.. a number were almost totally “given” ones... the poem itself came quite cleanly and easily, as if written out in the air beforehand and then transcribed onto the page with very few alterations.

[Mike Slippkauskas]

Mary,

I can almost feel the collective groan and Sexton does get more than her share of the abuse for being a "confessional" but I think she's a better writer than Plath. I also think their influence on each other was about equal. "All My Pretty Ones" (for one) is a very good poem indeed and if you can find the sound file (I can't or Id post it) you'll find she was a very good reciter.

Best,
Slipp

[Quincy Lehr]

Okay... why I specified "contemporary"... Most of us have at least some notion of what Merwin's like or Anne Sexton, or whomever, but I'm a bit more interested in whether or not--in regards to what's happening in poetry now, Sphereans pay much attention to the free-verse side of things (and even that's a misnomer of sorts--C. K. Williams, Lynn Heijinian, Jorie Graham, Mark Strand, and Dennis O'Driscoll all write free verse, but are very diverse).

[Mark Allinson]

I read almost nothing new these days - FV or metrical.

If it isn't on the web, I won't see it.

Mary, I like this quote from your post:

"Initially, however, she worked quite strictly in traditional forms, believing in the value of their rigor as a forcing agent ..."

This is what I miss in writing fv - there is no pressure to force the unexpected word or line. I like Heaney's idea of the stanza as "artesian pump", drawing up hidden connections and meaning from the unconscious.

And ain't this the truth:

"But for all the sought-after and hard-won poems Anne wrote.. a number were almost totally “given” ones... the poem itself came quite cleanly and easily, as if written out in the air beforehand and then transcribed onto the page with very few alterations."

Some come flying out like greasy squeezed olive pips - but others need the forceps and an epidural.

[Janice D. Soderling]

This is what I miss in writing fv - there is no pressure to force the unexpected word or line.

Oh, there is pressure all right, or ought to be, but that is the subject for another thread--soon! I'll get back to you on that one, Mark.

(Forgive me Quincy for digressing, I earned some charity points with mine, didn't I? FV, less than a year old, exotic. LOL)

[Quincy Lehr]

(No problem, Janice.)

[Jehanne Dubrow]

Great question, Quincy. I couldn't resist contributing. For the advanced poetry workshop that I'm teaching this semester, we're only reading collections that have been published in the past two years. All the books are debut, prize-winning collections, and most are free verse: Sandra Beasley's THEORIES OF FALLING, Janice Harrington's EVEN THE HOLLOW MY BODY MADE IS GONE, Fady Joudah's THE EARTH IN THE ATTIC, Matthew Lippman's THE NEW YEAR OF YELLOW, Lynne Thompson's BEG NO PARDON, and Sally Van Doren's SEX AT NOON TAXES. We're also reading Lorna Knowles-Blakes PERMANENT ADDRESS and Ciaran Berry's THE SPHERE OF BIRDS, both of which are quite formal.

I know that not everyone feels this way, but I think it's very important to read contemporary poetry (of all aesthetic bents), particularly if you teach creative writing or if you submit your own work to presses and literary journals. If nothing else, it's a matter of staying informed and in touch with current trends. Call it research.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Jehanne's post reminded me of another that falls within the deadline.

Five Terraces Ann Fisher-Wirth pub. 2005.

Thx Jehanne for more new authors and titles (new to me anyway)

[Tim Murphy]

Quincy: then. Of course I see a great deal of free verse in mixed collections. Pete Fairchild plays so fast and free with the meters I don't regard him as a formal poet at all, though he does. I love his books.

[Quincy Lehr]

As far as mixed collections go, I'd add Gerry Hanberry, a Galwegian poet, into the mix. Read his second collection about six months and was quite impressed. Mostly free verse, but the periodic sonnet or something.