[Alan Sullivan]

I agree with Tom about the disjuncture of certain words in "Balance," especially "metamorphosis" and "diadem," words I would hesitate to use in any poem. But I am also bothered by the implicit, word-conscious intellectualism of "she balanced...her one name." Were it not for these nits, I would like the poem very much.

"Chosen" has one word-choice that I dislike intensely, "starburst joy." Otherwise it works well enough, though it lacks, I think, the vividness of "Balance."

But "Sisters" is revelatory, and what it reveals is not the surface anecdote of racial tension but the intellectual bankruptcy of the guilt-ridden academic left. The narrator has longed for---what? The courage to be as thuggish as the lowlifes whom she envies for their authenticity. And to what end? Seemingly, so she could displace racial animus into the sexual arena.

I am always interested in what a poem says and why the poem says it. If that means I must risk ad hominem comments, so be it. I do not shy away from interpreting poems in the light of biographical information, though I am aware that a critic may commit injustices by reading too much into a narrative persona. I certainly hope the persona of "Sisters" does not speak for the author, but I fear it may be so.

A.S.

[Annie Finch]

I'm a confirmed Nelson fan. Alan, btw regarding your Lucrezia Borgia suggesion, Nelson has written on all sorts of topics, including a beautiful lyric sequence about the spiritual life of a Catholic monk in her book MAGNIFICAT.

No-one here has yet mentioned one of my favorites (and one of Sam Gwynn's, I know), "The Ballad of Aunt Geneva":

Geneva was a wild one,
Geneva was a tart.
Geneva met a blue-eyed boy
and gave away her heart...

[jasonhuff]

Tim,

You mention trying to get Marilyn Nelson to guest lariat. Any luck?

jason

[David Mason]

I think Alicia makes an important point about Marilyn's best work. It's narrative. The lyrics you're arguing about are part of a larger structure, and can't be entirely understood on their own. The impurity of diction is less bothersome to narrative poets because we're at work balancing a number of different voices. I'm glad Annie brought up Aunt Geneva, a fine poem in itself, though again it contains a reference (to a character named Pomp) that can't be understood out of the context of her sequence. For a sonnet sequence tha stands well on its own, and for my money the best single poem Marilyn has ever done, I recommend "Thus Far By Faith."

[Robert J. Clawson]

Mason,

Glad to have you on board and reviving this thread. I think Nelson is an "important" poet, ie., one who writes poems germain to the development of our country, and also one who does her homework and also takes great care to make her rhythms fit the forms she chooses.

Also, more than most poets I've encountered, she can deliver her poems to a live audience.

Bob