[Norman Ball]

I'd buy that Dan...

Whatever the form, the exercise of craft involves a series of decisions born of experience, talent and discernment. You might say at its best, craft is invisible. The overall artistic effect outshines the seams and edges. Reticence is a decision not to go here, but to go there; or to stop before blundering into there. Formal poetry may engage a more overt or ruled-based reticence. But good free verse involves just as many roads not taken. Given the absence of rules, free verse starts with a 'blanker' sheet of paper and is thus more susceptible to self-indulgent drivel. Of course it suffers less from hackneyed rhyme for obvious reasons too. In the end there is no substitute for good craft. Perhaps it requires a supreme mastery of craft to succeed with certain subject matter.

I'm not sure I got what you meant with regard to Bill's mini-essay.