What is it that makes it okay to beat up on poets and poetry all the time? I mean, I do it myself, but that's self deprecation, and I can see what an easy target we verse-inclined types are, but doesn't that just make, say, hyper-success-full-of-self* novelists look slightly pathetic as they attack us, the weaker sex (by sex I mean genre, and by weaker I mean poorer). Even in supporting a young poet with a back of the book blurb, Dave Eggers manages to put down the art as a whole. There he is, on the back of Sarah Manguso's gorgeous second poetry collection, Siste Viator (Four Way Books), saying, "This book is for those of us who want to read more poetry but are frequently stopped by its... what is it? Its chilly self-seriousness? Its unwillingness to hold our hand every so often, while cracking an easy joke?" He then goes on to compare Manguso to David Berman, Tony Hoagland, and a more witty (hence, approachable/accessible) Anne Carson (every prose writer's favorite-- because she writes prose?). All amazing poets, but not the only ones writing un-chilly verse.
The thing is, Siste Viator is, YES, beautiful— one moment spare and graceful, the next, it lashes out at you with a sharp, funny tongue— but is that really so rare in a book of poetry these days? Perhaps Mr. Eggers should expand his poetic horizons a bit. Certainly he can't mention all the talented and not-averse-to-humor poets out there in one blurb, but here are a few more who might "bring you back into the form" as Eggers urges Manguso will do. It just makes me cringe that he has to take that jab at the art form before praising the author. There's Mary Jo Bang, whose subject matter ranges from South Park to David Lynch, Cindy Sherman to Willem de Kooning. There's Matthea Harvey, with poems (some persona, I believe) about Mr. Peanut and RoboBoy. Dean Young (often mentioned in the same breath as Hoagland). David Trinidad (wrote the first book of poems I ever bought, Answer Song, with odes to breakfast cereal and Barbies). Olena Davis— will make you want to fall in love and laugh about it at once.
And finally, are there not plenty of novels and prose collections imbued with the same "chilly self-seriousness" which Eggers attributes to poetry? In any case, here's some Manguso quotes to back up Eggers' blurb. Looking forward to her short story collection, forthcoming from, oh, McSweeney's. Jealous much?
From the delightful Siste Viator by Sarah Manguso:
"I didn't fall in love. I fell through it:"
"The only direction I remembered was north.
The usual junk had stopped working
And I anticipated a replacement junk"
"I am the postmaster. I have 900 boxes. And I drive under the
bridges in my truck and the hearts are alive, beating in their
boxes, and I'm driving over the bridges in love with destiny
and in charge of the 900 hearts."
"My favorite euphemism for death is the future"
*okay, not really, I'm just pissed.
P.S. I'm sure there are plenty of poets who would hold Mr. Eggers' hands, AND crack an easy joke, if he'd only publish our work. Oh man, who sounds pathetic now?
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6 comments:
Wow. I can't believe he said that. Wouldn't it be great if we could do some real-life hand-holding with readers... Should there be therapy for poetry readers? Support groups? "I love Gertrude Stein, but I don't know why.... the horror!"
"I too detest it!" But mostly adore it. They should just hand out xanax at poetry readings, or ritalin, so the audience could let the sounds wash over them or focus really intently and become obsessed with the language. hmm...
Isn't the problem that there's so much contemporary poetry, even considering only the US, that it's essentially impossible to orient oneself in it without a professional commitment? Given this, it was foolish of Eggers to generalize. But would an honestly subjective, partial response have been significantly better?
I definitely don't think there being so much contemporary poetry is a problem. I think the main problem is that people read "difficult" poetry and assume that all contemporary poetry is such, and also assume that if something is made of words it needs to be "telling" you something that you could in theory paraphrase-- which isn't what poetry is about. That being said, I'm usually somewhat drunk at most poetry readings anyway, especially my own. But yeah, there's a lot of poetry out there, and different kinds, you have to sift through it to find anything good regardless of whether or not it holds your hand. And also, there is so much poetry that is in between really difficult to understand and way too easy to understand, so people shouldn't worry too much about it. Phew.
"Mary Jo Bang" is an awesome name. If a novelist came up with that, I'd be very impressed.
My impression is that there are as many, or perhaps more, writers of contemporary poetry than there are readers of it.
MQ
Hey, how about updating this thing, damn it.
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