(or, an index of how old & out-of-touch I am:)
(An exchange between two Facebook friends, younger poets, whose names I've omitted:)
Friend #1 (in her status update): Allen Grossman is my second cousin (twice removed) --- for reals.
Friend #1 (commenting on her own status): Should I let him know the good news (kidding)?
Friend #2 (commenting): Is he the one who wrote How to Do Things with Tears?
Friend #1: I think so?
Friend #2: I liked that book, even though it's very Poundian.... He wrote a book of prose called The Sighted Singer that I read with great interest back in my grad school days, which was kind of Blakean/rational-in-a-weird-way. [Two other younger poets, whose names I've omitted] really like his writing, I think. I remember them writing about him back in the blogging days.
Friend #1: Thanks for the info! I'm totally going to lose some street cred being this closely associated with SoQ :)
Friend #2: Hey, he's published by New Directions. I think he's kind of "marginally" quiet. Not that those distinctions are as relevant as they used to be.
***
I leave the analysis of this to more supple, elastic, & indeed younger minds than my own. But man, that "back in the blogging days" hurts...
3 comments:
It all hurts.
Grossman is "Poundian"? "SoQ"?
I know some of that is tongue in cheek, but it's just so depressing, all this po biz chit-chat. We hates it, precious. More and more, the older we get.
(Admittedly, I'm feeling a bit glum--learned that my dept. chair received a couple of "who's he? Does he even work with poetry anymore?" responses when poetry folks were asked to be my outside evaluators. Out of the game, watching the wheels.)
I was struck by that exchange too, & was about to write something about it myself. Surprised that "SoQ" is apparently acceptable as a legitimate term, meaning something(?), and that "quiet" is pejorative...
Good god, what drivel! Never mind the "back in the blogging days." "'Marginally' quiet"! How about "genius"? How about "one of the great prophetic voices of our time"? Where's that bottle of rye? I need another shot. Maybe two.
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