"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Tuesday, June 03, 2003 Poetry and the Politics of Self-Expression: Barney F. McClelland writes:Some years ago, a mentor of mine put forth the argument: "Would you try to build a cabinet when you did not posses even the rudimentary woodworking skills or knowledge of the tools necessary to build the cabinet? Of course not, then why do so many people think they can write poetry without an iota of preparation?"
Still, many do. "Pop vocalists pose as opera singers. Important art museums exhibit installations that the cleaning staff mistakes for trash. Obscenity-riddled recitations, imposed over rhythm tracks, are reckoned to be music." (Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch) So why should poetry be held to any standard - other than the "validation" of its author and his inalienable right to self-expression?More