Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Gentlemen, gentlemen ...
... or maybe not. John Kinsella has obtained restraining orders against a couple of his fellow-bards: Poets at three paces. Having enjoyed (mostly) three decades of over-indulgence, I have no interest in reading or writing about it. But then, I tend not to be much interested in anything once it's over and done with. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
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You ought to know, Frank, that the late great Auberon Waugh banned poets from his Academy Club in London on the grounds that they never bought a round of drinks. Sound man, Bron, and, as V.S.Naipaul recently acknowledged to me, a greater prose writer than his father.
ReplyDeleteI think of Auberon Waugh often, Bryan. Every time I finish a column, I think of the title of his terrific autobiography, Will This Do?
ReplyDeleteAnd I certainly think he had grounds for banning the poets. Cheap bastards.
The article seems to point to this problem some poets have of holding onto their wallets too tightly, when it speaks of their "literary grants being squandered on prostitutes." (The word "squandered" is a little harsh, don't you think?) On the other hand, Kinsella is on the wagon, as a former alcoholic and heroin addict. So he might be staying away from the drink-buying culture. But, there you are. With us poets, if it isn't one thing, it's another.
ReplyDeleteWise, Frank, to think of Bron AFTER writing a column. If I thought of him before, the piece would never get written. I would be drunk and giggling.
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