Friday, April 18, 2008

FAQs about poetry ...

... addressed by Robert Pinsky: Why Don't Modern Poems Rhyme, Etc. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

9. Well, I like poetry that is amusing, that maybe makes me chuckle a little. I'd rather read something reassuring and light than something complicated or gloomy. Is that bad? Does that mean I am a jerk?

Pinsky's answer: Yes.

My answer? Not necessarily. You may just not be one about whom

... ev'ry one will say,
As you walk your mystic way,
"If this young man expresses himself in terms too deep for me,
Why, what a very singularly deep young man
this deep young man must be!"

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:49 PM

    Frank,

    ExACTly!
    Does deep-thinking Pinsky think people are jerks for enjoying Wendy Cope or Terry Hoagland or Marianne Moore or Emily Dickinson - who could be very funny - for that matter?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I dunno.

    I think Pinsky took the question about as seriously as the questioner did. It's one of those questions in the category of "when did you stop beating your wife?" It's not really a question: it's a statement framed as a question, but it's obvious that the questioner already had a fixed opinion.

    So, if Pinsky responded in that same spirit, bully for him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:29 PM

    How Frank, My Dear
    Oh, Frank, My Friend
    Ha-Halt! Do I hear
    A chuckle on your end?
    You're one sly guy
    Yeppers, U are
    You deserve an Oscar
    Avec un G 'n' S Star*

    <*sniggle*>

    Look at Leonard Cohen, he's more fun 'n' funky than a barrel of bed-sit flunkies, ain't he?

    * Not another Holy Asstarisk?

    ReplyDelete