Pussy Riot
it turns out
was Kent Johnson
all along—
he has Russian
friends you know—
it’s just three of
his twenty-
seven selves now
behind bars.
__________________________________
Rough draft???
Showing posts with label kent johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kent johnson. Show all posts
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Safire tidbits ending with a digression
Quote of the day: "It's a damn poor mind, indeed, which can't think of at least two ways to spell a word."—President Andrew Jackson, quoted in the latest William Safire column.
Another Safire tidbit: Joe Pickett, editor of the American Heritage Dictionary, in discussing the difference between adviser and strategist: "People have spiritual advisers and even personal advisers. But note that they don't have spiritual strategists, science strategists or academic strategists. In these situations there is no other side to compete with, no one to outfox." Of course, Catholic priests are spiritual strategists who tell their congregations how best to remain on the path to Heaven and not Hell, and how to outwit that trickster Satan. What's even more clear, though, is that Pickett hasn't attended an academic dept. meeting where opposing sides certainly do exist. Along these same lines, it's clear—and I don't mean this as a slight—that Kent Johnson's as much poetic strategist as he is poet (if not more than). I'm interested in the spray of "I am interested" statements that were erased. I'm interested mostly, perhaps, because I don't grasp the full context of the statements—because I don't typically concern myself too much with what poets are doing to or saying about other poets. I'm interested in the way sincerity and sarcasm seem to intertwine, or, rather, deconstruct each other to create, what else: an interesting read. I'm interested in the way the sublime rubs against the pathetic. I'm interested in how Kent is usually quick to introduce into the argument an awareness of the argument's limited meaning—that the scope's only visible when viewed through the lens of a powerful microscope.
Another Safire tidbit: Joe Pickett, editor of the American Heritage Dictionary, in discussing the difference between adviser and strategist: "People have spiritual advisers and even personal advisers. But note that they don't have spiritual strategists, science strategists or academic strategists. In these situations there is no other side to compete with, no one to outfox." Of course, Catholic priests are spiritual strategists who tell their congregations how best to remain on the path to Heaven and not Hell, and how to outwit that trickster Satan. What's even more clear, though, is that Pickett hasn't attended an academic dept. meeting where opposing sides certainly do exist. Along these same lines, it's clear—and I don't mean this as a slight—that Kent Johnson's as much poetic strategist as he is poet (if not more than). I'm interested in the spray of "I am interested" statements that were erased. I'm interested mostly, perhaps, because I don't grasp the full context of the statements—because I don't typically concern myself too much with what poets are doing to or saying about other poets. I'm interested in the way sincerity and sarcasm seem to intertwine, or, rather, deconstruct each other to create, what else: an interesting read. I'm interested in the way the sublime rubs against the pathetic. I'm interested in how Kent is usually quick to introduce into the argument an awareness of the argument's limited meaning—that the scope's only visible when viewed through the lens of a powerful microscope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
