kay ryan
I've decided to implement a new poetry-awareness initiative into the Useless Critic . seems like I'm the only contributor that gives a tolerant shit on the subject, so might as well! I start with a poet that all my comrades-in-arms in Poetry Workshop are way too familiar with, and that would be our current Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan. I'm not sure I like her style, nor appreciate it a great deal. It's a lot like Elizabeth Bishop to me and I am no Elizabeth Bishop fan. Too....blah. like, I see the experimentation and I can like, respect that. I see certain things with the flow and the style that are interesting but really. Really? Overall not my bag. Nonetheless, she earned the title of Poet Laureate for a reason. A good way to describe her stuff is "compact," as I read in a biography. I tend to agree. see here: THINGS SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD A life should leave deep tracks: ruts where she went out and back to get the mail or move the hose around the yard; where s...