I was reading some essays by David Mamet, when I suddenly started thinking in Mamatese. You know, when you STRESS one or two words of every SENTENCE.

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I later learned that Lowell used to regularly beat up the woman for whom he wrote the poem beginning "Remember our lists of birds?" Yet I cannot link my revulsion to this fact, since I knew nothing of Lowell's personal life when I was first exposed to the poem.

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Forms of poetic diction: 70s elemental: stone, earth, fire, woman, death. The "shimmering," overwrought style: lots of words like shimmering, opalescent, crystal, luminous. (Like Sandra MacPherson's poetry.) Ashberyese: a huge range of vocabulary and tone. William Stafford: plain speech faked, complete lack of any positive qualities. I was always afraid of writing too "well" and cultivated a deliberately flat style. Was this through fear that I would not be able to compete on the basis of talent? If I held back, I would have to find a more arduous way of writing well. Anyone can use a lot of words that sound "poetic" and lots of concrete images. I have often dreamed of the poem entitled "Conventionally Good Poem."

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Coming soon: "The Poem of the Proper Nouns"