22 jul 2004

Poetico-gender profiling atCahiers de Corey

The thing is, I agree with Corey's judgments about Glück, Oliver, Graham, and Doty. Oliver is a mediocre "plain speech" poet. Glück, a talented writer who writes in an uninteresting, purified poetic diction. Graham, a brilliant intellectual (maybe) whose work is pretentious and endlessly verbose. Next time the middle-aged woman in the sun-hat comes in, recommend some Fanny Howe to her. Or be like the record-store clerk in the movie who refuses to sell a particular record to a middle-aged man, who is buying it for his daughter. (High Fidelity?)

ABD Book store clerk: Sorry, I can't let you by this book by Jorie Graham.

MAWWSH: Why ever not?

ABDBSC: Well, you see, those long discursive lines will fail to hold your attention. Sure, she's very smart and everything, but her work is verbose beyond belief. The surface of her language offers no pleasure.

MAWWSH: So you're saying you're refusing to sell me this book?

ABDBSC: If you want to buy Jorie Graham why don't you go to the mall?

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