I'm sure it's been said by others, but I also view the MFA as a good way of promulgating a period style. Peer critique, even more than mentor critique, would seem to reinforce a certain group think in this regard.

What's the distance between James Tate and Dean Young? What percent of poetic DNA do they share? About 99%, or do I need to read a little more Young to get a sense of his individuality in relation to Tate?

I sense a quiz coming on. Tate or Young?


a.

"Grisly leaves used to be attracted
to meatwrappers that blew across
downtown streetcorners in the Midwest
on the first winter night in November."

b.

"You need not cut off your hand.
No need to eat a bouquet.
Your head becomes a peach pit.
Your tongue a honeycomb."

c.

"It scares me the genius we have
for hurting one another. I'm seven,
as tall as my mother kneeling and
she's kneeling and somehow I know

exactly how to do it, calmly,
enunciating like a good actor projecting
to the last row, shocking the ones
who've come in late, cowering

out of their coats, ..."

d.

"What's wrong
with a bouillon cube
for two"?

e.

"Each man is held responsible
for keeping one force in check:
Bob watches a certain virus,
he pulls the alarm the minute
one of them tries to escape.."

f.



"One cardinal sits on a branch, another under.
You've got to be a bird to understand any of this,
feathery and hollow-boned. You've got to be
a claims adjuster staring at a storm. You've

got to be entered by a shower of gold coins."