Ron Silliman is indifferent or even hostile to Rodin. Ashbery consigns sculpture to the basement in "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror." Since this is Comparative Literature morning on Bemsha Swing, I should point out that Rilke felt differently about Rodin. Rilke worked for Rodin and got a new sense of physicality into his poetry from the French sculptor's example. I'm not sure why Silliman's comment has the whiff of the philistine for me, whereas I accept Ashbery's quip with equanimity. A double standard? Or maybe I assign Ashbery's remark to the "speaker" of the poem, whereas the speaker of the blog is Ron himself. I approve of Christo, but using Christo to put down Rodin seems a bit absurd, n'est-ce pas?