TOTALLY OBVIOUS STATEMENTS:

Kasey Mohammad is brilliant.

That statement must be understood as referring to an opinion of the speaker of the statement. It's not a statement about the world, but a speaker-centered statement. What it is really saying is, "you should agree with me that Kasey is brilliant." He is, actually.

You might learn Spanish to get at the duende of Spanish poetry. But what you will learn about Spanish poetry will be, precisely, the non-duende of it all. That is, you will learn that duende is essentially a translation-effect, an illusion. That doesn't make it any less meaningful to those who don't know Spanish, and you will never be able to convince these non Spanish-speaking people that the duende does not exist, or get them to shut up about the damned duende.

I am seeing the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet today. Guess who's playing Juliet? The lines for her are not cliché, but rather are utterly fresh and exciting. And watching the scene will be totally thrilling to me.

Paul Auster left out Roussel from the Random House Book of French Poetry. This is a fact. But to mention this fact makes it into an opinion.

Gary Sullivan is brilliant too.

When people you think are brilliant treat you as an equal, and find you interesting too, that means you are brilliant too. That's the best kind of brilliance, the shared kind.

Jordan is completely right about Robert Duncan. That is, I agree with him completely. I can't "take" Duncan. Yet the poetics seminar I set up in Kansas is practically a shrine to Duncan (Silliman, Irby have spoken about him there). I thought about inviting Lisa Jarnot, but then thought, nah, she'll probably talk about Duncan. All these people who see Duncan as central know much more about American poetry than I do. I cannot put forward my inability to appreciate as a universal principle.

Some of these statements are more "obvious" than others. This game is fun to play. Dress up an utterly controversial statement as an axiom, see what happens.

Time for Shakespeare.