Monday, May 19, 2008

Free Write-Poetry's accessability

So heres the deal, I'm probably breaking your heart when I say this but I don't get Jorie Graham or others like her. Genius probably, but benefit. Alright admittedly that's a little harsh. I have read an entire book of her poetry, then reread it, then reread another part of it. Keep in mind that one reading involved reading what she wrote many times. I didn't understand anything until I had discussed the readings of her in the class I was in. In order to understand her you have to now the subject she is talking about and the entire history of her life. I think that she is brilliant and I don't mean to say that her writing isn't interesting from a scholarly perspective, but thats just it. Literature seems like something that everyone should be able to appreciate and Graham's type of poetry, seems to me, a poetry written for the few and the priviledged. I am realitively educated and have read a lot of literature, yet I still don't understand these complexities in Graham. Imagine, then that the majority of the world has an education far below my own. If those who can comprehend literature still can't comprehend certain kinds of poetry its almost like its written for the intellectual and educational elite. I'm not saying its wrong, but for someone who makes their living being a poet, what is the end goal or is there one?

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