tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post1807701238713602992..comments2024-03-27T03:35:18.721-04:00Comments on Pansy Poetics: Some Random Thoughts on David Alpaugh's Article "The New Math of Poetry" in the Chronicle of Higher EducationSteve Fellnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383222975171349962noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-40258503790927154402010-02-27T15:02:53.735-05:002010-02-27T15:02:53.735-05:00Steve, I love this post so much, I don't even ...Steve, I love this post so much, I don't even know where to begin. I have to agree with KA that the "two poems" entry made me laugh hardest (probably because I was in that prose poem class and got to witness it first hand). I also really love the formula for brilliant poems. And the way you slide in commentary about pharmaceuticals and health-care reform. And of course, you are absolutely spot-on about the "math." Brilliant. Thank you. It's so sad, the way creativity now has to be legitimized by association with science, math, logic. We have become such a pragmatic society, so strangely comforted by the mechanics of quantification, so fascinated with ideas of defined sets (as in how many books of poetry ought to be published). Of course, such caluclations never account for the remainder, the surplus of the population that can't be factored in...all those people without wedding contracts, for example.ZInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-91351466455026513862010-02-27T12:43:29.624-05:002010-02-27T12:43:29.624-05:00This is my favorite quote from your article: "...This is my favorite quote from your article: "As an MFA student, whenever someone wrote a poem that was longer than a page, someone would say, "I think you've got two poems here." And everyone would nod and say yes you've got two poems here and they look all happy as if we all got something for fucking free."KAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-72836683107610274882010-02-27T12:05:41.883-05:002010-02-27T12:05:41.883-05:00Alpaugh wrote a very similar piece in 2003 for Poe...Alpaugh wrote a very similar piece in 2003 for Poets & Writers magazine. It was called "The Professionalization of Poetry," and primarily focused on the proliferaton of MFAs in Poetry.<br />http://www.houstonpoetryreview.net/fall2003_review_001.html<br />In someways his 'New Math'piece is really a retread.<br /><br />A different question is why would Poets & Writers or The Chronicle of Higher Ed offer space to such nonsense. The answer is that their editors know the piece is simple-minded provocation and it will attract a hue & cry, and that backlash translates into readership interest.<br /><br />So in that way this is case someone 'pulling your chain'. We rail against Alpaugh's idiocy and we play our part in an orchestrated controversy.JforJameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178504373218996278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-43635800212696796412010-02-26T18:41:54.763-05:002010-02-26T18:41:54.763-05:00I am wild about this post. Well-played, and I com...I am wild about this post. Well-played, and I completely agree about the math giving everything legitimacy. My Life, The New Math: this is what I will entitle my memoir, if I ever write one.Lisa B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10646181766775405935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-90845041457858715692010-02-26T17:50:55.602-05:002010-02-26T17:50:55.602-05:00there are too many soldiers marines bomber-pilots ...there are too many soldiers marines bomber-pilots and militarists in general, and too many weapons manufacturers and too many priests, to mention only a few of who there are too many of—<br /><br />but there are not now, and there have never been, enough poets on this planet!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10848525067425082815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-72160262343701681982010-02-26T17:25:46.792-05:002010-02-26T17:25:46.792-05:00I think there should be even more poetry anthologi...I think there should be even more poetry anthologies. With the economy as it is, we can use the remainders to build little houses for ourselves. Also, along these lines, I think there should be an anthology called "Good Try! The Year's Best Efforts at Poetry." It could feature poems that aren't very good, but you can tell the poet really worked hard on them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-3043570762836461482010-02-26T15:37:35.876-05:002010-02-26T15:37:35.876-05:00If DA thinks too many people are writing poetry an...If DA thinks too many people are writing poetry and too many poems are being published, perhaps he should be the first to stop writing poetry and stop sending his work out. Hmm, that way there will be a little more space for the genius poets who aren't being published!<br /><br />wv: ressessSuzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16623018763486643999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6360167919886596728.post-91219891309278845422010-02-26T15:09:37.020-05:002010-02-26T15:09:37.020-05:00And yet, the first sentence from the bio on his we...And yet, the first sentence from the bio on his website:<br /><br />"David Alpaugh’s poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism have appeared in more than 100 literary journals and anthologies."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com