Jonathan Mayhew, at Bemsha Swing, has been grading the pieces in Louis Zukofsky's A Test of Poetry, apparently without looking at the notes. I don't know the book, but it sure sounds more interesting to me than Zukofsky's own poetry ever did. There was a time when I tried to track down every apparent reference in A, hoping that if I just read enough of the same stuff he'd read that I'd finally get the book as poetry. Never happened, though tonight I rather enjoyed his "To my wash-stand," which I found in the Library of America's American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, vol 2. It was especially interesting to read while Allen Ginsberg punctuated The Clash's "Ghetto Defendant." Like Chris Lott, I wonder what I'm missing. I also wonder why all these bright and talented bloggers can't see that Richard Wilbur is the absolute bee's knees of late 20th century American poetry and just leave the post-avant behind them.
Is it safe now? Can I stop ducking? Look, Chris—TrackBack!
8:43:25 PM 
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