Nice rant. I know I told you about my experience as a poet at Chapel Hill. Of course I was a freshman and my poetry was immature (because, oh, I was immature, perhaps) and the person who shot me down and crushed my fledgling spirit was not faculty but a student of the CW department there. Nonetheless, I was told in no uncertain terms that I would never be a poet because my work was childish. It was long time before I wrote poetry again, and to be honest, I have only written maybe two poems since that day. Perhaps it was true and he saved me from the embarrassment of learning it from an instructor. Perhaps he was just an ass. I vote for the latter. Funny…I’ve never seen his name in print. Huh. Go figure.

I think “Because it’s beautiful” or “Because it touched me” are perfectly good reasons for enjoying any kind of art. Why should there be another?

You said it all well, as usual.

I agree with you — and love that poem, and Big Fan’s comedic commentary … and I think the awful thing going on right now is that people are extremely misinterpreting the use of philosophy. Its purpose is to look at art, literature, etc., and assess their finer points and consider whether they logically fit together and make sense, and eventually decide what is right. And the masses ARE mistaken in many senses — but those types of people take it too far, and reject all that is commonly liked. Sometimes there is a reason that it got that far.

Also, it’s curious that you separate Tom Lux out from Collins and Frost– I think he’s very accessible, and much funnier than most poets. (I refer you to any of his snake poems, which are always really tongue-in-cheek.)

Don’t mistake the desire to be good with the desire to be highfalutin. Don’t mistake MFAs with elitism… that comes in many different forms. And don’t mistake criticism for dismissal. Respect the craft, do the work you know you’re capable of, and keep reading with an eye toward getting better, You mom is dead on– study widely, get lots of input, and then decide what makes you the poet you are.

There are some terrific lines in “The Snakeskin.” You’re very close on that one.

Fondly,
one of those elitist pointy-heads in Chapel Hill

I like the sound of words that roll
Off the tongue so trippingly.
They sometimes move and pierce my soul
Before my lips can set them free.

So thank you for your pithy words
(You have a way with them, you know.
Sometimes they rise to fly like birds;
Sometimes, like mountain streams, they flow.)

Keep writing; don’t be filled with doubt.
Sing and ring your own big bell.
Whisper, scream, holler, shout
And always, always give them hell.