I Think It's True To Say That

I Don't Know That I Had A Sense That There Was Such A Thing As "the Poetry World" In The 1960s And Early 70s. Maybe Poets Did, But For Me As An Onlooker And Reader Of Poetry, Poetry Felt Like It Was Part Of A Larger Literary World. I Mean, Even The Phrase "the Poetry World" Reflects A Sort Of Balkanization Of American Literary And Artistic Life That Has To Some Extent Happened Since Then.

The Professionalization Of Poetry, Or The Balkanization, Has Come Out Of The Fact That When You Apply To Most Creative Writing Programs, You Have To Choose Your Genre.

Repetition Makes Us Feel Secure And Variation Makes Us Feel Free.

It Is Good Sometimes For Poetry To Disenchant Us.

Not To Make Too Much Of A Claim For Poetry, But This Is A Question That Goes To The Moral Heart Of The Business Of Any Art: How Do You See The World, And What Right Do You Have To See The World In The Way That You Do?