Monday, June 30, 2014

A poetry-related comment akin to "loose lips sink ships."

A poet said this to me in the midst of a difference of opinion between the two of us:  "I dedicate my work in the community to lifting boats, not sinking them."

And it says something about the desire of many in the poetry community to have people on the same page in public on poetic standards and the importance of following hierarchy to the letter.

But if most people agree on not allowing dissenting uttered-in-public opinions (just noticed a Facebook poetry discussion group where you can "exercise beauty and celebrate free speech" once you're approved to join by its moderator, who also cautions "don't be a dick") it's difficult to parse the logic that the temple of Poetry Community is so fragile that disagreement on certain subjects by the few, or the one, will cause the temple to collapse and crumble.

In short, the boat of Majority Opinion will always float--regardless of what other people may tell you.


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