Re: JDS the Poet

the.tourist@excite.com
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:46:12 -0800 (PST)

> If S. is, as Buddy contends in S:an I, to join the
> "three or four *very* nearly nonexpendable poets" America has had, they
had
> better be pretty damn great poems.  
>...It's that, well (am I being just cruel here?), JDS, at
> least in 1959, wasn't up to writing the poems himself.  Writing poetry of
a
> Seymour Glass-level  is a daunting task.  

I'm hoping it's modesty.  I'm hoping JD realizes there's simply no way he
could, in person, live up to the magic that he's conjured in our heads,
regarding Seymour's poetry.

I'm hoping JD hasn't written these poems and looks at them and thinks he's
one of the essential American poets.  Let's face it:  As readers of this
work, would there be anyway to avoid disappointment?
Or at least any way to avoid giving a sidelong glace to the JD shrine in the
corner of our bedrooms, thinking, "I can't believe he actually attempted
this"?

There's no way Salinger could pull it off, although I'm confident he has
tried--sitting up late at night, glancing over his shoulder--and then
bashfully tearing the attempt into shreds, which he promptly uses to feed
the fire in his fireplace.

--Brendan





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