Thanks, But I Prefer It My Way

Michael Lista's recommendation that young poets "Wait. Read more. Write more. Get better" hits a nerve.

Instead of telling young writers to do things YOUR way, help them find THEIR OWN way of doing things. This way, we will all know more ways.
— Jon Paul Fiorentino (@stripmaller) February 7, 2014

A young writer who believes in a doctrine of patience and censure will likely produce a well-crafted work in her/his mentor's voice.
— Jon Paul Fiorentino (@stripmaller) February 7, 2014

I've seen many writers practise restraint and snobbery. Unsurprisingly, they end up sounding like restrained snobs.

— Jon Paul Fiorentino (@stripmaller) February 7, 2014

If you buy in to an apprenticeship model of writing, you may just end up with artifacts instead of writing.
— Jon Paul Fiorentino (@stripmaller) February 7, 2014

It's possible to work so hard and wait so long that you actually craft all of the art right out of a text.
— Jon Paul Fiorentino (@stripmaller) February 7, 2014

Poseur Alert

"One thing, though, is that I’m sincere when I say that the book was written for the glory and good of poetry. The main reason I wanted to do the book with BookThug, rather than with an academic press, is that it is intended as a gift (an admittedly difficult, even explosive gift) for other poets."

Donato Mancini discusses his survey of Canadian reviewing practices, You Must Work Harder to Write Poetry of Excellence.

Poseur Alert

“I wish that my government had asked me to write poetry about immigration policy, about Idle No More, about Canada’s complicity in the Middle East, the Enbridge pipeline.”

Fred Wah summing up his tenure as the Parliamentary Poet Laureate.

Poseur Alert

"Boy oh boy. It's really scary to see how conservative poet Ange Mlinko has become. She used to be one of us."

Kenneth Goldsmith exposes the group-think the avant-garde are always at pains to deny, and confirms what "conservative" critics everywhere know to be their only sin: independent thought.

Poseur Alert

"we’re talking about the struggle to drag a thought over from the mush of the unconscious into some kind of grammar, syntax, human sense; every attempt means starting over with language. starting over with accuracy. i mean, every thought starts over, so every expression of a thought has to do the same. every accuracy has to be invented. . . . i feel i am blundering in concepts too fine for me"

Anne Carson discussing...who the fuck knows.

Poseur Alert

Q: Do you write for the reader or for yourself?

A: Neither. The reader is a romantic concept. As is myself, I suspect. The quill poised; the head bowed over a small volume. Neither writer nor reader nor text is sacred to me, if I can help it; I prefer a “we” at both ends of the transfer. I hope (or pretend) that the origin & destination of my compulsion-to-not-be-silent — is collective.

Phil Hall, The Griffin Poetry Prize Questionnaire.