Best of the Net 2006
Poems published online and judged by Paul Guest to be Best of the Net 2006.
Wallace Stevens' "The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words"
Just read three essays from the "Poetics" section at the back of Volume One of The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry : "The Poetry and the Present" by D.H. Lawrence (1919); "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" by Langston Hughes (1926); and "The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words" by Wallace Stevens (1942). The first is an artful polemic for free verse in contact with the "insurgent naked throb of the instant moment." The second is a spirited rejoinder to a young Negro poet who wanted to "write like a poet--not a Negro poet." The third, my favorite, is a wide-ranging meditation on the nature of poetry and the role of the poet. So many grand things said but I will only quote a few passages: I am interested in the nature of poetry and I have stated its nature, from one of many points of view from which it is possible to state it. It is an interdependence of the imagination and reality as equals. This is...
Comments
That said, the idea of bringing good writers and webzines to the attention of the USA print poetry world is good. But as a neutral outsider, I've got to say that of the 8 poems I've read so far, none of them struck me as particularly worthy of note. They were OK, the kind of poetry I'd expect to read on opening an average-quality magazine at random.
yes, the compilation is very American-centric. I have not read the other poems, but the winning poem I enjoyed.
Jee
sorry for the confusion. I thought there was one winning poem, but I was wrong. The poem I enjoyed is David Graham's "Against God," the first poem on the list.
Jee Leong