a hot afternoon in the life of a grasshopper

Tim Peterson responded to my writing about his poem the other day both here and at his site. I would like to answer his questions. But in order to be understood by both the avant garde and all the rest us bringing up the rear, I’ve decided to post my responses in both languages.

I would be intrigued to hear what exactly you find "incomprehensible" about these lines

the rear... Beyond the fact that there’s no logical sentence structure, I find the images haphazard and unconnected, leading me nowhere. It’s worse than just a dead-end, though. There never was a road.

the avant... prison sentences so long the buttercups won’t do the tango

I suppose I would be even more intrigued to hear why you feel so confident making sweeping judgements about one individual section of a 25-page poem, without having seen the other sections

the rear... I suppose you have a point there. I haven’t read the 25 pages, but based on this sampling as well as some other poems I have read of yours, I doubt I could. I am sure that your 25 page epic is a well-crafted piece in the genre that you work in. I just don’t understand that genre. And I'd bet few do.

the avant... the loons from appaloosa leap corrals of bottomless crescendo

I repeat a statement a friend of mine said when Sharon Olds workshopped one of his poems and, having a similar criticism, told him "I'm not sure I know how to read this." He responded, "The letters forms words, which make sounds. You make the sounds with your mouth."

the rear... I’ll repeat what Robert Frost once said to everyone interested in listening: “We bring up as aberrationists, giving way to undirected associations and kicking ourselves from one chance suggestion to another in all directions as of a hot afternoon in the life of a grasshopper. Theme alone can steady us down. Just as the first mystery was how a poem could have a tune in such a stratightness as meter, so the second mystery is how a poem can have wildness and at the same time a subject that shall be fulfilled.”

the avant... to quote my audience, myself: “swinger pen penis to write and under plans”

Perhaps you are bringing your own elite expectations and prejudices to my work when you read it, and in this sense I find your reading particularly interesting as an expression of your own particular worldview.

the rear... I expect I am bringing my own expectations and prejudices to your work, although I doubt that they’re elitist. But if you see a worldview of common sense and subconscious observation with creative tension between the two, then look a little closer.

the avant... bang the drum quiz kid crack a do but space still fills the snapple

If you could please remove the italics, I would greatly appreciate it. Even though this is a lyrical section of a larger poem which employs both narrative and lyrical strategies, it's not supposed to be in italics.

the rear... No problem

the avant... No problem.

Ah, communication at last! So that's the end of our interview. Good luck with your work, Tim. And I've never been published in Kenyon or Sewanee Review either. (Talk about elitist.) But I'm strictly an aging beginner still writing his juvenalia.