“Philip Larkin has a tough honesty and sense of humor that I find irresistible, as a contemporary poet.”
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Pound's translation of Chinese poetry was maybe the most important thing I read. Eliot a little bit later.
If a poem is not memorable, there's probably something wrong. One of the problems of free verse is that much of the free verse poetry is not memorable.
A poem in form still has to have voice, gesture, a sense of discovery, a metaphoric connection, as any poetry does.
Among the American contemporaries I read with most enjoyment are several North Carolinians. I think the best poetry being written these days is being written by Southerners.
