“A poem conveys not a message so much as the provenance of a message, an advent of sense.”
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No art form points like poetry to this originality of language as to its essential and abiding concern.
Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.
I think we will always have the impulse towards visual poetry with us, and I wouldn't agree with Bly that it's a bad thing. It depends on the ability of the individual poet to do it well, and to make a shape which is interesting enough to hold your attention.
But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way.
