Rate-a-Poem: Poem

Thanks to William for originally posting this. Thanks to various punters for coming back to pull the bottle from the rack and sip from it every few years.

It was a '2' vote from me. The only thing I can add is that like all published fiction, a poem should invoke the reader's sympathy. My major concern was that this one didn't really bother.

Well, on with the necromancy!

kdnxdr said:

the poetry is the motion; the inanimate becoming animate without 'real' animal. kinda like one of those cute little "flicker books" that animates and tells of an experience through a series of drawings. The intent is the animation, not the story itself that is told.

like ballet, there is a story but the story becomes secondary to the execution of the dance itself.

so, the little poem is an exercise of animation and it grabs us in our collective experience and we "see the cat" become animate through the animation but to some of us, a cat moving does not move us.

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Very, very well put, kid (and well noted by susanabra soon after). A most impressive post.

ddgryphon said:

In general, I don't believe I get his Aesthetic in the way many people don't get Phillip Glass. It just falls dead on my ear and doesn't move or interest me in any way. I feel uninvolved in his work. I suppose there's an argument that that is somehow the point. But I can't help question an artistic vision that seeks to remove you from the effect of the work.

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Also excellently written, Dirk.

And you can count me as a non-Glassophile.

I can appreciate the intent and the craft in both cases. I don't think either this poem, the Wheelbarrow poem, or Phillip Glass' music are meant to be loved. In my view, they're academic - exercises in artistic vision or technique. Interesting as signposts or artifacts, but not - in my opinion - attractive.

I'll acknowledge the intent, the vision, the skill - but I won't go back to them for pleasure.

So, 4+ for technique, 2 for spirit. (A poem would have lack coherence to get a 1 from me, I think.)

I just think he's poking fun at poetry snobs. No BIG feelings, no fancy language, no important topic - but it's a poem.

Ah, everyone's thinking too hard. Williams, like someone earlier said, wasn't trying to be profound like poets are expected to be. Can't be more obvious, can it?