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Peter Whisenant's avatar

I love it when poetry becomes a contact sport! Why should hockey players have all the fun? Having said that, when I saw the superscript 1 next to "Teutonic barbarity," I was afraid Mr C was going to prove in a footnote that Ms. Marstall is descended from Hitler. I'm glad he didn't! That would be going too far. Even hockey players are pulled apart after a few teeth get knocked out.

I agree that the little "Wild Geese" exegesis was silly. Open the Tax Code at random, and behold: soft sounds and monosyllables and long sounds and multisyllabic words (oh, look, there's that inspired "hundred"). Mary Oliver must've taken time off from her mania for "nature" to help out with IRC Section 7 a(iii). Well, if she did, it's the least insipid thing she ever wrote.

Mr. C, I hope the Teutonic barbarity hits back hard. I'm ready to pile on you, too, if given the opportunity. This is how poetry should be conducted: Not with a whimper but with a bang. (Seems to be required in these discussions to back up every claim with an Eliot quote. There's mine.)

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Huck's avatar

this is what substack is for

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