tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post115982187427299951..comments2023-11-02T05:10:08.188-04:00Comments on Monkey Fur: PoetrySam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-1159994091900342412006-10-04T16:34:00.000-04:002006-10-04T16:34:00.000-04:00Yay! Yes yes for Dickens! I definitely want to com...Yay! Yes yes for Dickens! <BR/>I definitely want to come camp some year. <BR/>:)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-1159970180694713072006-10-04T09:56:00.000-04:002006-10-04T09:56:00.000-04:00I'm so glad you liked the post! I want you to mak...I'm so glad you liked the post! I want you to make a pilgrimage to the festival- I bet you'd like it, and it'd be fun to meet you and your family. And I bet you're a better writer than you think you are. Although who knows- maybe we both stink. But it's better to be brave enough to try to be any kind of writer or artist- even a bad one- than to not try, so... I have a shorthand phrase for this sentiment- I say "Grapes of Goofy" when I think I suck. <BR/><BR/>It's not to say that I don't suck, but I read an interview with some writer who was responding to another person critizing Steinbeck for only having written one good book. The writer said, "So what? What did you write? You didn't write the Grapes of Goofy." <BR/><BR/>I know what you mean about the ornamental language thing- there are lots of people I used to like who I can't read any more because their language is too obtrusive. I used to like Italo Calvino, and now I can't take him at all. And Dickens sets the bar pretty high, I think. He's awesome. I wonder if you'd like Richard Russo? Billy Collins is clever, but I like his kind of cleverness. You might like Andrew Notion or Mark Doty, though- they are less tricky and very clear.<BR/><BR/>Hope you feel better soon!Sam Simpsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-1159929875408843412006-10-03T22:44:00.000-04:002006-10-03T22:44:00.000-04:00this was a really neat post to see. i've always be...this was a really neat post to see. i've always been interested in writing. though, i know now that i'm not as good as i once thought i was. even though i'm way better than i was then. your post came at the perfect time too. yesterday i had started to reread my favoritest book ever: invitation to a beheading. it had been awhile since i read it. and i stopped after a few pages. <BR/><BR/>my interest in literature (and other things) has changed a lot. i used to love nabokov and his blustery, pompous and pretentious prose. along with the works of e.e. cummings and mallarme and other blustery, wordy, or experimental writers. <BR/><BR/>but as of late i find them really boring. while i was reading invitation i just wanted to tell nabokov to get out of my way and just let me enjoy what he wrote. <BR/><BR/>so now i've been looking for new writers. not only to read but to understand how writing can be good, meaningful and straight forward. using images and situations instead of clever words to create meaning. neruda was a revelation but that is about as far as i've gotten with that. as far as poetry goes. <BR/><BR/>i had never heard of billy collins and like his stuff. though it relies somewhat on being clever. but i like the birthday poem (after the first stanza) and the poem that he reads about the "reader" and the salt and peper shaker in the kitchen. <BR/><BR/>anyway, in my rather inarticulate, sick and distracted way i am trying to say: i liked to see your post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-1159920449215523022006-10-03T20:07:00.000-04:002006-10-03T20:07:00.000-04:00A nut hut? Rilly? Do tell...And me and Chas are to...A nut hut? Rilly? Do tell...And me and Chas are totally in love with poeims. (That's how Taha Muhammad Ali pronouced the word poems- I was trying to figure out how to spell that!)<BR/><BR/> We didn't see any bears, but every manmade surface in the campground was plastered with signs warning us that we would see bears and they would probably eat us. Which made for a really exciting night of listening to every noise in the woods and going,"Bear! No... frog. I guess. But that other sound was a bear!"Sam Simpsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-1159891195391401572006-10-03T11:59:00.000-04:002006-10-03T11:59:00.000-04:00so didja see any bears on your bear patrol? i am ...so didja see any bears on your bear patrol? i am dying of curiousity.<BR/><BR/>also? jorie graham is a nut hut. i mean that only in the most positive of ways, though.<BR/><BR/>big ups for camping and poetry! you + chazz= in LUVVVVVVVVVV with poimes. <BR/><BR/>smooches, raccoonpower (who is eager to chill with you if we can align schedules)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com