Seriousness

Because I take poetry seriously I cannot take myself seriously as a poet. I have to go in through the back door, through bad poetry and parody.

In a paper I wrote once as a grad student, I argued that this is what Kenneth Koch does. Later I learned that he took himself more far seriously than I gave him credit for. I learned that from his assistant, Jordan Davis, who became a friend of mine.

What do you do when your best friends are John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler! You have to be somewhat modest about your own abilities, I reasoned. But you also have to put it on the line, to call yourself a poet without embarrassment and to make a claim for your own work.

I feel a certain shame in not having published a book of poetry. Yet that seems an illusory measure. Bad books are published every day and kind of crappy poetry wins prizes. My poetry is as good, or bad, as it actually is, by whoever's judging it, irrespective of externalities. Occupying the role of poet implies a certain resumé that I don't have, but who cares? I'm very glad that my academic position doesn't depend on creative writing resumé.