TDR Letter
Subject:
Comment (very late) on J.M. Smith's review of Dewdney
February 22, 2005
Dear Danforth Review,
There is nothing worse than turning someone with
little or no poetic sensibility on to the ruggedly new voice of
Christopher Dewdney. There is so much I could say about Smith's review,
which reminds me of an earnest auto mechanic attempting to engage with a
physician on the etiology of teratoma, but let me sum it up quickly.
Here is Smith, wagging his grammarian
finger: "The lazy non-parallelism of the second sentence dismays:
"There are no land plants and little / oxygen in the
atmosphere." " I am sorry Smith is so easily dismayed. Here's
a line from another poet that could drive him, no doubt, stark staring
bonkers: "Do not go gentle into that good night." "It's
'gently,'" I can hear Smith screaming. "Modifies 'go'!"
Not that the thought of hearing Smith's
agonized yelling doesn't give me an odd, perhaps perverted, pleasure.
Sincerely,
John Baglow
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