As someone who was a City Poet I know all too well the difficulty of balancing the integrity of my own standards with the civic imperatives of accessibility. Amanda smashed it, wrote something that moved millions of people and performed with remarkable warmth and poise.
https://twitter.com/BernardineEvari/status/1352501300810940422
If it's not good enough for certain folks and their MFA sponsored sensibilities, so be it: no piece of art can hit the mark for everyone. She's not beyond critique or the discernment of her fellow writers, but let's be concessionary to the context of the occasion.
Me? I've written a lot of twee shit in my role as City Poet and under commission for various companies. Someone more strict about their artistic output may think such compromises are untenable. More power to them. Not all of us have the luxury or desire to work with that metric.
Whilst I sometimes squirm at some of the work I've produced under these constraints, I'm invigorated by the endeavour of writing artistically interesting work that doesn't exclude everyone but the already ardent poetry fan. For some, accessibility will always preclude quality...
(and BTW, there's no reason the masses shouldn't be able to enjoy 'difficult' poetry, it's a matter of how we're introduced to the elasticity of language from a formative age and that requires a completely different approach to mainstream education, but ya girl digresses!)
In conclusion: I empathise with the tightrope Amanda was walking here. I don't know her other work and I'm intrigued to see more. What's a couple clichés amongst a huge mass of people who feel moved and inspired?
And if you like your poetry more gnarly, crack open some James Tate and relax them clenched ass cheeks, okay? I promise that one viral poem will not extinguish all your abstract faves! It can all co-exist very happily. Indeed, the healthy ecosystem of poetry depends on it.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
