Friday, May 16, 2008

"I like Clint Eastwood because he has only two facial expressions:
one with the hat, and one without it."

(Sergio Leone)

2 comments:

walrus said...

Hello Carpenter,

Apologies for the enforced absence. Somehow I hit a perfect storm of illness, sleep deprivation, family obligations, work deadlines & other contingencies seemingly dedicated to reducing my "me-time" to a mere fraction of what it was.

Even now I only have time to say I will try to come up with some thoughts on the sonnets, if you think it will help; with the proviso that judging the work of others makes me deeply uncomfortable, so expect vague feelings about things, as before.

The Book Depository failed to deliver on their promise of a cheap copy of the Duncan/Levertov letters in the end, but I have just begun dipping into her New & Selected Essays & I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the pieces on WCW. Her approach is reassuringly practical for anyone trying to write poetry. A real find.

Hope you're having more fun than I am at present,

Walrus

belgianwaffle said...

Good evening Walrus

I'm sorry to hear things aren't going so well. I'll admit to looking forward to some return of serve. It gets lonely out here in the 'Blog-o-sphere' (said with Ed Reardon-style derision).

Bad luck about the Duncan:Levertov Letters - I'm unhappy with the Book Depository after they refused to reply to my e-mails about a defective copy of Scroggins' LZ biog. Aphrohead is my dealer of choice.

I have ordered a copy of the Levertov essays - if you like it then I'm sure I will!

As for the sonnets: I suppose I'd simply appreciate some kind of grunt or shake of the head or - better still - some discussion of the nuts and bolts. (A colleague in the Dept. is rather sniffy about me even calling such squibs 'sonnets'. And maybe he is right.) Which 'work', which don't ?

I'm putting them up as they arrive very aware that they could do with all sorts of tweaking. However, right now, it seems important to stay on the wave. If it all gets too self-conscious, I suspect I'll fall off.

We'll see what this week brings.

Cheers

The C

April Fool?