I've been reading some extraordinary women Christian poets of late, but I wonder if contemporary poetry has to be so obscure? Since I'll be doing Yeats in the fall, I've started reading his COLLECTED, and though CROSSWAYS is maybe too romantic in its longing and sorrow, still, it's great poetry and it's clear! Great writing it seems to me. The phenomenon reminds me of a quote by Frost. He said having been a teacher, he had to make himself understood . . . and that put him among poets who wanted to be understood!
The poets I'm talking about are excellent, but I can't help wondering what's behind the opaqueness. A desire for excellence, yes (and achieved!); but maybe some Puritan proof as well? I remember reading somewhere that Yeats said some slack lines were absolutely necessary. In any case, I want his sacramental depth, but revelations of humility and wisdom too. With God all things are possible!
Also, some good news. Debra Murphy is going to do a second edition of MARY'S HOUSE with Idylls, an e-book, which I'm excited about. It's easier to reach more people that way, so may God bless it. I've redone the "Some Kind of Pilgrim" section, turned to poems into rhyme and meter, plus I've added the best versions of "Prothalamion" and "Peter Maurin" I could come up with, another poem in the first and last section; but the big addition will be @ 50 new pp. of FIORETTI poems. (Now that I don't have them in front of me I'm very excited. I think they are quite good.)
