A Visit To Civilization, by Sandra McPherson

"Poetry is to prose as walking is to dancing."~John Wain

"When in public poetry should take off its clothes and wave to the nearest person in sight; it should be seen in the company of thieves and lovers rather than that of journalists and publishers."~Brian Patten

"Poetry cannot afford to lose its fundamentally self-delighting inventiveness, its joy in being a process of language as well as a representation of things in the world."~Seamus Heaney

As we do every year at this time, we join the rest of the nation in celebrating the world of poetry. I chose the beautiful, yet challenging poetry of Sandra McPherson as an opportunity to stretch ourselves into areas of modern poetry that we may not have explored.

A Critique of: A Visit to Civilization

In anticipation of the April meeting, I thought we could share are research on Sandra McPherson, who admittedly, may be one of the most accomplished, though difficult poets to be placed on our list in a while. I've forgotten where I found the following on the internet, but If I share other critical finds on McPherson, I'll be sure to also make available all such relevant material. As a lover of poetry, I have also developed an appreciation for those specialist in the field who are adept at elucidating the work of our poets for greater appreciation of their skill. Hope you'll join me this month in seeking out our best critics of poets and their work.

Durren