L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E

I was reading the into to the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry handout and I thought that it brought up some really interesting ideas. It reminded me a lot of what Christian Bok said and some of the things Dominique talked about in her post. Bok talked a lot about how he decided never to write a poem about his feelings or own personal life experience, because he felt it made him a mediocre poet. He said he thought his success came primarily from his inventiveness with form and sound rather than writing about himself like the majority of other poets. The language handout seemed to also advocate this kind of abstract poetry that centers more on form and innovative use of language rather than actual content. I think this genre and brand of poetry can be incredibly interesting, but I also feel that poetry is in some ways losing a lot of it's readability and connection to the everyday reader. I feel that a lot of modern poetry can only really be appreciated by poets. In my own opinion I think the n+7 is the perfect example of this. I wrote one for my constraints assignment earlier this year, and I couldn't help but feel like I was playing madlibs and the product was nonsense. I don't feel like someone could just pick up an n+7, not knowing what it is and really appreciate it's linguistic virtue, because seemingly to most people it's just random nonsense. I know in techniques Theo talked a lot about the Oulipo and Dada movements and how a lot of contemporary art is considered art because of the process involved in creating it, rather than for the product created. I think is an interesting take on art, but I also wonder if art is moving towards more value placed upon process than product, eventually won't art only be appreciated by those who understand the process and not those who merely like to enjoy the product?