Summer/Poetry

Of late I have been receiving allot of Poetic Profiles for the website I animate chicagopostmodernpoetry.com; the think that moves me is how so many poets are centered in their artform but how that centeredness rests right on the knifeedge between the self absorbed and the profound. It reminds me a little of the medieval saints. What made the difference between a Francis and a Savonarola? it was this self centeredness versus an openness to life. I find that many today are like Savonarola, they are not in dialogue they are in monologue and I think that in the end I would rather be like Francis, in dialogue. Simplicity is key I think for poets, and I also think asceticism is essential. It is hard to become a saint when life is comfortable as it is hard to become a great poet if life is comfortable. It is in the hard edges that poetry comes out and changes things as we are an internal artform.