I think that is where poetry reading becomes such an individual thing. I mean I have friend who like poets who just dont say anything to me at all, I mean they seem to me rather ordinary and pedestrian. – James Laughlin
Concrete poets continue to turn out beautiful things, but to me theyre more visual than oral, and they almost really belong on the wall rather than in a book. I havent the least idea of where poetry is going. – James Laughlin
I think we will always have the impulse towards visual poetry with us, and I wouldnt agree with Bly that its a bad thing. It depends on the ability of the individual poet to do it well, and to make a shape which is interesting enough to hold your attention. – James Laughlin
Of course a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesnt suggest to the reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it, and will add to what the poet has suggested. But I do think poetry readings are very important. – James Laughlin