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
I think theres no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world. – James Laughlin
I think that concrete poetry seems to have, as far as I can see, come to a kind of a dead end. It doesnt seem to be going any further than it went in its high period of about five or six years ago. – 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