Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions Review

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Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions ReviewCharles Bernstein is a poet & poetry professor who may be best known by the younger generation of writers as the poet who hates National Poetry Month. His oft-blogged about essay, "Against National Poetry Month As Such" (which is included in "Attack of the Difficult Poems") makes the bold claim that National Poetry Month "is about making poetry safe for readers by promoting examples of the art at its most bland and its most morally 'positive' " and then smartly up-ends the NYTimes being listed as one of National Poetry Month's sponsors, noting that "if the Times would take seriously the task of reviewing poetry books and readings, it would be doing a far greater service to poetry..."
And it's that sort of blunt assignments of situations, a cool & clear dressing down of what Bernstein believes must be said, that makes "Attack of the Difficult Poems" such a great read. Bernstein treats the reader as a contemporary. He doesn't soften any blows that he think are just, but he doesn't cruelly declaim either. His essays bubble with humor and sly asides, even when he is presenting complex ideas or challenging (literally!) opinions. And it must be noted that even if you don't agree with all of what Bernstein writes (I, for the record, don't), his (internal) logic is nonetheless sound and his essays provoke meaningful thought and conversation.
Bernstein covers a wide range of poetic topics in this collection, from his philosophies on & tools used while teaching poetry (or "Creative Wreading," as he calls it) to his numerous dissections & theories on poetry itself, including essays in praise of difficult poetry (including a checklist to confirm that you are, indeed, reading a difficult poem) and focused examinations of who is writing poetry, why they are doing it, and the effects that the medium you experience it in have.
The book is almost 300 pages long and crammed with almost 30 different essays, so there is a lot in this book to read and absorb from this book, but I can almost guarantee that any poetry lover who picks it up will find something of interest, something they'll want to read to someone, blog about or maybe simple challenge in their own minds, see if their own long-held beliefs stand firm. I know I, for one, will be sharing it a lot, and can imagine I will return to it often.Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions Overview

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