6/30/2009

exhaustion of possibilities

What we're seeing in Canada right now is more an exhaustion of the possibilities of loosely structured vers libre than a concentrated and deliberate reaction against it. Rhyme and metre have always been a part of poetry written in English and, as resources, they are no less relevant to the present moment than they ever were. The way these resources are employed differs considerably from their use in past ages; if it didn't, it truly would be retrograde. Very few of the poets who use metre and rhyme do so exclusively, making the designation of "formalist" even more dubious.

- Zach Wells, "There Is No Such Thing As "New Formalism" in Canada"

That's two in a row for Zach. I think three is a record for this site...

2 comments:

Admin said...

i totally remember you from sfu! and looking through your blog, i'm still a fan.

last year i started an online flash fiction journal called Glossolalia: http://glossolaliaflash.blogspot.com

ever tried your hand at flash prose?

Rob Taylor said...

Hey! Good to hear from you.

Glossolalia looks really sharp. I do write flash fiction, though incredibly sporadically. I think the last thing I had published was back at SFU: a long story.

I'll see if I have anything, or can come up with anything, soon. Either was, keep up the great work over there!