I wouldn't have any great objection, Mike, if your were to call Bob Dylan the greatest living poet. He has written hundreds of truly marvellous songs over the past 65 years, and way more than the world is generally aware of. Indeed, it could legitimately be argued that the bootleg songs are his best recordings. (And I've heard quite a few of these sublime masterpieces.) So the best may be yet to come in his case. Dylan is truly the song and dance man - the Picasso of words and music!
Other candidates for the honour (and you have rightly included both) are Jared Carter & Bob Zisk, who write sublimely crafted poems in an age when high standards have largely gone out the window. Also, there is one very notable absentee from all of of your lists, and that is yourself. The last I heard you were still alive! So where are you: poet, songwriter, and possibly the finest translator of this or any era, in my humble opinion?
Bob Dylan is a great songwriter, but when I perused one of his poetry books, he didn't impress me as being better than Yeats, Heaney, et al.
I agree that Jared Carter and Bob Zisk write their best poems to very high standards.
I will let others decide where I end up in the pantheon, if anywhere at all. But I'm glad you think highly of my work! Lately, it seems Google's algorithm may agree.
Yes, but we are talking about poets who are still living. Yeats and Heaney don't fall into that category. And, as I've said, most readers have not read or heard Dylan's best works, bootleg tracks like "Carribean Wind", "Blind Willie Mc Tell", "Emmet Till", "Abandoned Love", "Brownville Girl", "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" etc. The list is very long and just mind-blowing!
However, we do agree regarding Bob and Jared. The world is lucky to have them. And you! Your translations alone are truly a great service to humanity!
Nor Drysdale, alas, though she died more recently, as observed in your presentation. I agree she was a good writer, she spoke as she thought and forthrightly. I didn't welcome her death, though, from how I read it occurred, it seemed merciful and thus a blessing to her.
I thought Drysdale was one of the better poets published by The HyperTexts. I especially admired her poems "Friday," "Word Made Flesh" and "Nuns Skating."
Death does seem like a mercy, especially as we grow older and more frail, with no hope of recovery.
I think it is a good reading list, for poets one may not have read.
I wouldn't have any great objection, Mike, if your were to call Bob Dylan the greatest living poet. He has written hundreds of truly marvellous songs over the past 65 years, and way more than the world is generally aware of. Indeed, it could legitimately be argued that the bootleg songs are his best recordings. (And I've heard quite a few of these sublime masterpieces.) So the best may be yet to come in his case. Dylan is truly the song and dance man - the Picasso of words and music!
Other candidates for the honour (and you have rightly included both) are Jared Carter & Bob Zisk, who write sublimely crafted poems in an age when high standards have largely gone out the window. Also, there is one very notable absentee from all of of your lists, and that is yourself. The last I heard you were still alive! So where are you: poet, songwriter, and possibly the finest translator of this or any era, in my humble opinion?
Bob Dylan is a great songwriter, but when I perused one of his poetry books, he didn't impress me as being better than Yeats, Heaney, et al.
I agree that Jared Carter and Bob Zisk write their best poems to very high standards.
I will let others decide where I end up in the pantheon, if anywhere at all. But I'm glad you think highly of my work! Lately, it seems Google's algorithm may agree.
Yes, but we are talking about poets who are still living. Yeats and Heaney don't fall into that category. And, as I've said, most readers have not read or heard Dylan's best works, bootleg tracks like "Carribean Wind", "Blind Willie Mc Tell", "Emmet Till", "Abandoned Love", "Brownville Girl", "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" etc. The list is very long and just mind-blowing!
However, we do agree regarding Bob and Jared. The world is lucky to have them. And you! Your translations alone are truly a great service to humanity!
I wouldn't publish "Caribbean Wind" as a poem without the music, or "The Death of Emmett Till." There is such a difference without the music.
I think my translations do stand out, if enough people read them. Only time will tell.
I would only add Amanda Gorman to your excellent list.
I will add her, thanks.
The only good one in this list is AE Stallings. The greatest living poet is Frederick Seidel. The greatest living young poet is me.
Post your best poem here and prove it, or give me a link.
Hard to choose but maybe this one
https://open.substack.com/pub/jbars/p/emily
You definitely have talent and a way with words.
But as Housman observed in his criticism of Dryden and Pope, wit and poetry are different things.
Ogden Nash is fun to read, but he's not the greatest poet who ever lived.
Do you have any poems where you communicate emotion?
I try my best not to engage too directly with emotions, either here or irl. Here's something that sort of comes close though
https://open.substack.com/pub/jbars/p/a-plato-conference-in-brasilia
You definitely have talent, but I think you're aiming too low.
As the world's greatest artist observed:
The danger is not aiming too high and missing, but aiming too low and hitting the mark.—Michelangelo, translation by Michael R. Burch
Interesting. I thought this was over- ambitious tbh but I'm pleased you think so.
Also, I am sincerely grateful that you took the time to read and comment on my work. Thank you.
To your list of singer-songwriters who should be considered, I would add “Prince.”
I agree, but Prince is unfortunately no longer living.
Nor Drysdale, alas, though she died more recently, as observed in your presentation. I agree she was a good writer, she spoke as she thought and forthrightly. I didn't welcome her death, though, from how I read it occurred, it seemed merciful and thus a blessing to her.
I thought Drysdale was one of the better poets published by The HyperTexts. I especially admired her poems "Friday," "Word Made Flesh" and "Nuns Skating."
Death does seem like a mercy, especially as we grow older and more frail, with no hope of recovery.