Olds is a great poet! I often remark that poetry is the most masturbatory of all the arts. Often we poets love to impress the right kind of people with our finesse. I think poetry criticism might be even worse than poetry about writing to impress rather than writing from the heart. Olds always seems to write in a way that makes me feel I’m in the room with her sharing our lives.
That is so well said. I was trying to say this about a particular poem the other day, one that was all heart and it was unbelieveably beautiful, but you say it much better here!
Olds is a great poet! I often remark that poetry is the most masturbatory of all the arts. Often we poets love to impress the right kind of people with our finesse. I think poetry criticism might be even worse than poetry about writing to impress rather than writing from the heart. Olds always seems to write in a way that makes me feel I’m in the room with her sharing our lives.
That is so well said. I was trying to say this about a particular poem the other day, one that was all heart and it was unbelieveably beautiful, but you say it much better here!