Odyssey and Other Poems 2nd Edition

<p>Contemporary poetry is dominated by an adherence to the poetics of</p><p>Indeterminacy in which tuneless chaos prevails over music and meaning.</p><p>In their determination to subvert the traditional conventions of poetry</p><p>contemporary poets dismiss in their practice all the time-honored devices</p><p>that make poetry such as for example rhythm and rhyme symbol</p><p>and song. That is to say they dismiss Auden’s famous formulation that</p><p>poetry is “memorable speech”—a unique and compelling combination of</p><p>sound and sense.</p><p> </p><p>Rather than joining my peers in their nihilistic revels my intention on the</p><p>contrary is to employ the traditional practices of poetry to achieve Auden’s</p><p>ideal. Taking that ideal as my own; that is taking the practice of such</p><p>great modernists as Dickinson Robinson Yeats Rilke Pound Eliot Cavafy</p><p>Stevens Hart Crane and Auden I seek—against the indeterminacy that defines</p><p>contemporary poetic practice—to make poems memorable for their music and</p><p>meaning their sound and sense.</p><p> </p><p>Thus whether attempting a lyrical love poem or a poignant memoir of my</p><p>growing up in Philly’s Little Italy my intention is to create a dramatic poetry</p><p>that is to be spoken as well as read heard as well as  seen. Therefore my poetry</p><p>stands as a direct challenge to the nihilistic conception of poetry that rules the</p><p>contemporary literary landscape.</p>