Trusting Poems

"I think depending on your own style, you get defensive hearing the common complaints about it. I feel more of a rise gotten out of me when I'm accused of dismissing a poem just because it's "too hard" to understand- so I guess I'm in that "camp," though I'd never put myself in a camp. I am very dismissive, that's true-- but my dismissiveness has less to do with how "hard" a poem is than how well I can read the intentions of the poet who wrote it. Otherwise, I wouldn't enjoy reading any prose poetry. Otherwise, I wouldn't enjoy reading any "language" poetry. Etc. If I can read the precision and care and maturity of a poet, and they're charismatic/engaging, even if I can't immediately understand their work, I will re-read their work before deciding whether I like it. I like smart people. I like smart artists. I can disagree with them on almost everything, but I have to be able to trust them in order to think they're worth disagreeing with. Because, on the other hand, there are many, many poems that I "get" right away that I dismiss as searching, robotic, immature shit."

--Brooklyn Copeland