7 July 2006 Revision of Part of the entry for 17 May 2004 (with the original entry afterward in full):

17 May 2004. Yesterday I took a 5-question Yahoo quiz that was supposed to indicate what kind of dog I'd be. Answer: a pit-bull! Preposterous. The kind of dog I'd be is a cat. But the following may suggest otherwise. It has to do with David Orr's review in the New York Times of a new collection of poetry by Carl Dennis. Before and after reading Orr's piece, I judged it one more mediocrity's completely uninsightful stasguard commentary on one more mainstream poet.

It annoyed me. Why? No one with a functioning mind has any respect for the Times. What difference can one more ignorant article in it about poetry make? Well, for one thing, it will help keep the stasguards in charge of monetary rewards to poets aware of the kind of poetry they need to subsidize. If the Times and other such publications were not to review or publish poetry, the awarders--who aren't too bright and therefore need constantly to be shown what to like--might accidentally award money to some poet who is expanding the possibilities of his art.

And who know, it's possible that without the mass media's constant reinforcement of their loyalty to some segment, or even the whole of, the Ashbery-to-Wilbur continuum, some currently conventional poets and critics might feel less complacent and actually investigate contemporary poetry. A few might even improve as a result!

Note: I hope soon to substantiate my low opinion of the Orr review in a blog entry. Too worn-out to do so now.