Is this it?                                                                                             26 April 2008


When poets use what comes to hand, the hand moves poetry to the sidelines to create a space between the body and some shoddy idea that may illuminate and if it succeeds interfere with a poet's handiwork. If hands are extensions of the body instead of the mind poetry becomes a very physical activity but if for some inexplicable reason the hands are an extension of the mind instead of the body poetry is a mental activity that craves for supporting bodies not just those noncommittal entities which float in space whether on pinheads or on eggheads doesn't really matter that much but also those that can be caught and brought to justice by inhaling their very essence or whatever parts the host is attracted to or seems necessary to indulge in. Making up your own mind instead of despatching your valiant butler to collect the topics of the day for this afternoon's discussion has serious drawbacks for most poets. Spin has to be added. Context has to be invented. Excitement has to be provided by those present and approved of by those absent given their eternal importance and influence. And if all that is not difficult enough to handle the subject may turn out to be just a figure of speech. Speech is a less coherent way of thinking than poetry or thinking on the hoof, except when points of entrance and points of exit all converge on the mouth to "erase the distinctions between different types of pleasure". Abandoning language has been contemplated many times as one way to "exceed the limitations of language" but then poetry remains unachievable except to the touch. Poetry constructed from the abandoned fragments of language rubs the tongue any direction but particularly the wrong way round. What's wrong with a practice that gives priority to the human? What can poets possibly object to a practice that focuses on their very own language? And would you like to discuss your reading matter — all those irreplaceable poems — with non-human subjects or objects in the presence of your most precious peers?