One Does Not Become A Guru By

Among Those Today Who Believe That Modern Poetry Must Do Without Rhyme Or Metre, There Is An Assumption That The Alternative To Free Verse Is A Crash Course In Villanelles, Sestinas And Other Such Fixed Forms. But Most... Are Rare In English Poetry. Few Poets Have Written A Villanelle Worth Reading, Or Indeed Regret Not Having Done So.

English Poetry Begins Whenever We Decide To Say The Modern English Language Begins, And It Extends As Far As We Decide To Say That The English Language Extends.

Poetry Carries Its History Within It, And It Is Oral In Origin. Its Transmission Was Oral.

The Mormon Mission To Africa, As To Other Dark-skinned Parts Of The World, Was For A Long Time Hobbled By The Racism Of The Movement's Scripture.

Free Verse Seemed Democratic Because It Offered Freedom Of Access To Writers. And Those Who Disdained Free Verse Would Always Be Open To Accusations Of Elitism, Mandarinism. Open Form Was Like Common Ground On Which All Might Graze Their Cattle - It Was Not To Be Closed In By Usurping Landlords.