With RDH's prior approval, I'd like to post a response he made to me regarding an issue which I approached him about privately. I found his response quite an enjoyable read and I'd like to share it because he is able to grasp and put into words the very reason which I endevor to exploit this craft, although, understandably not as well as so many others.
Here then, the response with parts removed which were more of a personal nature:
Private Message
To: MSB (who wrote...)
From: Robert Douglas Hickey Sunday, Oct 18 1998 6:38PM ET
Mike,
The internet provides the closest approximation to true democracy, the
truest freedom of expression, the most level playing field we have ever had in history. Granted, one must obtain the technology to exploit it, but once that barrier is overcome, all rules are off.
...and if you feel it is unfinished, or unpolished...well, they ALL are. ALWAYS. No such thing as a perfect poem, to the poet. When WB Yeats was asked to select works for his first anthology, he rewrote every poem, some of them many years old. Some of mine are older, some new, but each one when rewritten is changed in some small or large way. I view poetry as a means to explore my soul, and communicate those explorations to others. And each exploration reveals a different country, each communication a new facet. In the country of the soul, some fields are fallow, some ready for harvest, some just being plowed. All are valid parts of a complicated whole.
Regards,
RDH
Like I said previously, I could NOT have said it better, nor even come close.
Mike |
