[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 85, Issue 20

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi friends,

Donna, oh, I get it. Spell/grammar check thought "Connor's" was a 
contraction for "Connor is" and decided it really should be "Connor 
are," presumably based on the plural, "colors." I hate it when grammar 
check takes it upon itself to decide that I really meant plural when in 
fact I meant singular. But your example definitely takes the biscuit. 
Grammar check has never done anything quite that egregious to me.

Judith, Alice Tully Hall? That is very impressive indeed!

Barbara, I agree with Donna. But there's some very nice tactile imagery 
as well. I also like the repetition and juxtaposition of lines.

Judith, when you say, "Is it true?" do you mean "Is the poem based on a 
real life experience?" The answer to that question is either yes or no 
and only Barbara can give it.

But to ask if a poem is true, that's something else again. A poem being 
true has nothing to do with fidelity to mundane facts. Many, many years 
ago I read an article dealing with this question in The Writer. In the 
article, the poet said that, for instance in the real life incident 
there might have been a couch but for purposes of the poem, he might 
change it to a blue chair. This change doesn't make the poem untrue. A 
poem, after all, is not a police report. What makes a poem true or not 
is the emotions, the feelings and situations being expressed. I think 
Barbara does that, whether the actual incident happened exactly the way 
she has written it or not.

I'm not expressing myself well. Hope you get what I'm trying to convey.

Kerry