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K. Silem Mohammad's throughts on community... 2 Years, 1 Month ago
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Wow -- I forgot how I got to this blog post, but loved this post from K. Silem Mohammad on July 3, 2006. Felt that it pertains very much to the Small Press Exchange thought that it might provoke a little discussion -- check out some excerpts, but it really does deserve a full read: The ideal function of community is simply to exist--to be in place like a big hotel full of different suites and meeting halls. This _meta_phor automatically suggests the undesirable tenor of an institution, but I am not arguing for an institutional (i.e., academic or otherwise "official") model of community. I'm not arguing against it either. Community is just whatever structure allows poets to operate in some kind of cooperative sphere of mutual knowledge. Within such structures, there will always emerge sectors of privilege and influence, which should be vigorously questioned and resisted. The hotel should never have one despotic concierge. It should not be owned by a corporate chain. It should really be an ex-hotel, an old building with its hotel layout intact, but occupied by squatters who manage to make that layout work for them as a community.
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I think there's a false notion circulating out there among some people that community is the, or a, primary good of poetry--that it's what you come to poetry for. (This position is assumed, when it is assumed, both by those who embrace and those who oppose the notion of poetic community.) Churches or unions are much better if that's what you want, though even here, the same problems apply. For one thing, it's bound to lead to disappointment. The poetry community, as many have pointed out, is fractious, hierarchizing, nepotistic, vain, incoherent. You have a much better chance of finding friendship through poetry, and that is a good thing wherever you find it. But neither community nor friendship is a good reason to go to poetry in the first place if poetry itself isn't your main priority.
The thing about community is that no one should expect to enjoy it. As inadequate as it is, it is simply something without which poetry or any other social mode of being could not function. Or, without it, poetry would only be an option for a very few privileged practitioners, as has frequently been the case in many historical moments in many cultures. Again, I appeal to the union analogy. No one joins a union because it sounds like fun. It's a way to build structures of mutual support between multiple parties. It's work. It's just plain necessary.Source: http://limetree.ksilem.com/archives/2006_07.html#000841 |
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And that's... 2 Years ago
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The poetry community, as many have pointed out, is fractious, hierarchizing, nepotistic, vain, incoherent.Is K. Silem talking about the community in general or Ron Silliman's comment stream? 
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