“A voucher system based on mutual fear”: Daniel Nester Interviewed at Bookslut
by Ernie on 09/01/10 at 10:14 am
“When I think about all the effort I put into writing poems, being a poet, reading contemporary poetry, it just makes me sick. These days, if I read a poem now of a certain kind—one that avoids feeling, a speaker, or making any connection with the reader, of which there are many—I feel sick. I think I called it ‘aloof disengagement’ in the book. My pet theory is that kind of disengagement comes from people thinking being a poet is some offshoot of being an indie rock person or some shit. When it comes to, say, punk rock or alternative or whatever, aloof disengagement works. As an artifice. But that kind of personae doesn’t translate well, both interpersonally or in the work, in the world of poetry. The trouble is, no one can tell it doesn’t work. No one can really measure if a poem is good or not. It’s all a voucher system based on mutual fear.”
Read on here.
