They Should Do Lunch

Even after the nail biting defeat and elimination of the ASU Sun Devils last night in a 10 inning 7-8 loss in the College World Series, the morning sky was strikingly resolute with a cherry blossom sunrise. Life goes on.

If you've read my blog very long, you have likely figured out that I am not impressed with John Barr's efforts to bring poetry to the masses. To be clear, I have nothing personally against Mr. Barr and in fact I applaud his desire to further the art of poetry. It is not his objective but rather the means to that end that I dislike, both from a practical point and an artistic point of view.

Poetry, like any of the arts, is a broad expression of many genres. Not every song, not every painting, not every photo and certainly not every poem strikes everyone the same way. The way to strengthen any art for is not to divide it's benefactors or practitioners. This is where I part with the John Barr's of this world. So when I read a commentary by Mike Burnside - Winning ways in the war of the words , I found myself whispering under my breath, "...yes, yes!"

Barnside suggests that Barr would do well to use a model more like that of Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He argues that if there is any art that struggles more in public persona then poetry, it is perhaps opera. And opera, like poetry, can easily be divided into accessible and not so accessible groupings. Barnside give Peter Gelib high marks for promoting opera across these divides with great success and suggests Barr and Gelib do lunch. Not a bad idea!