"When I write my only concern is accuracy. I try to write accurately from the poise of mind which lets us see that things are exactly what they seem. I never worry about beauty, if it is accurate there is always beauty. I never worry about form, if it is accurate there is always form." —Lew Welch (from the preface to
Ring of Bone)
Reminds me of O'Hara's "Personism" in that they're both advocating directness.
ReplyDeleteDo you know Welch's poems? I think you'd dig him. He walked into the woods at Big Sur and disappeared, his body never found. But his poems survived, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteNot too familiar at all, honestly. And that goes for a lot of the West Coast-based poets of the Fifties through the Seventies.
ReplyDeleteAram Saroyan wrote a terrific book about Welch (and other "Beat" writers) called GENESIS ANGELS...and the collection of Welch's poetry, RING OF BONE, remains a book I dip into over the years...
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