Broken Ground: Poetry and the Demon of History

This bracing collection of often lacerating criticism from poet Logan (Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods) pierces the heart of poetry, revealing “what a poem is concealing.” Logan showcases his ability to cut to the core of a poet’s or poem’s shortcomings: Linda Bierds, for example, “writes poems the way Cordon Bleu chefs make wedding cakes—you can hardly imagine a poem with more layers of icing or empty calories... the results are hollow as puff pastry,” while Anne Carson’s “characters have all the emotional range of department-store mannequins, and not intelligent mannequins.” A review of James Franco’s poetry, meanwhile, is a jumping-off point for a critique of “the poetry-as-therapy movement.” Logan offers sustained appreciations of the “beguiling” letters of Robert Frost, Geoffrey Hill’s imaginative poetry, and Emily Dickinson for having had “the deepest poetic mind of the nineteenth century.” At times, Logan unnecessarily veers out of criticism (wondering about Sharon Olds’s sex life, for example), but when he’s skewering the pretenses of contemporary poets, poems, and criticism itself, he’s sharp and funny: “Too many poetry critics sound like cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys, having signed nondisclosure agreements with the poets under review.” His candid criticism enlivens an often-stale atmosphere. [em](May) [/em]