ARTHUR E. SMITH
75
that goes on again and again in reviews, so I don't read them. I'm not
interested in coping with poetry . I'm not really interested in dealing with
it . I'm mainly interested in getting its vision, getting its energy, getting its
vitality, and being inspired by it .
Int ;
You mentioned Fresno . You 've been a tremendous influence on a lot of
very young people . You've shown them that a poem can be written and
that it is alive. And yet some of the poets coming out of Fresno have tried
very consciously to emulate your poetry . Do you deal with that in any way,
or do you just let it run its course?
Levine ;
Oh , no . I tell them to cut it out. I tell them to stop it. There have only ·
been a few. . . . There are a lot of poets who have written a poem that
might sound like me , but then they have written eighteen poems like
Merwin and twelve like Bly. A lot of poets go through a lot of phases . It's
very natural that one be influenced by people close to one . It's an added
dimension in the poetry of someone who you meet and know and maybe
you like the person, but
I. . . .
So that in the beginning I don't think it's
anyproblem . If a guy's in Freshman class , a very beginning writing class or
something, and someone's poetry sounds a little like me, I try not
to
make
too much out of this . If someone 's been writing for two or three years and
he 's really doing my work or anybody else 's work too heavily, I try to point
that out to him . I try to say, " Well , look. There comes a time when you
have
to
invent your own poetry. You can learn a lot from other people, but I
just want you to be conscious of the fact that Ely also wrote a poem about
what you're writing, and a better one . And your going into the field and
walking up to the horse already took place in aJim Wright poem, and it's
been imitated a thousand times. " I think you have a duty to a serious young
poet to inform him when you're aware that he's derivative , or overly so, but
on the other hand, we do learn by imitating . You've got to be careful about
it. You just can't say to everybody, "Don't write like that because
somebody else wrote like that, " because then I think that one can develop
an overly heightened desire to write a new poem, a poem nobody else has
written, which can be silly .
Int;
Do you see any particular reasons for the sort of emotional malnutrition
that is published as poetry every year, and for the fact that many young
poets seem
to
have one good book of poetry in them and after that it's all
downhill? Are they lacking a spiritual or emotional depth in their lives? Are
they simply cashing in, bowing out to praise , or what?
Levine;
I'm not aware of it to be honest with you. I don't even know who you
could possibly be referring to.
Int ;
How about James Tate? Although he has his good poems, individual
poems scattered through-
