KENNETH KOCH
If
love represents and engages the hi ghest feelin gs–
PSR:
T h a t may be more a Wes tern idea than one of ou rs.
79
K:
Maybe so. But your literature, bo th prose and poetry, is almost
exclusively eroti c in content. Surely that-
PSR:
Neither love nor litera ture is an ywhere near the top of o ur
pantheon of va lues. Our hi ghes t, mos t real, and almos t exclusive
concern is All ah , our God. All o ther subj ects and fi elds of concern
are, compared to that, as dry leaves tumblin g down the sides of a
mountain.
K:
And All ah is the mountain ?
PSR:
Yes.
K:
How many different subj ects did you study in each grade of school?
I am talkin g now about school, say, wh en you were ten eleven twelve
thirteen years old?
PSR:
Every term we had seven subj ects.
K:
And of these reli gion was always one-but onl y one?
PSR :
Yes.
K:
Then your education must have seemed to you very wrong, unfair,
disori ented , and as kew. Since relig ion was the main topic-
PSR:
Yo u 're absolutely ri ght. My educa ti on seemed to me as poorl y
balanced , wrong- headed, and superfi cial as the entire culture of
France.
K:
Was poetry taught in your school?
PSR:
We read poetry every year, either in one term or the other. Not for
a who le term however. I would es tima te we spent on poetr y about
one month a yea r.
K:
Did you ever wri te poetry in school?
PSR:
Never.
K:
In Ameri ca a good dea l of tha t is done.
PSR:
So I have heard.
It
is fooli sh.
K:
Why do you say so?
PSR:
Writing poetry has nothin g to do with being in school. In sch ool
one should learn to mas ter one's self and the world and to serve God.
K:
Thank you very much .
Second Il1lervi ew with Pierre Sadi-Ra b-1 2/ 30/ 72
K:
In our last interview you said th a t writing poetr y should not be
done in school because the purpose of bein g in school was
to
learn to
mas ter oneself and the world and to serve God. Do you see no way in
