From here:
None of that bothers Collins, who has continued, since stepping down from the job in 2003, to preach his gospel that poetry ought to be written so that ordinary people can understand and enjoy it.
Poetry oughtn’t to be or do anything. Poets can. Poems can. There is no hadn’t oughter.
I have been accused of being too easy a poet, and I have been accused of being too abstruse. But “easy” and “limp as an old cod” are not synonyms, and Collins is more often accused of the coddishness than just accessibility.
Still, I want to write so that non-poets can read and enjoy it. But to say I ought? Bullshit. There are as many intentions as there are poems, and anyone who’s paying the slightest bit of attention would recognize that.
With thanks to Jilly for the link.
Really? I never thought you were easy. I just always thought how the hell does she do that? then backed away nervously.
Rebecca, if you could only read you with the awe in which I read you, you’d know that, er, I read you with awe.
Somehow, in my head, that sounded much more dramatic.