On Being Misunderstood, Part 3

Tony wrote:

There is a growing group of poets who position themselves outside the mainstream poetry establishment but who are also unsatisfied with existing accepted models of comportment, poetics, distribution, and so forth. We identify with much of the thinking and methods of the so-called "post-avant" but turn our noses up at the sterility of so much of the poetry being written (and praised) outside of the mainstream. We want our poetry to have soul. We want to read writes with soul, wit, and feeling.

We use process as a means to an end. The end is the poem as act of communication. Process in itself is seldom interesting.

Or at least *I* think these things. Other New Sincerists can chime in at will.

I'm chiming in to concur with the above and explain why I consider myself to be a new sincerist.

On occasion my poems (and me for that matter) have been considered insincere. Since I am sometimes naive to the minds and thinkings of others, this always shocks me. This especially haunted me last year when I wrote a poem for a new friend. He responded saying he was "searching and searching for traces of the jaded but it appeared sincere."

That fucking hurt my feelings. I never did or said anything that would lead him to think I'd write something insincere. Least of all for him. Yes I tease people, yes I make smart remarks, yes, sometimes I use sarcasm, yes I sometimes use humor or "wit" in my poetry, but I am never insincere. If I'm teasing you, I probably like you and I think the way I tease it is pretty obvious I'm not being mean. I was teased mercilessly in elementary and middle school and you know what? Those kids sincerely loved me!

But clearly it's not obvious to some people. Neither in my work or with me.

For over a year I've been trying my best to be conscious of this in both my writing and my actions. I know I contribute to this misunderstanding, but also the current climate of poetry contributes to this. People expect insincerity and are often suspicious when they're given something that's not. So they "search and search" for insincerity because they find it such a leap to believe someone is offering a little geniune feeling.

So I am being obvious and direct. My poetry is sincere. Yes, my poems really do feel that way. Sometimes I do too.

You got a problem with that?