Another Letter: Auden

As Snoopy once said - "Even Beagles go off" and I guess it would be fair to say good poets do too, occasionally. Referring to the poem you included as an extra in last week's "Salient" I want to say that as poetry i thought it was pretty crummy. Just because a guy with a name like W.H. Auden wrote it doesn't automatically make it a great piece of literature either. About all it did for one was to provike a vicarious, groin-level experience, which seems to me is the basic appeal of all pornographic work.

With little attempt at metaphor or allegory, Auden describes a fantasy of genitalia and de-facatory pore, which in all its simplicity is little more than crude.

Although Salient staff found it appealing (at the groin level I imagine) some comments I have heard are "What's all this shit!" and "I got bored by the second column." Although I may not use the same words I am inclined to feel the same way. I look forward to seeing some poetry comparable to that which Salient has printed in other years.