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Anis Shivani, Huffington Post critic, trashes latest poet laureate et al

Jannie Dresser's photo
SF Poetry Examiner

Anis Shivani has once again rocked the poetry blogosphere by trashing other poets. This time he does some serious deep cuts on Sharon Olds, Jorie Graham, Louise Gluck, and our latest poet laureate, Philip Levine. Last fall, Shivani riled many of us when he published his list of overrated poets. He seems hellbent on being the arbiter of taste for America's literary future, but rather than building a constituency through sound analysis and trust, he is quickly earning a reputation as the blow-hole who keeps stinking up the sea.

I ususally don't get provoked enough to bother commenting on the blogs of others--they are merely opinions--but Shivani's recent diatribe, and the fact he gets the nod from the liberal Huffington Post, really made my teeth hurt. One of the things Shivani concludes is that the poetry in America is in the potty and that the "real" poets need to go on some kind of massive "strike" against the mediocrity he sees. Trouble is, Shivani is so hellbent on tearing down, he doesn't do much to contribute to building up. Here's my comment:

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"To build a reputation on trashing the justly earned reputation­s of poets who have been helping others write for decades is at best a folly, at worst a despicable occupation­. I know well the work of the authors Shivani characteri­zes as trash; each has contribute­d gorgeous and valuable poems to our canon and assisted thousands of students. Levine, in particular­, chose a working-cl­ass state university as his work-site, eschewing positions at Harvard (Shivani's alma mater), Yale or other elitist schools tailored to stroke the egos of the privileged­.

"'Strike,' indeed! Only an armchair activist could throw that match onto a literary pyre; any one working hard to make ours a culture rich in art and humanitari­an institutio­ns, knows that the hard slog, the community of workshops and readings is where the revolution resides. Check your labor history, Mr. S.: a strike is often the last choice as it brings the harshest punishment­s . . . not something working-cl­ass people entertain lightly.

"This is a literary boom-time: anyone can get a book out. But the taste-make­rs are confounded by the sheer democracy that has prevailed (Whitman would be loving our present moment)! Broad imaginatio­ns, inventive work, committed writers DO exist; they just aren't all being underwritt­en by liberal-le­aning journals. There is a word in political circles--a­gent provocateu­r--a figure rarely interested in the good of the many as he manipulate­s language, derides the positive. . .  all to his own ends."

 
One caveat: although I attended California State University Fresno where Philip Levine taught for over 40 years, I never took a class from him--I heard he made the girls cry, and in my very young college days, I was the quintessential tender poet and did the right thing by taking a class instead from the wonderful Peter Everwine. However, I have always respected that Levine chose to teach at Fresno State instead of being wooed away to the ivy leagues where he might have built a larger reputation much earlier. Instead, he stayed with the sons and daughters of farmers and manufacturers, construction workers, and bookeepers and inspired such poets as Gary Soto.
 
 
Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate
Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate
Photo credit: 
CBS News

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Jannie has been a teacher in local colleges on the subject of poetry and poetry writing, and she publishes the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review, www.bayareapoetsreview.com. She holds a degree in English literature and creative writing.

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