English language poetry suffered two great losses recently, that of Pierre Joris last year and JH Prynne in April.
To me, Pierre Joris was probably then the greatest living American English poet, who, it is amazing to consider, was writing in his fourth language. I am embarrassed to admit I don’t know nearly enough of his work. I first came across him a decade or so ago, as as result of his connection with Luxembourg, at an exhibition organised in the city. On the wall was one of the most powerful poems I have ever encountered. My ignorance is something I intend to correct.*
More recently, the world lost JH Prynne, who, in my opinion, was, until then, the greatest living English language poet. His work was neither facile, light, nor easy, but it was quite extraordinary. To quote myself: “He’s the only poet to whom I respond in the gut, but not in the head … (His) words don’t self–assemble into an understanding…. It’s like how I respond to music.”
I have a particular memory of reading Acrylic Tips, then meeting up with some people in a pub. The intensity of the poetry was so great that my mind was still full of the wash of understanding language differently. I overheard a couple of conversations and was able to predict where they would go, purely on what would be easier to express linguistically—not the ideas, not the subject, but the language itself. This taught me that you can only understand how a people inter–relate if you understand their language, which is why, despite having worked with automatic translation for six years (before it became famous), I believe it far better to learn and use language than a translate app.
Who, IMHO, replaced Prynne as the greatest living English language poet? Well, first of all, I am rather ignorant: there are so many good poets whom I have not read. So, who, IMHO, of those poets whom I have read, could take the mantle–shelf from Prynne? There’s only one name that enters my head, that of one of his students, Keston Sutherland, whose work has stuck with me since I first heard it a couple of decades ago.
I’m out of touch with Sutherland’s recent work, but that is something I also intend to address.*