Back at my laptop again…and is there ever such a thing as reading too much poetry?

Yes, getting back into the old swing of things here, wrote a poem, sent out a couple of subs, edited my third manuscript a little more. Caught up on phone calls, e-mails. Now I’ve got an editing project, and an article to follow up on, and must stock the shelves with groceries again.

Hope I’m not flamethrowing: How many poetry books constitute too many?

Read an article today at the Poetry Foundation where Paisley Rekdal complains about how arduous it is to read five books of poetry a week. I’ve met Paisley, who was very sweet and an intelligent thoughtful feminist type, so I hope that what I’m saying doesn’t seem like I’m putting her down. I guess I don’t consider it a “chore” at all to read five books of poetry a week, and it seems like a bad idea to say to poets -“well, it’s hard work to read poetry so just give up.” I’ve had months where I’ve read ten to twenty books in a week, on average, and some of those were big books of criticism and essays, so I can’t say five books of poetry a week seems like too much work. Five books is an easy week for me, especially if it’s all poetry, which tends to take less time than other genres. I’m a fast reader (I credit being dyslexic, because I had to learn to read whole words, sometimes phrases, at a time, since individual letters would turn around on me) the caveat being that I probably retain less than I should, and the one exception is when I’m reading to review: that means more dogears, underlining, re-readings, so I’m a little slower. To be honest, I’m not crazy about reviewing, selfishly, because it robs me of the freedom to just enjoy whatever I’m reading, I have to hunt down the details of where and when and why, in short, I must become a journalist of poetry, instead of a consumer, and a little of the magic gets lost. When I read for inspiration, it’s faster, from one illuminating poem, skimming a few duller ones, to the next one that lights up the pinball machine in my head. But usually I pick up a book and read the whole thing at a time, to the end, front to back, like a novel. And like a novel in which a chapter or two are boring, sometimes I skip to the end. And if I run into a book of poetry I don’t like, I’ll try to look at the organization or the layout or other creative aspects I can learn from, try to understand the author’s intent. Mmmm. That happens a lot, maybe half the time.
Right now I have a stack (half that I’m looking forward to, and half that – well, I’ll just have to work to get through) of books beside the laptop waiting for reviews. I just heard great things on my trip from Mary B. about Nin Andrews two books, so I’ll have to grab one of those soon too. And I’m looking forward to whenever Ms. Atwood’s new book comes out in the States. Then on top of that every time I go to the library and come back with armfuls of books on Japanese folk legends or feminist fairy tale theory (my pet subjects right now,) then I start all of them at once, and publishers send me random new releases…you can see why I’m constantly moving books in and out of the house, along with boxes of literary (and other) magazines.
Maybe some of this difference in reading quantities is accounted for by these things: I work freelance at all hours of the day and night, and reading fits around my schedule really well. There are no children at home here, just the husband and cats, and the occasional friend or two. I’m also an incurable insomniac, so it’s either reading or Adult Swim after midnight. And, reading has never been “homework” for me – I’ve always loved reading more than playing outside or shopping or anything else, even when I was really young. Glenn and I listen to books on tape when we’re stuck in traffic, usually not poetry, stuff like “Freakonomics” or some literary fiction I’ve heard good things about but seems a little slow in print. So I get to read more than someone with a “normal” job and “normal” family, I bet. I spend a lot more time reading than writing, for sure, even writing for work. I also spend a LOT of time in doctor’s offices, which is kind of a bummer, but you can get a lot of reading done there. You can only spend so much time with Allure before you turn to something a little more engaging, and poetry is often what I carry around with me (it’s light!)
So how many books of poetry a week for you? None? Two? Five? Ten? How does your lifestyle affect what you read? Do you even like reading poetry? Does it seem boring, like too much work? Maybe this is part of the problem of no one buying poetry, all of these books of poetry and people, even practicing and teaching poets, are reading one or two books a month, or even one or two books every four to six months. Or maybe none at all, like the New York poet Paisley cites in her article.
Seems like this is maybe the dirty secret of poetry: poets are writing but not reading. I say, if you think poetry reading is a chore, maybe you shouldn’t be adding to the chores of others. Or, spoken more positively – if you want others to read your poetry, please read the poetry of others.
This is your poetry service public lecture. And remember kids, reading can be fun!