[Maryann Corbett]

It turns out Stevie Smith's work is very findable online--for example, here. The religious, or should I say anti-religious, poems are thought provoking. I notice that apart from the rhymes the poems are on the unadorned side, getting most of their power from ideas and dramatic situations.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Here is another link to one of my personal favorites, Scorpion.
http://www.artofeurope.com/smith/smi3.htm




Edited in. Also The River God is an excellent example of rhyme without meter. (However, the opening line given by the Guardian [namely, Of the River Mimram in Hertfordshire] is not included in my copy of "Collected Poems". The poem starts with "I may be smelly, and I may be old")

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006...ardianreview30

There is a chapter dedicated to her in "Consorting with Angels: Essays on Modern Women Poets" by Deryn Rees-Jones. I don't know about the availability stateside.

Question. Maryann, what do you mean by "unadorned".

[Maryann Corbett]

I should have said earlier, Andrew, thanks for the pointer to "The Dry Salvages."

Janice, what I mean by "unadorned"--which I wrote when I was looking at "Scorpion"--is that much of the language has a conversational feel, not an elevated, charged feel. I didn't see much in the way of sonic devices other than rhyme, or many figures. "The River God" has a little more in the way of repetition and sound play. But a lot of the tension in the Smith poems I've seen so far comes from the device of a narrator who is, we learn gradually, treacherous or untrustworthy, as the river god is, or contrary to expectation, like the narrator in "Sunt Leones."

[Janice D. Soderling]

As I said previously, the UK mags might be more open to this type of work than the US ones. Here is a link to one such open editor, Jane Holland at Horizon Review

http://www.saltpublishing.com/horizo...eriam_mary.htm

the poem is by Spherian Mary Merriam.

[Maryann Corbett]

Thanks, Janice.

I've put the initial result of my struggles over on Met, for better or worse, though that doesn't mean this discussion has to conclude. Perhaps there'll be more to say after folks after (or while) folks take a few whacks at what I've done.

[Kate Benedict]

[quote=Maryann Corbett;148751Nor can I think of an editor who wouldn't scratch his head over it. [/quote]

Oh, I bet you can think of such an editor if you really tried . . .

[Maryann Corbett]

(Cough, cough.) Clearly I have to be more careful what I say.

I've also been reminded that The Chimaera has published the sort of verse we've been talking about--for example, this one by Chris O' Carroll. That example, I would say, leans in the more humorous direction because of the very long lines.