Poets start with the assumption of an oversignifying reader.... The work of the poet is to contribute a text that will firstly invite such a reading, and secondly reward such a reading. What we're left with is a cultural contract between reader and writer, involving three identifiable and independent stages. A poem is usually (a) written as a poem; (b) presented as a poem; then (c) read as a poem.
—Don Paterson, The Poem
—Don Paterson, The Poem
Sunday, October 07, 2012