From a panel discussion on "Pure and Impure Poetry" at the third annual Poets Forum in New York City, Oct. 17, 2009.
Transcript
Jean Valentine: Does anything pure exist?
Lyn Hejinian:In the vernacular, contemporary colloquialisms, people speak of something as 'Pure Poetry,' and usually they mean an athletic achievement—like a great basket, or a great tennis serve, or maybe a pony that gallops around a field and tosses its mane in the wind: pure poetry. And those things exist.
As soon as we say them, they're pure sentimentality, in a way, or fan-dom—Like: "What a great shot!" or "Man, that guy's good. Pure poetry!"
So, do you think there's...?
Valentine: No.
Hejinian: No, good thing. The only chance for humans is in our impurity. All apologies to the saints.
This classic ruled notebook is inscribed with Whitman's poetry: "This hour I tell things in confidence, / I might not tell everybody but I will tell you."
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