I rarely think of myself as being influenced by particular poets so much as I think of myself as being influenced by particular poems. I rarely think of the poets themselves as entities. In fact, the flesh and blood entity that produced the poem is fairly irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Whatever the societal transgressions said entity perpetrates are between said entity and the society in question, to be resolved as is the custom of that society. How this manifests itself in the work is irrelevant, since, we needn't assume that any given piece of writing is "true" or "autobiographical," or that it is the author's fleshly voice. Insofar as a work stands in for an author metonymically we can think of these works as specters of the author, but what sins can a book commit? A work of literature cannot change or influence society, it can only change or influence people who in turn change or influence society, and it is more or less impossible to assess how any given work will affect a person. Gerard Manley Hopkins inspires me to want to smash the state moreso than Ginsberg et. al. ever did. I find politically-motivated work charming, and I enjoy it, but it is quixotic. I for one an enamoured of the quixotic, but to insist that every writer/person/whoever participate in that quixoticism is utterly preposterous.

I enjoy the "Four Quartets" and "Murder in the Cathedral," but not so much the "Wasteland," or much other Eliot for that matter. With Pound it is even more individual: particular poems, particular Cantos. Do these people influence me? Not really, or at least not this afternoon. Stan Brakhage influences me, Louise Brooks influences me, Matthew Shipp influences me, "Space Invaders" influences me, Bruce Andrews influences me, Longfellow influences me, Madonna influences me, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum, by 5:00 PM next Friday, this list will most likely have changed drastically...

OK this is my opening song and dance. A more coherent piece with footnotes will appear later lest it be said that I'm merely shooting from the hip here...