Poetics: Dead Kitten and Emergent

Seven years later, I finally bump into the discussion of “Dead Kitten Poetics” in Kasey Mohammad’s blog. It’s a fascinating discussion, and, despite how it seems, it’s not actually very snarky towards Oliver:

1. Dead Kitten Poetics Pt. 1: Mary Oliver’s “The Kitten”
2. Dead Kitten Poetics Pt. 2: Ineptitude?
3. Dead Kitten Poetics Pt. 3: Unworkshopability
4. Dead Kitten Poetics Pt. 4: Cat & Mouse
5. Dead Kitten Poetics Pt. 5: Beating a Dead Kitten

It’s not my first time to read Mohammad’s blog entries, I’ve just realized. I’ve read all three of his January 2006 entries, for instance, on three separate occasions, without realizing they were written one after the other. (Great reading, by the way.)

I also like his post about borrowing the language of Raymond Williams to use “Emergent Poetics” as a label, but mostly because he links to Jane Dark’s blog entry on it.