(From Silliman – Sept. 14, 2007) Younger poets today I think have more of an opportunity of learning from all worlds without having to sign up & pick sides. And that in turn will itself impact how writing gets done, going forward.

This is what I mean when I refer to the Millennial School. If you ever hear this term, and I doubt that you will hear it anywhere other than from me, you should know that the new poetry is all it’s own. I agree with Silliman in his prognosis. There is no need to say “I am a member of this group” or “I prefer that group over there.” Poetry should be a studied art, not an impulsive one. That means poets should endeavor to read everyone and to learn from everyone – contemporaries as well as classics.

When I refer to Mellennial poets, I am referring to poets who study Donne and incorporate elements of his verse alongside the elements that can be found in Bukowski and Ginsberg and along with the elements of Ignatow and Padgett. I am not speaking specifically. I am speaking in the general sense; that is, poets should study all schools of poetry and the various movements and mix and mash the elements from them all into their own brands. Instead of copying the style of others, the true poet studies them so that he can borrow elements with which he feels an affinity and pair them up with elements of other schools and styles with which he feels a similar affinity. That is how new movements begin and how old movements stay alive.

Silliman’s great analysis of Graham Foust’s poem is a great example of how poets should study one another. It is in that analysis that we learn how to succeed and fail in poetry. Do you analyze to that level of detail in your workshops? You should.