Garrison Keillor and the Infuriated Critics

Posted on November 12, 2005

When radio host Garrison Keillor published a poetry anthology called Good Poems in 2002, some critics went wild -- with derision. But readers liked the poems and so did some reviewers. The most disdainful critics complained that Keillor's choices were too simplistic and didn't challenge the reader, among other sins. Now Keillor has the temerity to publish a new anthology called Good Poems For Hard Times, which will no doubt inflame yet more passions. David Orr of The New York Times explains:

In the case of Keillor's collection, modestly titled "Good Poems," the trouble came to a head in a rare double review in the April 2004 issue of Poetry magazine. The first review, by Dana Gioia, the poet who is chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, was a reasonable and amiable appraisal that said, in essence, "This book is surprisingly O.K." The second, by the poet August Kleinzahler, was a different story - or as they might say in Lake Wobegon, a whole 'nother pan of casserole. Kleinzahler began by suggesting Keillor be locked in a Quonset hut and tortured to persuade him never again to stray from "Lutheran bake sales" into the Realm of Art. After that, Kleinzahler got mean. He claimed that Keillor "makes no demands on his audiences, none whatsoever." He accused him of "appalling taste," of hosting an "execrable" show, of compiling a "rotten collection," and of having a weird speaking voice ("that treacly baritone, which occasionally releases into a high-pitched, breathless tremolo"). Not content simply to wallop Keillor, Kleinzahler then turned his megaphone on every target within soapbox range, accusing the M.F.A. system of being filled with "dispirited, compromised" mediocrities and asserting that "American poetry is now an international joke." Finally, he said your mama is fat.

Ah, the sweet sound of controversy erupting...over poetry. The more controversy the better, we say. At least they're discussing poetry.