12.03.2008

Crisp, sad

with a small step out
she realised that the cold
would always be there.

There are a few things to share today.

One is this fantastic interview with Billy Collins. This interview manages to cover most of the things you would ever want to ask a former poet laureate.

It also gives us this qoute:

"The reason I said that poets don't need to develop is tied up with the idea of the persona. While I don't much like the expression "finding your voice, " my sense is that the important breakthrough moment for a poet is when he or she has developed a kind of character through which he or she can speak with ease. This character -- or persona -- resembles the poet in many ways but is clearly a refinement of the actual person. Your persona is your better. And what marks that discovery of a character is the conviction on the poet's part -- and subsequently, we would hope, on readers' parts -- that this character is different from all other poetic characters, at least in some small way."

This is, without question, why I love Craig Finn and why The Hold Steady has managed to ruin Music for me. Other genres, past works, are still open for discussion and widely appreciated and beloved. But new Rock and Roll - new gritty, bar band, booze fueled, aggression laden intelligent rock... this seems to be it. What else is there? Show it to me and I promise to believe, whole heartedly in the revolution. Until then, I worship at the altar of Craig Finn,

and I will forever

Stay Positive.