briefly to lament the passing of Hotel Point. I realize that the style employed there can be parodied and satirized, but you'd have to do the same with Dahlberg and Riding. it is writing trained in the weight of its express. the writing involves a conscious imperative to form a landscape, say, in which words are particular and extravagant. all 3 writers have moments of intense focus. think of Melville, Keats, Dickinson so embued with the Bible or Shakespeare, rocked by that. Latta writes with a strange luminosity that is a matter of study and effort, not mere come hithers to the Muse. if O'Hara were just come-hithering, we'd've seen far fewer poems of interest from him. O'Hara wasn't just charismatic, or Personistic, he specifically trained himself as to what an O'Hara poem is. he was also able to let that go, in the sense of not sanctifying his productions with career intent but stuffing them in a drawer. Jack Kerouac's self-ultimate, perhaps, but I am not an expert on O'Hara. I never studied him, really, fearing I'd slide into imitation, I read him to enjoy, uncritically. and my point is simply a notation about the intention and effort of writing. Shanna Compton's note below about how she wrote the poem I praised is just the sort of poem talk I want to hear. John Latta's blog writing involved his process. I understand the desire to pull away from the messy public productions of the blogosphere, I'm wary of my own need to be seen thus, but I'll miss his contributions. but remember I love you all!!!