hthr fllr is the author of the titles below. At StartleResponse.com, she pairs noteworthy artistic / scholarly achievements with aspects of lifestyle or pleasure based on the theory that art / craft can’t persevere in a vacuum. She lives in Carolina Beach, NC, and works as a cardiac RN.
APOLOGIA: I have stretches of ambivalence about a poet’s self-appointed role as analyst of “the culture.” I’m not an expert in anything political, legal or cultural. However, I have arrived at a certain poet-ethos, and I feel it’s an ethos with which poets like Carol Mirakove and Laura Elrick identify: If something really bothers me (e.g., Dick Cheney’s heart, dog fighting, athleisure, lambic, etc.), I dredge up all the intel I can in relation to it. Attain some depth of knowledge. Be the person who could argue fine points with folk such as Karl Rove or Michael Vick’s attorney. Be a citizen. As Henry Fool in the eponymous film said, a poet has to be able to contemplate anything.
Hthr Fllr, RN
