AN HONEST, FIERCE RESPONSE

Dear Editor,

In his review of John Kinsella’s new book of poems, Sack, David McCooey makes an assertion that my review of Kinsella’s The Vision of Error (2013) was written not from a critical literary position but from one based on a ‘long-running dispute’ with Kinsella (ABR, March 2015). My review is an honest, fierce response to what I believe are badly written poems. I made my case clear based on a number of examples, and I explained my stance. The evidence is in the review. I find McCooey’s statement insulting and predictable. My ‘views’, as he calls, them are serious and hard-won, and were applied to the poems, not to some personal agenda with Kinsella. TEXT ran the review because the editors were in no doubt as to the clarity and insightfulness of my response.