Page Six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, June 15, 1968
Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, June 15, 1968
Pop,
By ELIZABETH WISSM
Mind's Country, by Ba
LeBost. Villiers, $2.9.
The Liverpool Scene, e
Edward Lucie-Smith. D
day. $, 195.
Cables to the Ace, by T
as Merton. New Dire
$1.25.
Among these three vo
are to be found at least th
oretic poles of much conte]
ary poetry. There is, atpr
no visible domination of E:
verse by a single school, d
the feverish imitators of I
and Ginsberg. And, of c
there need be no unified
"front". Few universal
have survived the centur
aesthetic dispute since Ar
createdhhis confident P
About the onlY norm whic
been retained so far is th
cessity 'that a work o
achieve its own unique o
ous and objective identit
etry makes various use of
eric mechanisms to achiev
end: imagery and rhythm
rative and symbolism, rh
and rhyme. Each of thes
vices has been successfull
fended or abandoned.,
The failure, then, of t
the three collections here,
the result of technical neci
Rather, the poetry simply
not have that palpable ind
dence of the author whi
call "beauty", or "form".
Liverpool Scene makes ak
attempt at novelty. But
its claim to 'Pop original
forced.
In physical design alone
Liverpool Scene reeks of
tutnism. Ringo _Starr in
shorts is the frontispiece,
a masive hyperbole from
Ginsberg adorns the back
"Liverpool is at the presen
ment the center of the c
ousness of the human univ
Judging by the contents
universe is a terrifying
namnbulist indeed.
Eight poets are represen
he anthology, but the m
he work~has been done by3
0cGough , Adrian Henri an
,n Patten. The poets share
lency toward adolescent r
,lthough Patten is the only
ine adolescent among them
4though many of thei
night be ornamented b
vholesome thud of a hard
ack-beat, few of them ha
iecessary rhythmic assuriti
'Ian Henri's "In the Mid
atour" is a squeamish ec
Otis Redding's song.
When we meet
In the midnight hour
country girl
I will bring you nightflow
coloured like your eyes
In the moonlight
in the midnight
hour.....M
Roger McGough is capa
puick, irreverent humor a
expense of "Civilization":
the buildings had bie
the roads ran away
Buses grew hairs in the
private places ... ,
But he is plagued, like his
authors, with the need to b
versational. One misses,
this Pop rhetoric, the aut
city derived from a more c
pot pourri,
[AN observation of the rhythm of the techni
streets. There is none of the cra- fyingc
rbara ckle of joyfully invented idiom cal if
(e.g., "Sock it to me"). There is armed
d. by hardly a stray cuss word. And in electri
ouble- all, the fabled "Mersey Beat" Usin
hom-emerges with all the sticky nos- telega
ho-talgia of the Old Mill Stream. is able
etions. In almost premeditated opposi- tic Und
tion to this Pop Poetry stands the Eac
rlues work of 'Barbara Le Bost, Mind's Eacl
lumes Country. The collection is a dis-
e the-creet, posthumous production e
eso- from "A previously academic The c
Igli sh writer." But Miss Le Bost's abun- of sub
espite- dant theory is as fatal to her to cre
Lwell poetry as the popular nostalgia. stuffe
ourse, Her vocabulary is expansive, but music
poetic hardly more precise or evocative. ness o
Laws Rather, one notices the cretinous witho
Ies of Power of a word which. masks which
istotle and'encapsulates sense, placing the pe
oetic. images in sterile isolation one lackin
h has from the other. tioned
e ne- The bridge through the mirror neithe
f art Is hidden in gesture. logy,'
ensu- Neither word nor fear idiom.
Y. PO- Will find the fissure is capa
gen- In the tissue of memory on th
e this Torn by flesh in silence. presen
, nar- Miss LeBost's volume is, ap-
etoric propriately, dominated by mind.
;e de- But often, this is to the exclusion
y de- of the, other poetic faculties. As
with individual words, so her
wo of structures tend to form a rigid
is not exoskeleton through which faint
essity. pulsing can be heard.
does
epen- no exact or nearly even precise
ch we explanation neither definition
The would suffice
gaudy to fully entertain
even the somehow maniacal
ity is the somehow saintly
qualities of passion
, Th she states. It is an ironic self-
poer- commentary.
whie If you will proceed quickly past
w eAllen the bristling prologue, Thomas'
over: Merton's Cables to the Ace will
t mo- reveal itself {as a unified and am-
onsci- ply communicative poem of many
erse" poems. He shares the concrete
s, the repugnance of the Liverpool po-
ets for civilized and sanitized _
som- beauty, opening with:
ted in lament of Ortega. The crowd
ass of has. revolted. Now there are
Roger ..bathrooms everywhere. Life is
d Bri- exempt from every restric-
a ten- tion!
every,
gen- But Merton's irony is pointilis-
. And tic, gathering itself into anomy
poems and horror through the subtle
y the addition of detail.
rock The collection ispatterned,
ve the loosely, on William Blake's "Mar-
y. Ad- riage of Heaven and Hell" in its
night free interplay between sections
ho of of prose and lyric. But Merton
is a poet of lucid rhetoric, rather
than of Blake's zealousvision.
The volume is no allegory, but'
G almost a musical design of theme
and variation. Merton begins
ers with a veiled description of the
past
D~kb~Sbosok ol
que to be employed, "Edi-
cables can be made musi-
played and sung by full-
societies doomed to an
ic war."
ng the rigid economy of a
-m for his pattern, Merton
le to create with apocalyp-
derstatement:
h nominal conceit
l be shot down by an
Jectric eye.
central irony in this "hive
tleties" is Merton's attempt
ate lyricism otit of the very
which smothers modern
. It is his delicate aware-
f his medium, his intimacy
the word to be employed,
gives to Cables to the Ace
eculiar density of expression
ig in the two volumes men-
* above. He is fearful of
er the heights of epistemo-
nor the depths of common
. And, at moments, Merton
able of dwelling at once up-
e present and the Omni-
It.
A
declaration(of i
n terdependence
By STEPHEN FIRSHEIN
Toward a Democratic Left, by Michael Harrington.
MacMillan, $5.951
With the prospect of a Nixonhumphrey in the
White House come January, Michael Harrington's vi-
sion of a new America reminds me of the Dionne War-
wick tune, "Window-Wishing". Harrington's program
for the rejuvenation of our terribly lopsided society-
a program which would have been met with skepticism
anyway-now seems totally fanciful in light of last
week's assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy.
For Toward a Democratic Left, inasmuch as it is
not merely an indictment against many facets of con-
temporary America, but an outline for action, must be
judged by harsher rules than most other books on so-
cial science.' The criteria are not whether the work is
interesting, well-argued, or shocking, although these
ingredients are requisite; they are rather whether the
book will be effective in its stated purpose of inciting
the public to action. 1968 is a bad year for making pre-
dictions, but f would bet that Harrington's book will
be cdnsigned to mothballs for a goodly number of years.
And Harrington will find himself watching more gov-
ernmental floundering in the fields of urban affairs,
education, military commitments abroad, ad infinitum.
It's really a shame, because his book provides a
framework for significant, yet non-violent change
within a society that definitely needs change. In con-
cise, compelling prose, he first diagnose$ the ills of pre-
sent-day America, often using the federal government's
own statistics, next constructs a vision for the future,
and then presents practical means for implementation.
Always reasonable, always willing to look at a subject
from both sides, always to concede weaknesses in his
own position, Harrington nevertheless manages to con-
vey a sense of controlled outrage and of urgency.
The author, who might be termed a social demo-
crat, realizes of course that his vision of a reconstructed
society' requires a large investment in time, as well as
human resources and cash: for example, his estimate
for the elimination of poverty is something on the order
of 20 years. Which should make it pretty obvious that
we don't have too much time to piddle around before
we start a massive campaign to insure everybody a
minimum standard of living-I hesitate to use the term
"war on poverty", for reasons obvious to anybody hip
to the Great Society sham.
Since Harrington's proposals depend on the forging
of a new majority party in this country, composed of
the socially deprived and the socially concerned, we
must ask ourselves whether it is likely that this coali-
tion can be effected before it is too late (I assume that
at some future date our blessed luck will run out, and
things will begin to go downhill, if they haven't al-
ready). As it stands presently, not only do we have to
lispense with (that's an understatement) the Vietnam
War, but we also have to cope with an increasingly re-
actionary mood of the country, manifested in many
ugly, diverse ways. That is, we must first get rid of this
impedimentia non-violently and through political chan-
nels before we can even begin the great work ahead of -
us.
Harrington's faith in majoritarian politics differs
from the strategy presented by the members of the
New Left, whose call for violent revolution by the op-
pressed brings shivers to many a New Dealer. But Har-
rington sharply diverges from'these very same apostles 1
of FDR and LBJ, those "utilitarian pragmatists" (the
phrase is his) who believe that "This country is a{
blessedly unideological land where elections are nat-
urally won at the Center rather than on the Right or
Left (by people who believe) in the assumption -that
the world has been benevolently created, that the so-
lutions 'to the problems of revolutionary technological,
economic and social change are invariably to be dis-
covered in the middle of the road." Come, let us reason
together or, rather, come let us boggle together.
To Harrington, it is necessary to tear down some of
the sacrosanct economic oracles which have excluded so
large a sector of our people from their benefits.
The notion that economically profitable invest-
ments by business somehow automatically maximize
the public welfare, that a spiraling GNP means the
country is healthy, must be discarded in favor of a te-
definition of economics. There must be a social determ-
ination of what is economic, deliberately "unprofitable"
investment in human beings in order to increase the'
equality of the society. Building homes for the poor is
not profitable from the point of view of a corporate
investor because it does not provide a high enough rate:
of return on capital. But to the social investor in Har-
rington's society, poverty is enormously costly in terms
of risks of crime, riots, disease, and the fear instilled
in the well-off who are afraid to walk the streets at
night. Most importantly, poverty is costly in terms of
the wasted human talent which might be able to make
positive contributions if given the opportunity.
In short, business must be "tamed" again, although
in a different way than in the trust-busting era at the
turn of the century. For the democratic left will have
to contend with more entrenched networks of corporate
power. We are all familiar with one of these networks,
the military-industrial complex, but Harrington goes
beyond and identifies another species, the social-indus-
trial complex,I
Whereas the former bases itself on a permanent
war economy and a huge military establishment; the
social-industrial complex relies on contracts stemming
from the Great Society, i.e. in the business of social
causes. This "sudden outburst of corporate conscience"
alarms Harrington, who is rightly convinced that satis-
fying social needs and making money have often prov-
ed tcw be distinctly hostile activities.
NEXT WEEK
Because of the semester break, there will be no
Book Page next week. On the following Saturday,
June 28, the Book Page will_ feature Daniel Okrent
on Walter Goodman's "The Committee," and Fritz
Lyon on a few books of the theater.
Government itself must become more responsive to
the needs of the people, must undertake huge rehabili-
tation projects in response to crying deficiencies in the
society, must guarantee everyone a minimum standard
of living. The President shall give a report on the fu-
ture to- the nation, and- wide discussion shall actually
be sought out in all levels of government. In short,
what is /heeded is a vast expansion of democracy and
a re-ordering of the nation's priorities.
The nation must move away from' the New Deal
federalism' which has characterized its responses to
problems for some 35 years or, If you like, for'the past
five years. A renascence of local government shall pro-
vide for more individuated responses to more immediate
problems.
This calls for the consolidation into effective re-
gional governing units the hodge-podge of overlapping
lbcal, municipal, and county agencies--an 80 percent
reduction in the number. of local governing bodies ac-
cording to a\ recent report. This is clearly relevant to
the central problem of how to get democratic partici-
pation into najtional economic planning.
Woven into this overview of the society are inter-
esting specifics: a peace-time equivalent of the GI
Bill, guaranteeing the means to an education for the
talented yet "underprivileged;" an, ROTC for social
service, taken from a Kingman Brewster speech; a
conscious effort on the part of government to insure
the privacy of its citizens.
This domestic blueprint occupies the first two-
thirds of the book, and is more impressive in scope
than the succeeding discussion on America and the
rest of the world. Without deprecating Harrington's
arguments in favor of a new foreign policy, his ideas on
extricating ourselves from Asia, and of providing fav-
ored treatment to the "underdeveloped nations" in'the
world market are not novel. His most valuable contri-
bution in this section is the portrayal of the United
States as an "almost-imperialist," that does not con-
sciously and evilly exploit the peoples of the world,
but a country trapped, in a sense, by its own myth as
a do-gooder. Harrington contends, and gives' data to
support his argument, that the United States, with $1.3
trillion in corporate assets, can afford to lose the $16
billion in capital in Asia, Africa and Latin America
without facing'an internal crisis.
Totally, a compelling vision for a new society-
but can it be attained, and will it work? The prerequi-
site, i.e. the formation of a majority party which be-
lieves in this vision, will be attained, Barrington as-
serts, by a fusion of the poor, the Negroes, the socially
conscious middle class, the liberals, the new class of
technocrats who really have no loyalty to the current
setup, and the union members, especially the teachers.
Whether Harrington will ever witness this unlikely
combination is a moot point; I suppose it wouldn't be
any more incredible than the components of the pre-
sent-day Democratic) Party. What worries me is the
tendency for the country to move away from the ten-
dency not only to continue on the same tired tack, but
actually regless 'as the complexities of the modern
world. ,
V
i
;
Beig ;hip
ble of
t the
oughs
host
fellow
e con-
in aU
benti-
areful
/ :1
Our designer
came home from
London with
WORSHIP
MISTER$
FAMILY RESTAURANT
" HAMBURGERS TREASURE CHET
" CONEY ISLANDS i
" JUMBOYS
SPEEDY SERVICE
CARRY-OUT SPECIALISTS
NO WAITING - PLENTY
of PARKING
INSIDE SEATING OR
EAT IN YOUR CAR
OPEN 11 AM DAILY
662-0022-
3325 WASHTENAW RD.
ANN ARBOR
2 BLKS. W. of ARBORLAND
;
a Beatle haircut,
a cricket bat,
I
a case of kipper;.s,
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
On the Campus-
Corner State and William Sts.
Terry N. Smith, Minister
Ronald C. Phillips, Assistant
Summer Worship Service at 10:00 am.,
Sermon topic: "The Lonely Greatness of
the World"
Church School through Sixth Grade.
HURON HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH
Presently meeting at the YM-YWCA
Affiliated with the Baptist General Conf.
Rev. Chcyles Johnson
761-6749
9:30 am.--Coffee.
9:45 a.m.-U Fellowship Bible Discussion.
11,:00 a.m.-"The Seminarians," Bethel The-
ological Seminary
7:00 p.m.-"Personality Development
through Father's Loving Discipline"
8:30 pm.-College and Careers Fellowship
and refreshments
UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHAPEL
(The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod)
0fred T. Scheips, Pastor
1511 Washtenaw
Sunday at 9:45 a~m.--Service, sermon by Pas-
tor Scheips, "The Search for Security",
Luke 12:13-21
Wednesday at 10:00 p.m.-Student led de-,
votion.
ST. ANDREW'S EPSICOPAL CHURCH
306 N. Division
8:00 a.m.-Holy Communion.
9:00 a.m.-Holv Communion and Sermon.
11:00 a.m.-Morning Prover and Sermon.
7:00 p.m,-Evening Prayer.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Phone 662-4466
1432 Washtenaw Ave.
Ministers: Ernest T. Campbell, Malcolm G.
Brown, John W. Waser, Harold S. Horan
SUNDAY
Worship at 9:00. 0:30 a.m., and 12:00 noon.
Presbyterian Campus Center located at the
Church.
PACKARD ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH
Southern Baptist Convention
1 131Church St.,
761-0441
Rev. Tom Bloxam'
9:45 a.m.-Sunday School.
1 1 :00 a.m.-Morning Worship.
6:30 p.m.-Training Unit'n.
7:30 p.m.-Evening Worship.
ST. AIDEN'S EPISCOPAL CHAPEL
(North Campus)
1679 Broadway
9:00 a.m.-Morning Prayer and Holy Com-
munion.-.
11:00 a.m.-Coffee in the lounge.
CAMPUS CHAPEL
1236 Washtenow'
DonaldWPostemo, Minister
10:00 a.m.-Morning worship service. Ser-
mon: "Drugs and the Holy Spirit"
11:00 a.m.-Coffee in the lounge
5:30 p.m.-Sunday night supper
7:00 p.m.-Two plays by Charles Williams:
"The House by The Stable" and "Grab
and Grace." Service at Ann Arbor Chris-
tian Reformed Church, 1717 Broqdway.
For transportation call 662-2402.
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST,
SCIENTIST
1833 Washtenow Ave.
SUNDAY
10:30 a.m.-Worship Services. Sunday School
UNIVERSITY REFORMED CHURCH
1001 East Huron
Phone 662-3153
Ministers: Calvin S. Malefyt, Paul Swets
General Synod Reformed Church in America
9:30 a.m.-Church School
10:30 a.m.-"A New Acceptance," Rev.
Paul Swets
7:00 p.m.-"The Promise of the New,"
Rev. Paul Swnts
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH AND
WESLEY FOUNDATION
At State and Huron Streets
Phone 662-4536
Hoover Rupert, Minister
Eugene Ransom, Campus Minister .
Bartlett Beavin, Associate Campus Minister
SUNDAY
9:00 and 11:15 a.m.-Worship Services.
"Inescapable Decisions", Dr. Rupert
LUTHERAN STUDENT CENTER
AND CHAPEL
National Lutheran Council
Hill St. at S. Forest Ave.
Rev. Donald Kopplin, Pastor
SUNDAY
10:30: a.m.--Worship 'Service.
1,
READ
'BOOKS'
every
Saturday
0l
and an idea
Because as soon as he got back-in a fever of crea-
tivity, he began designing the Bounder.
He made it bi-ash and dashing-like a Lon-
don ankle boot. He made it rugged and supple,
soft and durable-like a moccasin.
And when he finally revealed the Bounder
to us, it was just that-half a moccasin, half an
ankle boot.
With top grain leather from ankle to heel
to hand-sewn toe. A buckle or twin eyelets. And
BETHLEHEM UNITED
CHURCH OF CHRIST
423 S. Fourth Ave.
Telephone 665-6149
Pastors: E. R. Klaudt, Armin C.
W. C. Wright
BIZar,
9:30 and 10:45 a.m.-Wor'ship Services.
9:30 and 10:45 a.m.-Church School.
CANTERBURY HOUSE.
'330 Maynard
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
W. Stadium at Edgewood
I
tl
,