Letter from Poetry Magazine



	
Letter to the Editor



	

			
Letter to the Editor
		




	

		
	
					by  W. E. Butts 			





	
	

				Dear Editor,



David Orr's review of Robert Wrigley's Lives of the Animals (August, 2004) is not only regrettable for its weighted cynicism, but grossly misrepresents the work of one of our essential poets. Orr's comment that Wrigley's aesthetic "has to do with primitive carnal urges and actions" seems to imply that such issues are not acceptable subject matter for poetry. One wonders what other concerns would be added to Orr's list as inappropriate. What is most inexcusable, however, is the reviewer's dismissal of the book's richly textured title poem by carelessly citing stanzas, which he claims are "representative," out of context. Orr's disservice here to the potential reader is that he wrongly trivializes what's at stake in Wrigley's poetry. Lives of the Animals compels us to examine our human vulnerability, and in doing so discover our inherent dignity. David Orr has failed to recognize this intricacy.		
Manchester, New Hampshire
	


	

		Originally Published: October 30, 2005	


	
		
		

	
		

			
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This prose originally appeared in the October 2004 issue of Poetry magazine


		
			

				
						October 2004
				
			

			
		

			
		


		

			
		


	








	
		
	
	





	



	
		

	
		

		
		


		
				
		
	


			
Originally appeared in Poetry magazine.

		
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