To Start With, Feel Fortunate

To Begin With, Feel Fortunate was written in part in the chaotic year running up to the election of the new president and is a passionate analysis of how we got to where we are as a nation, and what may be in store for us. As Peter has said in an interview, “You have to remember that even the poets who live in garrets are citizens, and I urge them to use their voices and partake in the actual goings-on of our country.” Like William Meredith, who was a good friend in the old days, Meinke’s work is not written from the ivory tower. Like Meredith, he feels writers and intellectuals have an obligation to speak the truth and shame the devil. And if poetry and prose are to be useful in our lives, they must first of all be honest or otherwise risk being merely window dressing in a fancy American living room. Critics have argued that poetry fails to the exact extent it attempts to be didactic. And though he is a teacher and has lived to see much change in this country, Meinke’s work does not attempt to preach. It’s the voice of a really nice guy you’d like to have a beer with at the local pub to hash out whatever you have on your mind: the world series, the future of the stock market, the state of the union. He would never consider his fellow citizens “deplorable” and admires the hardworking, middle-class as well as poets who celebrate their life, like Philip Levine and yes, Bob Dylan.