Understatement. I'm getting ready for the visit of poet Gerald Stern tomorrow, and I am writing an introduction for his poetry reading. One thing I notice about his work is that it is both wild and imaginative and stunningly understated. In The Dancing he refers very quietly, very respectfully, to one of the most profoundly troubling episodes of human cruelty in history as "that other dancing." This phrase sets up an immensely powerful ending that I will not ruin by naming here. I bring this up because I wonder if our daily web work is likely to be at its best writing big and loud, and if we will often fail to achieve that quieter kind of writing and lose the power and insight made possible through understatement. I wonder if this is a trend we should expect in blogging. [0 & P]