What happens to beauty in poems about ugliness?  Are beauty and truth symbiotic, as Keats suggests?  In both autobiographical and imaginative writing, how do poets approach subjects considered outside the tasteful bounds of poetry?  Poems that insist on angry or shameful candor, that reveal disgrace or angst—are they transgressive or “TMI”?  The poets talk about rhetorical, metaphorical, and formal strategies they use to manage thorny subject matter for the overall integrity of the poem.  They address that rare middle ground between a poetics of emotional disconnection and a poetics of self-involvement.  They focus on the ancient strengths and seductions of language (sound, syntax, rhythm, etc.) to make poems rather than expose spillage. Poets: Nancy K. Pearson, Frannie Lindsay, Ellen Doré Watson, Patrick Donnelly. Moderator: Susan Kan.