Q. I was recently introduced to an extremely attractive man
whom I would like to get to know better. He is a quite well-known poet and, following our first meeting, he sent me a couple of slim volumes through the post. I have studied them at length. However, I am not sure that I quite understand what he is getting at. Neither could I say with any sincerity that I actually 'enjoyed' the works that much. I am soon going to meet this attractive man again as we have both been invited to stay in the same house-party for a weekend. Please help me, Mary. I am worried that our relationship will never get off the ground. If! say the wrong thing when he asks for my opinion of his work, he may conclude that we are incompatible.
Name and address withheld A. Why not simply sidestep the issue of whether you understood or enjoyed the work by learning great chunks of it by heart? Then, each time he asks you for a critique, you can respond by saying, 'Oh, that reminds me — what prompted you to write these lines. . ?' Whereupon, wearing a faraway facial expression, you can start reciting a random tranche of verse, In this way, you will easily satisfy his vanity and distract him from probing whether or not you are actually on his wavelength.
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