SOURCE: "The Future of Personal Poetry," in Introspection and Contemporary Poetry, Harvard University Press, 1984, pp. 159-65.

In this excerpt from his book-length study of contemporary poetry, Williamson analyzes several specific Wakoski poems to argue that, at her best, the poet presents complex works that are "extending the range of poetry. " The critic notes that these poems show that Wakoski presents more than the "heart-on-the-sleeve confessionalism " for which she is often criticized.

Diane Wakoski has been one of the sadder casualties of the shift in taste in the last decade; she is so fixed in many readers' minds as an artless instance of heart-on-the-sleeve confessionalism that a serious, discriminating discussion of her work from the formal point of view is almost impossible to find. Wakoski has partly invited this reputation, by overproduction, self-repetition, and a peculiarly unfortunate habit of arguing with her critics in her own poems. Still, I...