Poet’s Writings Are Found Vulgar

I read the article on UC Irvine professor and poet Robert Peters in today’s Calendar section (“Poet’s Work Probes Mind of Serial Killer Randy Kraft,” Jan. 6) and I see that he is still disgusting people and provoking misery with his “poetry.”

I am an ex-student of Robert Peters’ (and) was tortured through a quarter of Peters’ “works of art,” which center on such characters as a murderess (“The Blood Countess”), a criminal (John Dillinger) and a lunatic dictator (Ludwig of Bavaria).

Yes, I do attest that Peters is fascinated with violence and disease, but nowhere in his works can “beauty” be found. He is a crude and vulgar man who creates vulgar works. Death, decay, profanity, explicit sex and violence spew from his work.

When I confessed to him that his works offended me, he called me “closed-minded” and suggested I was homophobic. My gay and lesbian friends friends laughed at these charges, but I was disturbed.

I am even more troubled now that I’ve read that he is still glorifying psychopaths in his works and calling it art.

REBECCA ARIVIZU

Cypress

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