Don’t think I haven’t thought about it, though….

Since then I’ve been working my way up through various online zines and refining my submission strategies for paper ones– I do mostly formal poetry, so I’ve aimed for The Lyric and Measure. It’ll never get me anything that counts as a “professional” credential, but so what– I already have a day job that I like and that pays well. (And I do appreciate that that makes me one of the rare and lucky ones.)

I’m not fond of open mics and slams, for all the reasons cited above, but I have really enjoyed doing readings at local coffeeshops and so forth. I did it monthly for most of a year and then had to quit due to some health problems. Now that those are resolved I need to get myself back into it.

I did like “Archipelago”, tho I agree that it might work better as an actual stage or multi-media type presentation than as text. You might explore converting it into multi-media and see if you can find a place to present it online.

I’m not sure if there is an open mic around here, but if there is I should find it. I do love doing readings, but haven’t done one in a long time.

Hope you check back for more of our verse days….

When I say in my profile that my passion is writing, I’m not kidding in any way – I just can’t afford to live on my writing. Writing full time (fiction or non-fiction) just won’t pay the bills without a massive following willing to pay for my stories.

So maybe there’s so much non-original stuff in it that it isn’t poetry. But your reaction tells me that it accomplishes what it set out to accomplish. I can tell you that it’s still all I can do to read it without crying – for some reason, that suicide hit me in a place I never even knew existed until that e-mail arrived.

It’s obviously really different, but I see what you mean about the Hip song, as well. They’ve always been a whole lot smarter than your average band, and I think this illustrates why their fans are so loyal to them.

I’ve thought about the potential for adapting “Archipelago” into a play or screenplay, but I wonder if I’m capable of doing that without losing the edge – it seems that it’s the performance metaphor that makes it powerful, and if it’s adapted for actual performance, that metaphor goes away, right?

As for your band, don’t give up – maybe someday you’ll start writing songs that are tender and meaningful, too…..

But it’s almost more like hip-hop than poetry, and a lot of great poetry simply isn’t built for that environment. If I were doing one of those I probably have three or four that would work, but most of my stuff? No way.

So while I’m glad writers whose work leans in that direction have an outlet, I wish there were an equally vibrant demand for what I do.

And your comments also point up something else. You use the term “academic” – a lot of the best work I see is neither academic (which isn’t a bad way of describing the Iowa crowd) nor “slam.” Hell, I have no idea WHAT you’d call my work. I guess as long as you aren’t calling it “crap” I’m okay, huh?

I’m a poet. Whether I’m a good one or a bad one is, I suppose, open to debate. But the fundamental fact of my life and career is that the business activities that define my professional existence these days are Plan C, at best. If the world worked th…

And that’s where poets are getting their biggest audiences.

Let the academic poets stay in their closed circle. The best of them only sell about 143 copies of their books. I don’t even think they read each other unless forced to in order to get their MFAs.

Meanwhile, thanks, Jim Benz, for your worthy additions to S&R.

I burned out on that about 1995 after 20 years of trying to please the club. And it is a club. You’re either in that club or you’re not. I trained at SUNY-Albany under award winners (AWP guys and other insiders) and opted out of the club while there despite pleading and warnings from my profs that I must try to fit their mold. It took me many years to get my work out. But get it out I did. I’m part of that underground that Jim Benz talks about, and I even get asked to submit pieces for e-journals occasionally now. One of those pieces was a diatribe against the university writing program club published in http://www.storysouth.com/spring2004/literaryminutiae.html

I encourage all of you to pursue your writing. If enough of us keep at it, we’ll eventually create a tipping point against the corruption and protege patronage in literary circles.

Ah, yes. I’ve had that day…

People should have the basic manners to know when to shut up. If they don’t, the next best thing is for them to shut up because they’re afraid to open their mouths….