Notes on Contributors
Response to ‘The Tell-Tale Lines’ by Joan Houlihan
I couldn’t get through the whole essay because it was too dogmatic for me. Not that I don’t agree with what is being said. I do, but my opinion is not that important as to what a reader might buy, and I have never surveyed what poetry is being sold. I do not look for perfection in writing. Keeping the “I “out of poetry or the cliches is not my criteria for what book I will buy, and I will try not to impose my taste. But I do believe there is room for a range of poetry, from good to bad, better to worst.
I certainly am not prone to reading short poems, but I do enjoy them as a break from longer poems. Is that good or bad?
Yikes, I can’t believe how specialized some readers have become, when it comes to what kind of poetry book a person might buy. There are as many differences in poetry as there are readers.
[...] I couldn’t get through the whole essay because it was too dogmatic for me. Not that I don’t agree with what is being said. I do, but my opinion is not that important as to what a reader might buy, and I have never surveyed what poetry is being sold. I do not look for perfection in writing. Keeping the “I “out of poetry or the cliches is not my criteria for what book I will buy, and I will try not to impose my taste. But I do believe there is room for a range of poetry, from good to bad, better to worst. More… [...]