Now, for something completely different,
I thought I'd actually write something in my blog. I'm a bit down lately. I sent out 18 email requests to various editors and well known names in the academic and internet poetry worlds and only two people responded. Sixteen people too busy to respond, 1 negative response coupled with a broken URL for me to follow and 1 form letter, positive response, acknowledging my email. I suppose that's about right for busy people, concerned with the timeliness of their schedules and the loftiness of their endeavors, not to be interested in unsolicited requests on their attention.
The thing is tho', it seems that it's only the world of poetry that is so afflicted. In my more than 60 years of sending unsolicited mail to well known leaders in various fields, it is only the poetry world that holds itself so high to ignore common courtesy so universally. Poetry editors and educators really are narcissistic assholes. I wonder how it's taken me so long to realize that fact.
I'm reminded that this is the 'industry' that cries all the time about having no real audience. Their cries of how few people buy their books might fall off a bit if they weren't soooo busy. Maybe not.
-blue
The thing is tho', it seems that it's only the world of poetry that is so afflicted. In my more than 60 years of sending unsolicited mail to well known leaders in various fields, it is only the poetry world that holds itself so high to ignore common courtesy so universally. Poetry editors and educators really are narcissistic assholes. I wonder how it's taken me so long to realize that fact.
I'm reminded that this is the 'industry' that cries all the time about having no real audience. Their cries of how few people buy their books might fall off a bit if they weren't soooo busy. Maybe not.
-blue
posted by Beau Blue @ 8:54 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:16 PM,
C. E. Chaffin said…
The narcissism of poets cannot be underestimated, and most poetry editors are or were poets. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to believe that your words are of import, even magical in their power. Many of us suffer from terminal uniqueness, one symptom of which is an inability to recognize cliche's.
I hope this experience is more of a statistical aberration, as in writing editors personally I have had a more positive experience, then I don't usually write the high falutin' types, just the middling journals where I regularly appear.
As for you, keep tilting at the windmills. It's quality that counts, not quantity. All the work you have put into your site speaks for itself. I've heard nothing but good things about your animation of my piece and I'm quite proud of it--an opportunity you made possible.
You go, Beau!
One last thought--Would you ever be happy except as a rebel? It's the establishment that grants you the energy of resistance!
CE
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