February 26th, 2010 / 12:47 pm
Web Hype

“The New Math of Poetry”

http://www.foox-u.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/i/-/i-am-not-a-toy-davidfoox.jpg

(via Jason “the B. is for Bookslut” Jones.)

Hey, look. the Chronicle of Higher Education is saying the thing I’ve been saying for years now. From “The New Math of Poetry.”

The notion that writing and performing “poetry” is the easiest way to satisfy the American itch for 15 minutes of fame has spilled out of our campuses and into the wider culture. You can’t pick up a violin or oboe for the first time on Monday morning and expect to play at Lincoln Center that weekend, but you can write your first poem in May and appear at an open mike in June waving a “chapbook” for sale. The new math of poetry is driven not by reader demand for great or even good poetry but by the demand of myriads of aspiring poets to experience the thrill of “publication.”

Here’s another: “Were a conscientious anthologist of this year’s poetry to spend just 10 minutes evaluating each published poem, he or she would need to work 16,666 hours, which means it would take eight years to assess the eligible poetry for a 2010 anthology.” That’s a fascinating/terrifying thought. But then, in the great tradition of Chronicle articles, there’s a long dead patch in the middle where Alpaugh gets incensed-by-numbers about how much nepotism is/n’t involved in BAP, Poetry Daily, and a few other premiere journals. Is there anyone left in the poetry world for whom these “allegations”/”revelations” (take your pick, depending on whether your own jury is still out on “the case”) are anything like a surprise, or remotely of interest?

If you stick around, the article eventually emerges–sort of–from this funk. “Marginalizing independent poets and the diversity of life experience they bring to poetry may help bolster M.F.A.-teaching careers; but how healthy is it for the art? Almost all of the world’s great poetry has been written by independents, and most of the poets writing today (myself included) remain unaffiliated with any institution.” By any metric, this is a salient point, and I think if it had appeared in the thesis instead of the conclusion, the article would have sounded a lot less like sour grapes. Then there’s a few lines about how if “Howl”/”The Road not Taken”/”Daddy” were published today, they’d all be relegated to niche journals and wouldn’t make BAP, to which I can only re-iterate my earlier sentiment: YAWN. Because the premise of the question is bullshit- if “Howl” was published today it would absolutely not appear in BAP or any journal of note. But the reason isn’t that we’re no longer smart enough to read. The reason is that the poem would be coming fifty years too late. You can’t blame the culture for having moved forward from its own major milestones. That’s kind of the whole point, yeah? Anyway, there is one nice Pound quote about the value of editors (I believe he’s speaking here specifically about anthologists; Pound of course edited several)–“The weeder is supremely needed, if the Garden of the Muses is to persist as a garden.” We’ll leave things there. And as usual, because it’s the Chronicle, the comments section is bustling. So if anyone feels like scrapping, you’re welcome to join their fray (I see our own Mark Leidner is over there, spreading some genial insurgency) or have your own here. Like I need to tell you that.

PS- all artwork in this post is by David Foox. I don’t know how I got on his mailing list, but I’m glad I wound up there. These little guys right here are from the “elemental badgers” series. You are looking at the SOUL, FIRE, and AIR badgers. Up top is a painting entitled “I Am Not a Toy.” More at Foox-u.

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66 Comments

  1. Joseph Young

      as i said on facebook when someone posted this article, Fox News should open a Word bureau. fear mongering for the literary rank and file.

  2. Joseph Young

      as i said on facebook when someone posted this article, Fox News should open a Word bureau. fear mongering for the literary rank and file.

  3. Chris Tonelli

      I didn’t think it was that Fox-ish. I was worried it would be when someone sent me the link, but it comes out pretty pro-small press-ish if anything. And isn’t it right…isn’t there a poetry bubble…an inflation of poetry numbers resulting from the influx of mfa/creative phd programs? The question is…will that bubble burst and what will happen if it does. He seems to lament the bubble, where I don’t really (except when I think about getting a poetry-related j-o-b), but it is hard to deny that there is one.

  4. Chris Tonelli

      I didn’t think it was that Fox-ish. I was worried it would be when someone sent me the link, but it comes out pretty pro-small press-ish if anything. And isn’t it right…isn’t there a poetry bubble…an inflation of poetry numbers resulting from the influx of mfa/creative phd programs? The question is…will that bubble burst and what will happen if it does. He seems to lament the bubble, where I don’t really (except when I think about getting a poetry-related j-o-b), but it is hard to deny that there is one.

  5. Matt Cozart
  6. Matt Cozart
  7. Joseph Young

      i guess the manufacturing of the idea of a poetry bubble is what i mean. you know, like that actually poses some kind of corporal threat. it means putting my dreams of being a poetry millionaire on hold, maybe. but it is nicely pro-small press-ish, you’re right. it’s ok.

  8. Joseph Young

      i guess the manufacturing of the idea of a poetry bubble is what i mean. you know, like that actually poses some kind of corporal threat. it means putting my dreams of being a poetry millionaire on hold, maybe. but it is nicely pro-small press-ish, you’re right. it’s ok.

  9. Amber

      Oh my god. I don’t even know what to say. Good find.

  10. Amber

      Oh my god. I don’t even know what to say. Good find.

  11. ce.

      Holy wow…

  12. ce.

      Holy wow…

  13. ce.

      “Because the premise of the question is bullshit- if “Howl” was published today it would absolutely not appear in BAP or any journal of note. But the reason isn’t that we’re no longer smart enough to read. The reason is that the poem would be coming fifty years too late.”

      Thank you.

  14. ce.

      “Because the premise of the question is bullshit- if “Howl” was published today it would absolutely not appear in BAP or any journal of note. But the reason isn’t that we’re no longer smart enough to read. The reason is that the poem would be coming fifty years too late.”

      Thank you.

  15. peter davis

      i tried to comment over there but i couldn’t seem to make it work…just thought i’d say that the article seemed really dumb to me. he’s worried about the unnamed great poets who may be buried along the way? of course, there have always been great unknown poets/artists who exist and are never known. There are tons of them. that’s how come no of them have names.

      and the idea that someone might seek fame through poetry? yea, smart move, fame-seeker.

      and the analogy of learning to play and instrument classically is just silly. hasn’t he ever heard of punk rock. or son house, for that matter….

      i could go on but i won’t.

  16. peter davis

      i tried to comment over there but i couldn’t seem to make it work…just thought i’d say that the article seemed really dumb to me. he’s worried about the unnamed great poets who may be buried along the way? of course, there have always been great unknown poets/artists who exist and are never known. There are tons of them. that’s how come no of them have names.

      and the idea that someone might seek fame through poetry? yea, smart move, fame-seeker.

      and the analogy of learning to play and instrument classically is just silly. hasn’t he ever heard of punk rock. or son house, for that matter….

      i could go on but i won’t.

  17. James

      “You can’t pick up a violin or oboe for the first time on Monday morning and expect to play at Lincoln Center that weekend, but you can write your first poem in May and appear at an open mike in June waving a “chapbook” for sale”

      How many ways is this ridiculous? How is selling a chapbook at open mike parallel to playing at Lincoln Center? But, since music is mentioned… many people get MFAs in art, music, and dance and yet (as far as I know) the Chronicles of the world don’t continually dump on these people. In the Nov./Dec. POETS & WRITERS (you know, ’cause poets aren’t real writers) Dean Young write s a lovely defense of studying poetry. Everyone knows–or they should know–that even at a place like Iowa most of the graduates will NOT be writing 5 years after they graduate. So what? I hesitated reading he Young piece for fear it was going to be yet another Kleinzahler/Hoagland insiders slapdown of MFAworld–but it’s not. Also, I heard this great jazz musician on the Leonard Lopate radio show a while back, Jimmy Heath, who also teaches at Queens College. He was wonderful–noting that 99% of his students are never going to be great or even professional musicians–so what. They’ll be better people for studying music. Do musicians sit around bitching about too many people studying sax? Sorry for the rambling.

  18. James

      “You can’t pick up a violin or oboe for the first time on Monday morning and expect to play at Lincoln Center that weekend, but you can write your first poem in May and appear at an open mike in June waving a “chapbook” for sale”

      How many ways is this ridiculous? How is selling a chapbook at open mike parallel to playing at Lincoln Center? But, since music is mentioned… many people get MFAs in art, music, and dance and yet (as far as I know) the Chronicles of the world don’t continually dump on these people. In the Nov./Dec. POETS & WRITERS (you know, ’cause poets aren’t real writers) Dean Young write s a lovely defense of studying poetry. Everyone knows–or they should know–that even at a place like Iowa most of the graduates will NOT be writing 5 years after they graduate. So what? I hesitated reading he Young piece for fear it was going to be yet another Kleinzahler/Hoagland insiders slapdown of MFAworld–but it’s not. Also, I heard this great jazz musician on the Leonard Lopate radio show a while back, Jimmy Heath, who also teaches at Queens College. He was wonderful–noting that 99% of his students are never going to be great or even professional musicians–so what. They’ll be better people for studying music. Do musicians sit around bitching about too many people studying sax? Sorry for the rambling.

  19. Jeremiah

      That quote is rediculous. The analogy isn’t well thought out at all. It’s more like someone picking up the oboe Monday morning and a month later playIng on her/his local street corner with a 4-track EP for sale. If anything, the author should lament the lack of Poetic Lincoln Centers (unless he’s considering a few big poetry journals as such- and if that’s the case he’s really poor to confuse a literary stage and an auditory one).

  20. Jeremiah

      That quote is rediculous. The analogy isn’t well thought out at all. It’s more like someone picking up the oboe Monday morning and a month later playIng on her/his local street corner with a 4-track EP for sale. If anything, the author should lament the lack of Poetic Lincoln Centers (unless he’s considering a few big poetry journals as such- and if that’s the case he’s really poor to confuse a literary stage and an auditory one).

  21. Justin Taylor

      Yes, I agree that it’s silly to presume that the people at the open mic are equating themselves with Lincoln Center, but despite Alpaugh’s windy rhetoric and compulsive tendency to overstate every single case, I think he’s onto something here. Let’s try it another way-
      There are countless people who draw, paint, or play music for their entire lives, without ever seeking or seeming to even desire (forget achieving or not) publication in any form: a gallery show, a concert, a sale, etc. Literature seems to be practically unique among the arts in that the large body of amateur and hobbyist practitioners seem to vie, by and large, for the same forms of reception and attention as those engaged in the discipline as a profession or career. That’s not a criticism; it’s just an observation. I think it’s worth wondering about why that is. The idea of a violinist, classically trained since the age of 4 or whatever and now one of the best in the world, makes sense to us. We would never question that. But imagine trying to train a poet that way—the very notion is laughable, and probably rightly so.
      But. The best amateur singer you know, the best artist who has never seen the inside of an art class–is this person looking to ‘break in’ to ‘the business’ somehow, or are they perhaps protective of their amateur or hobbyist status? I’ve known many of these people–who have regarded their art-making as a form of personal enjoyment, one which they *choose* not to share with the general or even limited public, therefore negating any questions of whether it “could make it” or not in some “market”. To these people, the idea of an audience (beyond, perhaps, their nearest and dearest) or critical reception is antithetical to the reasons that inspire/d them to create the art in the first place, and would undermine the pleasure they take in so doing. As I say, I’ve known many of these people- but less than 1% of them have been writers.
      I wonder about why that is. Surely there must be writers out there who continue to create but refuse to publish (Salinger being of course the most famous example), and granted we probably don’t know about them because of the fact that they have so refused. BUT. Looking at Alpaugh’s numbers, one gets the general impression that *the majority* of the people in the world who are producing literature of any kind are trying to get it published, which is absolutely not the case with the other forms I’ve mentioned– visual arts, music, etc.
      So that’s why this is interesting to me.

  22. Justin Taylor

      Yes, I agree that it’s silly to presume that the people at the open mic are equating themselves with Lincoln Center, but despite Alpaugh’s windy rhetoric and compulsive tendency to overstate every single case, I think he’s onto something here. Let’s try it another way-
      There are countless people who draw, paint, or play music for their entire lives, without ever seeking or seeming to even desire (forget achieving or not) publication in any form: a gallery show, a concert, a sale, etc. Literature seems to be practically unique among the arts in that the large body of amateur and hobbyist practitioners seem to vie, by and large, for the same forms of reception and attention as those engaged in the discipline as a profession or career. That’s not a criticism; it’s just an observation. I think it’s worth wondering about why that is. The idea of a violinist, classically trained since the age of 4 or whatever and now one of the best in the world, makes sense to us. We would never question that. But imagine trying to train a poet that way—the very notion is laughable, and probably rightly so.
      But. The best amateur singer you know, the best artist who has never seen the inside of an art class–is this person looking to ‘break in’ to ‘the business’ somehow, or are they perhaps protective of their amateur or hobbyist status? I’ve known many of these people–who have regarded their art-making as a form of personal enjoyment, one which they *choose* not to share with the general or even limited public, therefore negating any questions of whether it “could make it” or not in some “market”. To these people, the idea of an audience (beyond, perhaps, their nearest and dearest) or critical reception is antithetical to the reasons that inspire/d them to create the art in the first place, and would undermine the pleasure they take in so doing. As I say, I’ve known many of these people- but less than 1% of them have been writers.
      I wonder about why that is. Surely there must be writers out there who continue to create but refuse to publish (Salinger being of course the most famous example), and granted we probably don’t know about them because of the fact that they have so refused. BUT. Looking at Alpaugh’s numbers, one gets the general impression that *the majority* of the people in the world who are producing literature of any kind are trying to get it published, which is absolutely not the case with the other forms I’ve mentioned– visual arts, music, etc.
      So that’s why this is interesting to me.

  23. J.D. Salinger

      Thanks for mentioning me, JT. Here is a pertinent quote I once wrote down for you guys in “Seymour: An Introduction”:

      “Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It’s never been anything but your religion. Never. I’m a little overexcited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will be asked when you die? But let me tell you first what you won’t be asked. You won’t be asked if you were working on a wonderful, moving piece of writing when you died. You won’t be asked if it was long or short, sad or funny, published or unpublished. You won’t be asked if you were in good or bad form while you were working on it. You won’t even be asked if it was the one piece of writing you would have been working on if you had known your time would be up when it was finished—I think only poor Soren K. will get asked that. I’m so sure you’ll only get asked two questions. Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? If only you knew how easy it would be for you to say yes to both questions.”

  24. J.D. Salinger

      Thanks for mentioning me, JT. Here is a pertinent quote I once wrote down for you guys in “Seymour: An Introduction”:

      “Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It’s never been anything but your religion. Never. I’m a little overexcited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will be asked when you die? But let me tell you first what you won’t be asked. You won’t be asked if you were working on a wonderful, moving piece of writing when you died. You won’t be asked if it was long or short, sad or funny, published or unpublished. You won’t be asked if you were in good or bad form while you were working on it. You won’t even be asked if it was the one piece of writing you would have been working on if you had known your time would be up when it was finished—I think only poor Soren K. will get asked that. I’m so sure you’ll only get asked two questions. Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? If only you knew how easy it would be for you to say yes to both questions.”

  25. peter davis

      what’s myspace about except a ridiculous number of musicians trying to get their work out? i don’t think we have any proof that more writers try to get their work out than any other type of artist.

  26. peter davis

      what’s myspace about except a ridiculous number of musicians trying to get their work out? i don’t think we have any proof that more writers try to get their work out than any other type of artist.

  27. Justin Taylor

      No hard proof, no. All I ca offer is the evidence of my own experience, and the testimony of my own instinct. Entirely possible that my perspective is limited, skewed, or otherwise incorrect. I don’t believe this to be the case, but it’s surely possible.

  28. Justin Taylor

      No hard proof, no. All I ca offer is the evidence of my own experience, and the testimony of my own instinct. Entirely possible that my perspective is limited, skewed, or otherwise incorrect. I don’t believe this to be the case, but it’s surely possible.

  29. Justin Taylor

      Wowzer. Good find, Matt.

  30. Justin Taylor

      Wowzer. Good find, Matt.

  31. Amy McDaniel

      but what about peter’s point below about non-classical musicians? i think classical music is a special case–the learning curve to even get through the music is extremely steep, and only then does creativity–interpretation–come into play. the musician must learn an entirely new language before beginning to create, the way we all have to learn english from an even earlier age than you mention in the case of the musician, in order to write anything creative. it’s not a question of the length of time spent; after a certain age the option of becoming a classical musician is simply foreclosed, the way after a certain age we can’t learn new languages fluently. one can, on the other hand, at most any age, learn to play enough guitar chords to sing a good song to much more quickly, and plenty of people perform at open-mics relatively soon after they begin playing. or, if they have an above-average singing voice, thinking they are ready for broadway. SO many people move to new york to be a singer, we’re just not in that circle so we don’t see it.

      there are also plenty of people who take creative writing at community centers, colleges, etc who don’t have a thought of trying to make it professionally. my grandmother just finished a continuing ed class on writing her life story, which she loved and found therapeutic, but she has not the slightest idea of trying to publish a memoir!

      i would say visual arts fall somewhere in between classical and popular music or poetry. there is lots of “language” (technique) to learn, just not as much as in classical music, but once that hurdle is passed, you do have lots of people trying to sell their amateurish wares by the side of the Seine or in a little shop in a beach town.

      and then there are all the wannabe actors in new york and la. really, this is not a phenomenon unique to poetry (even though i think in that other conversation we had about this, i was agreeing with you)

  32. Amy McDaniel

      but what about peter’s point below about non-classical musicians? i think classical music is a special case–the learning curve to even get through the music is extremely steep, and only then does creativity–interpretation–come into play. the musician must learn an entirely new language before beginning to create, the way we all have to learn english from an even earlier age than you mention in the case of the musician, in order to write anything creative. it’s not a question of the length of time spent; after a certain age the option of becoming a classical musician is simply foreclosed, the way after a certain age we can’t learn new languages fluently. one can, on the other hand, at most any age, learn to play enough guitar chords to sing a good song to much more quickly, and plenty of people perform at open-mics relatively soon after they begin playing. or, if they have an above-average singing voice, thinking they are ready for broadway. SO many people move to new york to be a singer, we’re just not in that circle so we don’t see it.

      there are also plenty of people who take creative writing at community centers, colleges, etc who don’t have a thought of trying to make it professionally. my grandmother just finished a continuing ed class on writing her life story, which she loved and found therapeutic, but she has not the slightest idea of trying to publish a memoir!

      i would say visual arts fall somewhere in between classical and popular music or poetry. there is lots of “language” (technique) to learn, just not as much as in classical music, but once that hurdle is passed, you do have lots of people trying to sell their amateurish wares by the side of the Seine or in a little shop in a beach town.

      and then there are all the wannabe actors in new york and la. really, this is not a phenomenon unique to poetry (even though i think in that other conversation we had about this, i was agreeing with you)

  33. jereme

      so poetry is the equivalent to pop music around here?

  34. jereme

      makes sense.

      don’t bother replying.

  35. jereme

      so poetry is the equivalent to pop music around here?

  36. jereme

      makes sense.

      don’t bother replying.

  37. darby

      @ justin. maybe has something to do with writers want to say things. languange is our primary mode of communication. If you have something to say, you use words. so writers feel the need to say things, and when you say things you want people to say things to otherwise you’re talking to yourself. to most people, writers are thought of as artists, they are thought of as people who have things to say. musicians are people who sit in elevators and play violins regardless of whose riding with them. you can paint a mural on a wall of your own house for yourself. you can sit at a piano and play someone’s sonata for yourself. you can’t write a letter to yourself.

  38. darby

      @ justin. maybe has something to do with writers want to say things. languange is our primary mode of communication. If you have something to say, you use words. so writers feel the need to say things, and when you say things you want people to say things to otherwise you’re talking to yourself. to most people, writers are thought of as artists, they are thought of as people who have things to say. musicians are people who sit in elevators and play violins regardless of whose riding with them. you can paint a mural on a wall of your own house for yourself. you can sit at a piano and play someone’s sonata for yourself. you can’t write a letter to yourself.

  39. darby

      writers are not thought of as artists rather or writers are thought of not as artists or as not-artists

  40. darby

      writers are not thought of as artists rather or writers are thought of not as artists or as not-artists

  41. Jeremiah

      I think you articulate your point better than I could, and I don’t have an exact answer, it’s a complicated point. I think what Amy said about “learning another language” applies to what I’m thinking. At a basic level, the physical process of writing, transcribing words down on a page, doesn’t involve much. Sixth graders can physically write most of the words poetic masters can write. Can’t say the same with classical musicians or even most traditional visual artists. This gives the person writing a sense that it isn’t that hard to reach mastery. It’s, as we all know, deceptive. I remember the first time I spaced words out on the page and thought I was as good as E. E. Cummings. What high schooler/college kid hasn’t? The mental conditioning/process that’s required to be a good writer is often unique to each writer, and I know I for one didn’t have a clue what I was even attempting until far after thinking I could write poetry. This is also coming from a non MFA, un-published (one submission, one rejection to date) writer, so yeah.

  42. Jeremiah

      I think you articulate your point better than I could, and I don’t have an exact answer, it’s a complicated point. I think what Amy said about “learning another language” applies to what I’m thinking. At a basic level, the physical process of writing, transcribing words down on a page, doesn’t involve much. Sixth graders can physically write most of the words poetic masters can write. Can’t say the same with classical musicians or even most traditional visual artists. This gives the person writing a sense that it isn’t that hard to reach mastery. It’s, as we all know, deceptive. I remember the first time I spaced words out on the page and thought I was as good as E. E. Cummings. What high schooler/college kid hasn’t? The mental conditioning/process that’s required to be a good writer is often unique to each writer, and I know I for one didn’t have a clue what I was even attempting until far after thinking I could write poetry. This is also coming from a non MFA, un-published (one submission, one rejection to date) writer, so yeah.

  43. Jeremiah

      I think poetry is the equivalent of music. Some of it’s pop, some of it’s rock, some of it’s classical.

  44. Jeremiah

      I think poetry is the equivalent of music. Some of it’s pop, some of it’s rock, some of it’s classical.

  45. jereme

      the poetry as music argument is silly.

      but

      there is a major difference between art appreciation & creation.

      educate the people. make the people want better art.

      whining & bitching about a dilution of your ego pool because someone is peddling “lesser than” art is arrogant.

      the real issue here is not the shitty writing, the open mics, the etc.

      people feel threatened because something ‘bad” or “mediocre” is going to be put in the same group as something as “art” or “great”.

      something they have created.

      fucking stupid.

      great is great.

      it will come out.

      what is the issue with some people living small petty lives and finding some sort of deluded perverse happiness in pushing their words on others?

      don’t listen. don’t read.

      walk away from them.

      what’s the big deal.

  46. jereme

      the poetry as music argument is silly.

      but

      there is a major difference between art appreciation & creation.

      educate the people. make the people want better art.

      whining & bitching about a dilution of your ego pool because someone is peddling “lesser than” art is arrogant.

      the real issue here is not the shitty writing, the open mics, the etc.

      people feel threatened because something ‘bad” or “mediocre” is going to be put in the same group as something as “art” or “great”.

      something they have created.

      fucking stupid.

      great is great.

      it will come out.

      what is the issue with some people living small petty lives and finding some sort of deluded perverse happiness in pushing their words on others?

      don’t listen. don’t read.

      walk away from them.

      what’s the big deal.

  47. reynard

      some of it is lady gagag snoot snout i found some truffles under this stump let us get fat and stupid

  48. reynard

      some of it is lady gagag snoot snout i found some truffles under this stump let us get fat and stupid

  49. reynard

      music is the equivalent of music. some of it’s music. i just popped a button.

  50. reynard

      music is the equivalent of music. some of it’s music. i just popped a button.

  51. Charlie

      How exactly do you define the difference between the professional and the amateur poet? Career or hobbyist poet? I’m not asking this rhetorically. I think that this is a really interesting question. What makes a poet one or the other? A degree? A book? Lots of credits? Or is it something deeper, have more to do with attitude? I was paid for the first two poems I ever published, but the checks stopped coming after that. Back in the day, a professional writer was someone like Robert E. Howard, who got paid for his (most hack) writing. On the other hand, there were actually amateur writing societies with their own publications. Most of H.P Lovecraft’s work was publishing in “amateur” journals and he was an active member in the “amateur” scene. Who, today, makes a living from poetry? (I mean writing it, not teaching it. Cuz a lot of people who teach poetry don’t write it.) Aren’t we all amateurs, in the sense that no one in the U.S. earns their daily bread from writing poetry? Or am I wrong?

  52. Charlie

      How exactly do you define the difference between the professional and the amateur poet? Career or hobbyist poet? I’m not asking this rhetorically. I think that this is a really interesting question. What makes a poet one or the other? A degree? A book? Lots of credits? Or is it something deeper, have more to do with attitude? I was paid for the first two poems I ever published, but the checks stopped coming after that. Back in the day, a professional writer was someone like Robert E. Howard, who got paid for his (most hack) writing. On the other hand, there were actually amateur writing societies with their own publications. Most of H.P Lovecraft’s work was publishing in “amateur” journals and he was an active member in the “amateur” scene. Who, today, makes a living from poetry? (I mean writing it, not teaching it. Cuz a lot of people who teach poetry don’t write it.) Aren’t we all amateurs, in the sense that no one in the U.S. earns their daily bread from writing poetry? Or am I wrong?

  53. Joseph

      I don’t think publishing a fucking word in the chronicle is being “without instutional affiliation…” a particular institution, maybe, but he doesn’t quite win the unaffiliated outsider looking in prize everybody wants theseadays.

      Almost completely unrelated but I got to have a place to put this; today my father told a woman he worked with that i was going to go to a school. the woman said for what and my father said creative writing. the woman responded with: is your son gay?

      that’s all.

  54. Joseph

      I don’t think publishing a fucking word in the chronicle is being “without instutional affiliation…” a particular institution, maybe, but he doesn’t quite win the unaffiliated outsider looking in prize everybody wants theseadays.

      Almost completely unrelated but I got to have a place to put this; today my father told a woman he worked with that i was going to go to a school. the woman said for what and my father said creative writing. the woman responded with: is your son gay?

      that’s all.

  55. Joseph

      i can’t spell. you win alpaugh.

  56. Joseph

      i can’t spell. you win alpaugh.

  57. Jeremiah

      That button is a whole note.

  58. Jeremiah

      That button is a whole note.

  59. SoulFire

      FOOX is AMAZING.
      I have followed this artist since his early days. He’s been around forever but only in the last 6 months has his stuff blown up. This is an artist I absolutely LOVE and ADORE and his artwork is truly compelling, profound, deep, excessive, and luxurious. Nice addition to your well written discussion.

      SoulFire

  60. SoulFire

      FOOX is AMAZING.
      I have followed this artist since his early days. He’s been around forever but only in the last 6 months has his stuff blown up. This is an artist I absolutely LOVE and ADORE and his artwork is truly compelling, profound, deep, excessive, and luxurious. Nice addition to your well written discussion.

      SoulFire

  61. ce.

      About halfway through my graduating year at BSU, there was a hack in a fiction workshop who still couldn’t even punctuate dialogue tags correctly (“blah blah.” He said.). I was infuriated that this guy would get the same degree that I did; in my head, it undermined what I was doing at the university.

      It took me about 2 months of having that slip of paper to realize that slip of paper didn’t matter, nor did it define what either of us got from the program. That we had the same slip of paper undermined nothing except my own ego.

      Ego is a mostly dumb thing.

  62. ce.

      About halfway through my graduating year at BSU, there was a hack in a fiction workshop who still couldn’t even punctuate dialogue tags correctly (“blah blah.” He said.). I was infuriated that this guy would get the same degree that I did; in my head, it undermined what I was doing at the university.

      It took me about 2 months of having that slip of paper to realize that slip of paper didn’t matter, nor did it define what either of us got from the program. That we had the same slip of paper undermined nothing except my own ego.

      Ego is a mostly dumb thing.

  63. HTMLGIANT x FOOX | FOOX-U

      […] know HTMLGIANT and this […]

  64. squid-link

      FOOX is awesome!

  65. squid-link

      FOOX is awesome!

  66. Hopscot

      i own this paint featured in this article and was referred to the website by the artist FOOX. Thank you for using this image with your very interesting comments and dialogue. It seems that this is a very healthy creative dialogue and I am glad to have read through the article.