I'm rich, bitch!
Apparently spending one's own money to publish and promote work one admires is not a good use for said money. I feel the shame and it burns. From here on out, any money originally intended for No Tell projects will be given to the Poetry Foundation.
posted by RL @ 5:45 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
huh-...-moments like this I become totally lost...we need some hyperlinkage here ööö
Yes I totally agree. Lets move dahling to our own private island and point to someone to click on the computer for us.
d.
heh- if I had plenty of money I'd do whatever I please (probably including publish my own stuff and people who's poetry I like) and screw whatever anybody says about THAT.
I AM a fucking elitist. yeah.
Wow. So many monkeys dancing.
xo
Anne
It must be the god damn superbowl.
Christ on the cross...i've just wasted precious time reading all that hot air blown on those other blogs. Time I'll never get back. Why do people have to destroy poetry by endlessly debating it, tearing apart and basically having a temper tantrum because they aren't getting published or no one is paying them enough attention?
I bet if their friends were publishing them, they wouldn't be complaining so damn much. Some people just need to step away from not only the computer, but poetry as well and figure out just what they want out of the art.
Sure, friends have published me, and I've published them and we've published each other and....oooooh...it felt sooooooooooo good. I would like to think that while we're doing this it's not simply a pity fuck, so to speak. I would think they thought enough of the work to want to publish and not as a favor of some kind,and vice versa.
Obviously, these folks don't know you, Reb. Hell, you rejected my shit to my face and I still like you. Just say fuck 'em and keep doin yo thang, baby.
Thanks everyone.
Joking aside, Molly and I decline the overwhelming majority of work we receive, including the majority of friends who send -- on a couple occasions it's hurt friendships, but most understand. Hell, I've had dear friends decline my work -- on numerous occasions, sometimes after they've solicited it.
And all of the folks whose books I'm publishing, I knew and admired their work first, long before I ever corresponded or met them. That includes the guy I went to grad school with -- I received his poems before the first residency and said to myself, "I got to make friends with this guy." Two authors I still have yet to meet in person. All the authors came through the same channel -- they sent work to No Tell Motel or the Bedside Guide -- a channel open to every single person with a computer and Internet access.
And it pisses me off that I have to defend my choice to publish them because I also happen to like them. It's insulting to them and their work. All of the No Tell Books authors have proved themselves elsewhere, published widely, won awards, developed their readerships. They've written fabulous books, fabulous books that deserve to be published and read. I have the opportunity and honor to help usher these books into existence. Is there any reason I should not? Is there any reason my doing so deserves any scorn?
And for the fact that I'm comfortably middle class (should I hide this? should I make up tales of dumpster diving to garner some street poet cred?), and am able to set aside some personal funds to make these books happen -- I mean, WTF? What kind of criticism is that? How can that make anyone angry? How is that possibly offensive or any way wrong? What is it really saying about such a person who make such personal attacks?
All this "courtesy" is making me dizzy.
Phew, the truth is finally out. ;)
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