Letter to the Editor

Well, I didn't get the call from Poetry saying they'd run my letter -- and no surprise; I'm sure they get tons, and anyway ought to run a letter re: this essay from a more bloggish blogger than me. But here's the beauty of this enterprise: I can publish it myself:

Dear Editor,

In an essay that, in other passages, is thoughtful and sharp, Peter Campion completely misses the point about blogs. Of course writing poems is a solitary act, but for everything that follows from it – submitting poems, putting together a manuscript, giving readings, promoting a first book – the camaraderie and support of fellow writers is vital to keeping going.

Blogs offer a community that makes geography irrelevant – surely a boon to poets who live in less poetry-heavy places than me. But even New Yorkers have plenty to be excited about: dozens and dozens of poets – from around the country and the world; from different aesthetic camps, stages of their careers, walks of life – gathered together to talk about anything and everything to do with poetry (and plenty of “felt experience,” too). Career-talk sure, but mostly shop-talk: revision, translation, and such. The one example Campion cites is hardly representative of poets’ blogs. But how could one example be representative? Poets’ blogs, at their best, are as various and strange and wide-ranging as their poems.

And this is the point: what blogs offer poets are connections, in the best sense of the word. Because of their blogs, I’ve found out about the work of new poets like Eduardo C. Corral, Reb Livingston, Zachary Schomberg and Wendy Wisner. And thanks to their blogs, I’ve been able to correspond with, and even meet, some of these writers – making the kind of connections that are encouraging and refreshing. We write alone, but we don’t have to be lonely writers.

As for Campion’s hanky-to-the-nose distaste for the word “blog,” I’m frankly worried. There isn’t much hope for a poet who shies away from seemingly unpoetic language. He may not be up to the challenge, but I’d love to see one of our topflight rhymers (paging Paul Muldoon) take “blog” out for a spin.

Matthew Thorburn
New York, NY