[New-Poetry] Big Bucks in Poetics

[Anny Ballardini]

re.:
http://albany.edu/offcourse/summer07/r_nirenberg_professionalism_revisited.html

it is an exceptional read, till when he dies.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "e·ratio" <editor at eratiopostmodernpoetry.com>
To: <new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 4:54 PM
Subject: [New-Poetry] Big Bucks in Poetics


> Big Bucks in Poetics
>
> I think it was Auden (correct me if I'm wrong) who said the poet must also
> be a tradesman.  For a long time I puzzled over this, being not quite
> certain (or ready to accept) what he meant, until I realized he was
> talking about promoting yourself, promoting your poetry and doing the
> business of getting published and readings and establishing a peer group,
> all the "literary business."  I resisted this conclusion because I felt
> the tradesman stuff was "beneath me" and not in the spirit of "being a
> poet," or rather it did not fit my romantic notion of what and how and why
> a poet does.  I always felt (this was indeed my experience) that writing
> poetry was easier than getting it published; that, and all the "tradesman"
> stuff, requires a different set of skills and talents, which I did not
> feel inclined to cultivate.  To be a poet in obscuirity (albeit with my
> own set of relations to other poets and writers and teachers and so) did
> not seem unnatural, and maybe because I always believed (in my heart) that
> if the poetry was good, that good poetry will out in the end because that
> was the way with poetry, that some poetry was downright inevitable, and
> would eventually defeat its obscurity.  I believed that poetry was "magic"
> in that way.  Today I know a good many "poets" who are better at being
> "tradesmen" than at creating poetry.  It's like having to ingratiate
> yourself to the department chair, even when or especially when you know
> exactly how he got there.  But then again maybe that's unfair, afterall
> it's your job and ya gotta do wutcha gotta do.  How about this one:  It's
> like ingratiating yourself to people with whom you feel no affinity
> whatsoever, despite that you both call yourselves "poets."
>
> I recommend this essay, entitled "Professionalism Revisited"
>
>
> http://albany.edu/offcourse/summer07/r_nirenberg_professionalism_revisited.html
>
> it's by Mr. Ricardo Nirenberg and is on his literary journal, Offcourse.
> It's maybe the best essay I've read this year.  If the url doesn't work
> please then paste it in, I promise it is worth the effort. . . .
>
>
> "I'm not sure where in the Constitution it covers the position of Poet
> Laureate, but as I've noted before when this subject crops up, the
> position is not funded with tax dollars.  It's a private endowment,
> administered by the Librarian of Congress.
>
> I would guess that virtually no poet lives on royalties.  Even Merwin has
> over the years brought in a lot of his cash via readings, translations,
> and such.  I'd be surprised if he actually lives on book sales per se, but
> I could be wrong.
>
> If you count readings, conference appearances, contest judging, editorial
> work, and other ancillary activities, not simply book sales, I would
> further wager that quite a few American poets could live quite well off
> their art without tenured teaching gigs.  Donald Hall has been doing it
> for decades, to cite one such instance, and so has Robert Bly."
>
> David Graham
> grahamd at ripon.edu
>
>
> "David,
> You're right, I believe. There are few poets surviving solely?in
> the?marketplace. Those who have, generally speaking, are successful in
> another realm, like the novel or pop-music. Think Jim Harrison or Leonard
> Cohen.
>
> If we totaled the college/university reading?fees and private foundation
> grants/awards given to Merwin, I think we'd see a poet beholden to the
> academy and the?charitable sector. Also, where would Merwin be without the
> teaching poets teaching his work?
>
> I'm a Merwin fan from way back, I might mention."
>
> Finnegan
>
> "Ted Hughes lived off his writing-- note though that he didn't just
> publish poetry but also children's books, BBC scripts, commissions of one
> sort or another.  Plath also lived off of her writing and worked very hard
> to make her name writing for "women's magazines".  Ladies Home Journal,
> Reader's Digest, etc.  It paid.  The Bell Jar was written with the goal of
> breaking into the bestselling "pot-boiler" novel genre.
>
> So yeah, you can make money off of your writing.  I guess I do that
> technically speaking-- I'm a professional tech writer.  My latest client
> just gave me an iPod as a thank you present.  As a poet the best I can
> hope for is maybe a free beer and all the cheese I can eat. :-)
>
> Merwin doesn;t work directly in Academia, but he certainly reads and
> speaks in academically funded situations, and I am sure judges the Yale
> series has some small change attached to it.  He also translates and has
> done very well there.  His place in Hawaii is supposed to be gorgeous."
>
> Suzanne
>
> posted by gregory vincent st. thomasino
>
> http://thepostmodernromantic.blogspot.com
>