poets ~ not free-for-all

i tried to avoid blasting the book of poetry that won the john ciardi prize for 2006 (it was just released) but recent events have been a call to action. the book is unreadable, uninspired, and unaccomplished. and the judges and authors who endorsed it must have been blackmailed. if you do not believe me and want to read it for yourself, do not buy the book; get it from a library or borrow it from someone else unfortunate enough to already have it; not another tree should be sacrificed for that illiterature; toilet paper is a better use of wood.

i (briefly) belonged to an internet poetry forum. i had set up a username/profile but hadnt submitted a poem or commented on others poems. i really had no intention of submitting a poem, i do fine with myself and bob as readers, but i thought the exposure to current poetry might be a good thing, stimulating (i dont read poetry because i think it makes you write like what you have read... i was backsliding on my valuable philosophy when i signed up for the forum).

without any interaction in the forum, i began receiving hate mail. "leave now" and "your stuff is shit" is the basic gist of the messages. how could anyone know my stuff is shit? no-one reads it! and even if my work were less than the great people who write for the forum or win prizes, the concept of the forum is to improve your writing skills through interaction. was there an assignment to practice writing hate mail i didnt get?

i asked a moderator how it was i was receiving this mail, i wasnt even a presence in the forum... as a result, the moderator blocked me from entering/participating in the forum and my emails to the webmaster questioning this have gone answered.

and then the small dim bulb i call a brain fired: maybe someone from the john ciardi prize, one of the judges or endorsers, or even the poetess herself... WAS PART OF THE FORUM. maybe my presence was a spotlight on the inadequacy of the book. maybe my very talent, goodlooks, and inestimable charm were more than any of them could handle!!!

or maybe they just didnt like me. for some quirky internet reason.

but my poetry is still better. nah nah nah!

to see my books: http://royanthonyshabla.com

poetry

i would not like a bad review of my work and i wouldnt print a bad review of someone elses work without reason... even good reviews of my work have left me feeling poorly because the reviewer missed the mark or was weak in his analysis...

but i have to say something.

and it isnt sour grapes!

i entered the competetion for the 2006 john ciardi prize for poetry with my book eating God. i didnt expect to win. and i didnt! the literary community will not seriously consider poetry about god unless you are a long-dead sufi like rumi or hafiz. contemporary poetry about god is relegated to the greeting card category.

my poetry about god, however, is about some down-and-dirty sex. im not sure how that gets missed... but we arent the most literate country...

anyway, as a consolation prize to entering the competetion ~ and also to make the winning poet think people actually buy and read poetry ~ all the losers receive a copy of the winning book. mine arrived in the mail yesterday.

richard wilbur loved it.

maxine kumin loved it.

x j kennedy loved it.

and the judge who selected it, mark jarman, loved it (of course).

i hated it.

i hated everything about it.

i wont go into detail regarding why i hated it ~ i would hate to read something so pointedly negative about my work ~ but i just didnt find the breath others found. (the reviews were so wonderful they were printed twice ~ once before the title page and again on the back cover ~ just in case a reader isnt quite sure how wonderful the book is... i read the reviews twice and had a difficult time even with them, the list of titles and references... the words seeminly without heart... not heard because there was nothing to hear).

my work, of course, is all heart!

my dear friend steve sanford died (someone who definitely deserves a blog entry ~ when i can get through it) and at his funeral, my poetry was read. i should have had a table set up selling books, the response was so wonderful. it was no john ciardi prize with copies going to the losers, it was better. it was alive. and it was heard. and it was a winner! nah nah nah!

my poetry: http://royanthonyshabla.com