The link to the essay appears broken? This all seems to me a fragmentation of attention to what a journal is willing to stand by. How could they publish then retract if they weren’t first committed? Not just cowardice, but inattention. Can you imagine the New Yorker retracting Hannah Arendt? In this age, I can.
What I mean is, in the haste for CONTENT the publishers publish a piece they cannot stand by. Which is like picking up the tuna off the cannery floor. (With all due respect to the tuna.)
Yes. that is essentially what happened, though in this case the template was more Hobart After Dark than Poetry: the X/Twitter mob was a Church Ladies’ Auxiliary.
You're welcome. Though I don't think Guernica was looking for content. They are one of the hardest lit mags to get into for poetry, fiction, or essays: according to Duotrope, they only accept "0.20 % of submissions."
Devastatingly true observation in the poem and notes: too many champions of "resistance" are actually Soviet-style apparatchiks and their aim is suppression of dissent from the party line. I found the essay beautiful and balanced and am appalled at the staff's decision, but not surprised. It's of a piece with the hysteria sweeping college campuses. And a note on "fulsome": https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/magazine/22wwln-safire-t.html
I read the original essay by Joanna Chen through the link. It could not have been written more carefully and thoughtfully. She takes the reader with her every step of the way, with unwavering compassion for this broken world.
The self censorship on the left reminds me that many of these people are indeed “snowflakes”, distraught because they weren’t provided with “safe space”. And so it goes….
interesting read, full of imagery I had to go back and look closer at & think about. Where ever do you find these fantastic notes, essays and inspiration? Thanks for a thoughtful Monday read.
“I still find vitality and excitement at the margins of official US poetry culture”…thank goodness for this! I’ll follow your links s soon as I have time.
Best be careful being naked and exposed around all those bees.
The link to the essay appears broken? This all seems to me a fragmentation of attention to what a journal is willing to stand by. How could they publish then retract if they weren’t first committed? Not just cowardice, but inattention. Can you imagine the New Yorker retracting Hannah Arendt? In this age, I can.
What I mean is, in the haste for CONTENT the publishers publish a piece they cannot stand by. Which is like picking up the tuna off the cannery floor. (With all due respect to the tuna.)
They liked the piece but probably bowed to a Twitter mob as is all too common.
Yes. that is essentially what happened, though in this case the template was more Hobart After Dark than Poetry: the X/Twitter mob was a Church Ladies’ Auxiliary.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240305095742/https://www.guernicamag.com/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
Thanks.
You're welcome. Though I don't think Guernica was looking for content. They are one of the hardest lit mags to get into for poetry, fiction, or essays: according to Duotrope, they only accept "0.20 % of submissions."
Fab poem. And I’m dying to read Chen’s essay. But the link is broken.
This link works: https://web.archive.org/web/20240305095742/https://www.guernicamag.com/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
Devastatingly true observation in the poem and notes: too many champions of "resistance" are actually Soviet-style apparatchiks and their aim is suppression of dissent from the party line. I found the essay beautiful and balanced and am appalled at the staff's decision, but not surprised. It's of a piece with the hysteria sweeping college campuses. And a note on "fulsome": https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/magazine/22wwln-safire-t.html
Yes. Which is why I said it was pompous but not incorrect.
Safire's advice was good: don't use a word that can be misconstrued.
So sad, when people can't say what they think when it's not WOKE enough of politically correct enough. We have given up on true diversity and debate.
I read the original essay by Joanna Chen through the link. It could not have been written more carefully and thoughtfully. She takes the reader with her every step of the way, with unwavering compassion for this broken world.
The self censorship on the left reminds me that many of these people are indeed “snowflakes”, distraught because they weren’t provided with “safe space”. And so it goes….
Forces on the right and left now come together in a bizarre hatred of Jews and Israel. https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-anti-semitism-rises-on-the-left-and-right
Horseshoe hatred. Horseshoe hysteria.
I know next to nothing about "official" American poetry and its trappings, but yours today is powerful and beautifully crafted, context or not.
Thank you, Mr. Mike.
Powerful and good
❤️
This is one of your better posts, and that's saying something!
Thanks so much.
"the narcissism of small differences." YES YES AMEN.
Freud.
Tremendous.
interesting read, full of imagery I had to go back and look closer at & think about. Where ever do you find these fantastic notes, essays and inspiration? Thanks for a thoughtful Monday read.
I just don't even know where to start with the substance of what you're writing about. Thank you for this.
“I still find vitality and excitement at the margins of official US poetry culture”…thank goodness for this! I’ll follow your links s soon as I have time.