Saturday, February 03, 2007

hypnosis

It bugs me when in one of the short bios that appear after a poem, the poet seems to list every journal and magazine that ever published them. I read a bio the other day where the poet listed 14 publishing credits. (Then also she listed her degrees, fellowships and awards.) This was an ezine, a good one, a monthly with five or six other poets in the issue. Still. It's not like you're applying for a job. Or accepting the Nobel prize. I felt she was daring me not to like her poem, which I didn't have any more time to read.

In other news, I'm still reading The Gulag Archipelago. It's long.

5 comments:

Rob said...

Yes, it's a bit pointless. A few of the best recent publications or achievements is plenty. I do like a short bio with publications though, as it sometimes introduces me to good,new zines.

Rachel Mallino said...

oh, you make me chuckle. I especially gag at the lists of academic credentials.

Carl Bryant said...

Sheesh, Sarah -

If they didn't supply their credentials, how on earth would you know if their poetry was any good?

We must have some way of sorting mindless rambling from art.

SarahJane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SarahJane said...

Rob, I also like to know a couple of their publications, but it gets a bit much at about, say, seven. More than that, I like to know something about the poet.
Rachel, yeah, can't write a poem without them!
Carl, you are right. Silly me. I probably don't even need to read the poem anymore.

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