tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post8052571958313060395..comments2024-01-19T21:33:09.716+00:00Comments on E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK: Unusual Suspects?EYEWEARhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01900801847916951522noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-81605526886420775552011-01-12T15:50:44.915+00:002011-01-12T15:50:44.915+00:00I own the entire set of 'Best American Poetry&...I own the entire set of 'Best American Poetry', including a galley proof of the first edition with treasured signatures by Nobelists Heaney and Walcott. Each edition reflects the idiosyncratic taste and preferences of the guest editor, but with much of the journal screening done by Lehman (the poems all come from the previous year's journals).<br />The choices are hardly the'Best', perhaps excepting for the perennial choices of poems by John Ashbery. Nonetheless, the series are 'must buys' and a commercial success.Norbert Hirschhornhttp://www.bertzpoet.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-30365586353226559082010-07-09T08:56:46.766+01:002010-07-09T08:56:46.766+01:00And by "Roddy can do better", I was refe...And by "Roddy can do better", I was referring precisely to his ability to his ability to seek out suitable--and *various*--guest editors.<br /><br />Spendid series my arse. It's a logistical and administrative marvel, I'll give you that.Nicholas Liuhttp://nicholasliu.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-10923061223874002922010-07-09T08:51:55.950+01:002010-07-09T08:51:55.950+01:00Todd, you said "an equivalent level of varied...Todd, you said "an equivalent level of varied names". Clearly you weren't just talking about quality, but also variety--and sorry, but BAP's guest ed list is really not that various:<br /><br /> * 2009: David Wagoner<br /> * 2008: Charles Wright<br /> * 2007: Heather McHugh<br /> * 2006: Billy Collins †<br /> * 2005: Paul Muldoon<br /> * 2004: Lyn Hejinian<br /> * 2003: Yusef Komunyakaa<br /> * 2002: Robert Creeley<br /> * 2001: Robert Hass †<br /> * 2000: Rita Dove<br /> * 1999: Robert Bly<br /> * 1998: John Hollander<br /> * Best of the Best: '88-'97: Harold Bloom<br /> * 1997: James Tate<br /> * 1996: Adrienne Rich<br /> * 1995: Richard Howard<br /> * 1994: A. R. Ammons<br /> * 1993: Louise Glück †<br /> * 1992: Charles Simic †<br /> * 1991: Mark Strand †<br /> * 1990: Jorie Graham<br /> * 1989: Donald Hall †<br /> * 1988: John Ashbery<br /><br />If the broadness of the church is defined purely by the gulf between its two most dissimilar members, fine, but by any other measure, I don't see how the claim can be made.Nicholas Liuhttp://nicholasliu.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-89068457210131657732010-07-08T09:15:39.381+01:002010-07-08T09:15:39.381+01:00Sheenagh, thanks for your comments. I meant that ...Sheenagh, thanks for your comments. I meant that Roddy Lumsden would know all the names of potential guest editors - not all poets who might be included year to year. I agree, the editors will need to roll up sleeves and read from as many of the journals as possible. The BAP model is to consider all poems published in America, regardless of poetic nationality or location, which seems the best way forward.EYEWEARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01900801847916951522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-24067923063382652612010-07-08T09:13:12.482+01:002010-07-08T09:13:12.482+01:00Nicholas, yes, BAP is a broad church - having had ...Nicholas, yes, BAP is a broad church - having had editors like Lyn Hejinian, and Donald Hall, is pretty broad. I used the word equivalent for the quality of the potential guest editors, not for Roddy's editorial capabilities - re-read my post. Any British editor would be challenged to maintain for 22 years such a project as BAP has been - it does no one any good to do down such a splendid series.EYEWEARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01900801847916951522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-71928705242784487252010-07-07T23:16:16.438+01:002010-07-07T23:16:16.438+01:00BAP, a broad church? Are you shitting me? I'm ...BAP, a broad church? Are you shitting me? I'm sure Roddy can do a bit better than "equivalent".Nicholas Liuhttp://nicholasliu.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726943.post-13243006125441836752010-07-07T17:48:06.318+01:002010-07-07T17:48:06.318+01:00"Fortunately, Lumsden knows most poets he wil..."Fortunately, Lumsden knows most poets he will need to reach."<br /><br />Sorry, but I think that would be a fatal way to proceed. Not personal; whoever the editor was, he would have the same problem of knowing what and whom he knows and being unaware of what and whom he does not. Poetry is incredibly fragmented; it's well possible to be famous in Birmingham and unknown in Hull. I know a particular set of poets from my teaching, from geographical connections and from certain magazines. So do we all. I wouldn't mind betting that you and I could each come up with 10-20 names that seemed essential to the one thinking of them but which the other did not know at all.<br /><br />I don't know how the selection will be done for this but I hope it won't just be by the editor contacting people he knows. For the Forward anthologies magazine editors submit, which at least means the editors are potentially looking beyond their own circle of friends. I can't see a better way of doing it.Sheenagh Pughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735299981866333316noreply@blogger.com