i don't know of copper canyon, but i suspect a faber/carcanet/bloodaxe
deal seems to me to be definitely a plus but what do i know...i
haven't got one. it seems to me from the times i've read of poets i
know with, say, a faber deal, they seem to have other jobs going on.
your last paragraph interests me though. when was poetry ever anything
but a beggars banquest? i've had a mull over this and it seems to me
that all the poets who i could think of were either penniless, moneyed
(inheritance etc) or had other jobs (wcw was a doctor, pound was a
journalist with some wealthy patrons, eliot was banker than at faber,
stevens in insurance, most other post-war in academia...the list goes
on). (the mind boggles at ep leading a creative writing course) so i
guess my question is, when was this golden age you speak of?
Roger
On 1/9/06, Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> To add to what Rebecca has said, calling Copper Canyon powerful I think
> begs the question of what we mean by power in the context of US poetry. Do
> powerful presses make their authors famous, or more employable in the
> academic world, or more likely to get grants? The latter two marginally, at
> best, the first scarcely. Worse, they don't increase one's audience much.
>
> Poetry has become a beggar's banquet--we fight over crumbs.
>
> Mark
>
>
> At 12:12 AM 1/9/2006 -0500, you wrote:
> >---- Original message ----
> > >Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 22:34:22 -0500
> > >From: Kenneth Wolman <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Subject: Re: Money and poetry
> >
> > > Richard Nash, the publisher of the fiercely independent Brooklyn-based
> > > Soft Skull Press, is about to scale back his extensive poetry list,
> > > most of which he's lost money on.
> > >.I rather agree with it from very impure motives. The "unconnected" poet
> > >is going to get nowhere with contests, with the once-small but now
> > >powerful presses like Copper Canyon and BOA, and with obvious coteries
> > >of which he or she is not a part.
> >
> >An interesting post, Ken, but I have a cold, so I'm just replying to these
> >few bits.
> >You mention Copper Canyon, which publishes my work, among others, but it
> >has become a more 'powerful' press, as has BOA, with the disappearance of
> >poetry publishing by the giant publishing houses. But not without the same
> >old
> >and some new financial pressures, which has meant a cutting back on the list,
> >so in some cases, a previously published poet is cut loose. The same thing
> >has
> >happened at BOA in the last couple of years, so a number of editors and
> >publishers have had to scale back as Richard Nash has, though none of them
> >are
> >happy about it, and wondering over alternatives.
> >
> > > I don't disagree with the Internet
> > >perspective but it too has become less an Medieval fair than a set of
> > >selective little boutiques where you have to divine the reigning
> > >prejudices to get in. A good friend who is quite published in print and
> > >online can't crack either publication calling itself Drunken Boat.
> >
> >Ah, I'd guess of these Drunken Boats is mine, but wasn't aware that your
> >friend
> >was trying to crack it. I had to scale back too, mostly because of time
> >pressures,
> >not being able to edit one issue, do the html for another, an editor who'd
> >gone
> >on elsewhere, and my work here, etc, for the summer issue, and have shifted
> >somewhat to these features, like the Latvian feature which another editor put
> >together over two years. Even though it says on the submissions page that we
> >don't take unsolicited submissions only queries, most of the issues are
> >sent to
> >me, like the interview with Aliki Barnstone by an unknown writer. So
> >there's not
> >a particular taste or prejudice, the work we've published is all over the
> >place.
> >And I haven't for months gotten any submissions out of the blue of someone
> >trying to crack the boat, perhaps because the email address was being
> >routinely
> >spammed to death. So I changed it recently, so perhaps your friend
> >should try
> >again,
> >
> >best,
> >
> >Rebecca
>
--
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http://www.cb1poetry.org.uk/
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