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POETRYETC  December 2007

POETRYETC December 2007

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Subject:

The life of the back channel on Poetryetc

From:

Kenneth Wolman <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc: poetry and poetics

Date:

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:52:11 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (94 lines)

Frederick Pollack wrote:
> I never saw anything objectionable in Joe Green's posts.  He seems smart and funny.
>   

As I tried to write at the end of an exhausting day...Joe is a friend, a 
mentor, and a colleague.  I don't say that about too many people, so I 
guess that by saying so, I am ruining my otherwise perfect record as a 
misanthrope.  And yes, when I first came across Joe years ago, I 
detested him.  Opinions can change.

I am being denser than usual or necessary.  So I must echo one of Judy's 
questions, i.e., who made the decision if not Anny herself?  Who is the 
eminence grise who is calling the shots on this list?  Who is the 
co-manager with her?  Duemer has effectively disappeared from view 
(yes?), so who is left?  Or is there a Committee?

People really did this whole expulsion thing back-channel?  A whispering 
campaign, then?  Are we working with a list of 200 names?  A Salem witch 
hysteria?  A Cultural Revolution?

Poetryetc, since I've been on it (coming up on five years) has an habit 
of injecting back-channel poison with great effect right into the most 
convenient vein or artery. The identity of the listowner/manager is 
immaterial because the poison acquires its own life and power to harm.  
It has been this way during the tenures of Seiferle, Croggan, Duemer, 
and now Anny.  You could not ask for more disparate personalities.  And 
every one of those managers--Anny is thus far the exception--has been 
disposed of like some minister of Henry VIII who outlived his 
usefulness.  A favorite today, head on the block a week later.  I always 
knew I should l have been born in 1510.

Tim Burton is about to issue a film version of (Stephen) Sondheim's 
*Sweeney Todd*.  The trailer motto is "Never forget.  Never forgive."  
One can let something slip from the front brain without formally 
absolving the presumed offender.  I am sure Stephen Vincent harbors ill 
feeling toward me because I made some possibly over-the-top comments 
about his political suggestions.  That's a shame, but it's also okay; it 
is not a critical part of my life.  The point is we did it out in the 
open: said it, dropped it, let it alone.  I don't need to love everyone 
here.

The back-channel is the killer, the virus.

In early 2005, some of you may recall that there was a tumultuous 
situation in my divided family.  My ex-wife's brother-in-law took his 
own life; and the way he bungled it, it took him almost three months to 
actually die.  This was going on against the backdrop of Terri Schiavo 
and the former Pope, both of whom were expiring by degrees.  My sons 
were profoundly upset.  So was I.  As I recall the incident, I let some 
personal religious convictions show on this list.  I didn't think I was 
exposing myself but I suppose that is how it was viewed. I might have 
done better admitting a fondness for pederasty. Several people had to 
reaffirm their vows of atheism--like I care.  Other people stayed out.  
But the back channel did this:

1. This you've heard before.  Ann White wrote to me privately and tasked 
me for something I perhaps said.  Who remembers?  She was moderately 
abusive (can you spell "pit bull"?) and I believe I told her in reply to 
get out of my face.  I was not abusive, just blunt.  I didn't harass her 
or hit on her.  Next thing I know Ms. White has reported me to Alison 
Croggan as a troll and harasser.  I left the list before I could be 
kicked.  It turns out Alison had no intention of kicking me so I 
eventually came back.

2. This I have *not* repeated in public because it is potentially 
libelous, and I don't have the original email; so it could become he 
said/he said.  As the spinoff of this religious overreaction, Mr. 
Lawrence Upton of the British Library wrote to me *back channel* and 
invited me to kill myself so as to join my brother-in-law.  I had no 
exchanges with Mr. Upton before, and certainly have not had any since.  
I don't save filth like that, it was too disgusting to even forward, but 
it etched itself into my head, you might say.  Like it said above: Never 
forget, never forgive.  Mr. Upton overturned everything I have spent 
years trying to learn.

"And your point is?"  Back channel on this list, while it's useful for 
fostering friendships, seems to have a unique place on Poetryetc as a 
place to conspire, and to anonymously denounce others, either to their 
"face" or to the listowner.

By the way, I didn't see Joe Green in the woods dancing with the Devil.

Ken

-- 
------------------
Kenneth Wolman
kenwolman.wordpress.com

		To My Children

		One last thing I will do for you:
		I will grow up.--Mairead Byrne

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