Letter from Poetry Magazine

Letter to the Editor

BY Frederick Pool

Originally Published: October 30, 2005

Dear Editor,

I found the invective directed at the office of poet laureate an exercise in self-indulgence. The poet laureate will never seriously dictate or discourage the anonymous strivings of those who labor for nothing but the pleasure of their task. I find no useful purpose served in screaming insults at an honorarium. The expression of poetry, the honest creative act, is not refined in this way.