Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Criticism, not being constrained as poetry is by principles of economy or form, tends to proliferate out of control. Indeed, if you were to put a few cells of it in one petri dish and a few cells of poetry in another, the criticism cells would multiply like a virulent disease and soon outnumber those in the other dish ten to one. Witness what has happened to Poetry under the new regime. The October issue contained one poem (not counting the reprint on the back cover) and all the rest talk.

Of course, some of the talk was fun. I enjoyed the "Antagonisms" feature, and I would not have minded the issue being expanded to accommodate it. But was it really enough fun to deny publication to good poems to make space for it? The same question might be asked about the discussion of recent prize winners, which I enjoyed less. We can have these discussions at workshops or over a beer. They should not be replacing poems in your pages.

In view of the title of the magazine, I propose that you consider reserving a minimum number of pages (say, fifty? hell, sixty or seventy would be better) for poetry, as opposed to poetics. Ten years from now most of the opinions expressed in your burgeoning forums, exchanges, and symposia will be seen as dated and irrelevant, whereas a significant fraction of the poetry will still be fresh and germane.