Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

For the past while I have been leaving my copies of Poetry mostly unread, and planned on letting my subscription lapse.

Then there was the May 2013 issue.

On the back was a quote by Amiri Baraka. Remembering him from my African-American lit class, I was intrigued and wanted to read where it came from [“A Post-Racial Anthology?”].

Although I am a white male Mormon who voted for Romney, 
I say that no one should disparage their roots — be it in the flesh, or in the arts, or anything else — without fear and trembling. Although my own poetry bears little resemblance to Shakespeare’s and Cicero’s, 
I feel that I owe a lot to them for what they did for their time. I also love to honor the great lit of other peoples (like Osip Mandelstam, Olav Hauge, and Harriet Wilson) and feel that I owe a great debt to them as well.

Keep up the fight, Amiri! I won’t always agree with you, but I will cheer for you!

harrisville, utah