More Pieces of Me
The January/February issue of Poets & Writers (which has an absolute must-read cover story featuring four of the best up and coming agents going right now) also includes a short Q&A of mine with newly-minted Paris Review poetry editor Dan Chiasson, who will now juggle those duties with writing his own poetry and teaching at Wellesey:
What
sort of overlap do you see between teaching poetry and shepherding poems to
publication?
I now feel like I'm
involved in all steps in the poetry production chain. I write poetry; I teach
poetry, which exposes me to fresh and unformed young minds; I review poetry for
newspapers and magazines; and now, at the Paris Review,
I read unpublished work by
accomplished, award-winning poets and rising stars, and have a hand in
selecting it for publication. It's very thrilling to be so involved and to see
the differing mind-sets of students versus poets submitting work to me. What I
now can't do, however, is publish my own work in the Paris Review. I also have to think very seriously about
conflicts of interest with regards to reviewing. I've had the freedom to speak
my mind about any poet, but now I have to be more careful in my reviewing
choices.
sort of overlap do you see between teaching poetry and shepherding poems to
publication?
I now feel like I'm
involved in all steps in the poetry production chain. I write poetry; I teach
poetry, which exposes me to fresh and unformed young minds; I review poetry for
newspapers and magazines; and now, at the Paris Review,
I read unpublished work by
accomplished, award-winning poets and rising stars, and have a hand in
selecting it for publication. It's very thrilling to be so involved and to see
the differing mind-sets of students versus poets submitting work to me. What I
now can't do, however, is publish my own work in the Paris Review. I also have to think very seriously about
conflicts of interest with regards to reviewing. I've had the freedom to speak
my mind about any poet, but now I have to be more careful in my reviewing
choices.
And in the Guardian books blog, I consider the recent controversy surrounding the Newbery Medal and whether recent winners are being chosen less for their appeal to a wide audience and more towards insular literary quality.