[R. Nemo Hill]

Well, you folks don't get out of your town much I guess. Joe Brainard is far from a nonentity and has quite a devoted following and well-deserved reputation in circles outside your own. Granted, it's a different kind of thing than people are interested in here on Eratosphere--but hell, it's a big wide wonderful world full of all sorts of people. Brainard is definitely a poetic force to be reckoned with, is a legendary figure in New York, a lovely person, and a poet who inspired me quite a bit in my youth. Not only that: he has a fucking great sense of humor--something many of us could use a lot more of!

Long live Joe Brainard!

Nemo

[Allen Tice]

I remember R. Nemo Hill.

[W.F. Lantry]

Nemo,

Thanks for your note. Just dipping in to highlight that I tried to make no comment about Brainerd himself: by all accounts he was an interesting and mulitalented guy, who's even better known in art circles than in poetic ones. I don't know enough about his work to form even a rudimentary opinion.

On the other hand, "Guardians of American Letters?" There's a group here in town like that, and they're just a tad creepy. Fine people as individuals, I enjoy drinking with them, but I tend to avoid their torchlight rallies. They might decide to drunkenly string *me* up, while chanting paeans to Thomas Paine!

And I'm pretty sure the 50,000 dollar donation isn't their only criteria for selection, even though that's what it says on their website. I even bet there are some honorable people involved. I just wish those honorable people would have a little chat with the people running things there about the impressions certain things on their website give.

Thanks,

Bill

[Maryann Corbett]

Are we all talking about the same person? Nemo seems to be speaking of Brainard as somebody who's still among the living, while Bill says "was," which is what I would have said, considering that the author page connected with the book on Amazon says "1941-1994." I'm not taking any position; I'm just confused.

[R. Nemo Hill]

He's dead, Maryann. The "long live" was a posthumous gesture.

Bill, my comments had nothing to do with the politics of this or that organization. They were solely a reaction to rampant poetic provincialism.

Nemo

[Gail White]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

I think I'm going to compete against them. I will publish your book of poems for just $40K, and I will call my series "Library of Timeless Classics That Will Last As Long As The Universe, Or Even Parallel Universes If They End Up Lasting Longer Than Ours."

I love this idea. As soon as I win the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, I'll send you my $40K.