[Claudia Gary]

Dear Maryann, Cathy, John, Simon, and Ralph,

I appreciate your thoughts. And it's reassuring to be in such a distinguished club! There seem to be pros and cons to expanding the audience for formal poetry, but I hope we can all persevere.

Claudia

[Jayne Osborn]

I'm really sorry to hear this has happened to you, Claudia.

Some years ago I judged a national poetry competition and an anthology came out subsequently, in which my chosen (brilliant, perfectly rhymed) winning poem had the word ''tiny'' printed in one line, instead of ''thin''. This error served to wreck the metre and the sense of the poem, and I was furious. It wasn't even my poem - but it impinged on me for having chosen a poem that didn't appear to scan properly.

Whichever way you deal with it, I hope the final outcome is a happy one for you!

Jayne

[Mark Blaeuer]

I sympathize, Claudia, so good luck with this. In the long term, if worse comes to worst with the anthology editing, you'll still have another chance to see that the poem looks the way you want. That'll be when you're proofing the final version of your next book.

[Charlotte Innes]

I'm rather in shock over the stories posted here. Most of my experiences with editors (bar one) have been good. I really hope you get things straightened out, Claudia.

I also like Roger's (and Mary Ann's) approach.

Wishing you luck!

Charlotte

[Claudia Gary]

Jayne,

Yikes, I'm sorry that happened to you.


Jayne, Mark, and Charlotte,

Thanks for your understanding and encouragement. We really are all going to have to get this situation straightened out one day!

Claudia