[Jim Moonan]

I missed this interview when first posted by Julie... But did read it now and am appalled -- if indeed it is real. It feels unreal. But if it is, I better now the multi-face of the enemy of progress and Joseph MacKenzie is a part of it.

Maybe we must begin to think seriously about the very fabric of our lives as American and global citizens... and what it is that chews at our coats like moths. Maybe we are in for a true global people's revolution...
Maybe I'm tired and gonna go to bed.

[Julie Steiner]

Jim, I earlier discussed the unwavering support of some conservative Christians for Trump, but I didn't post a link to this interview.

Narcissists feed on attention, whether the attention is positive or negative. Whenever it's not downright dangerous to ignore them, as in the case of Trump, I think we should starve them of that attention. This is particularly true of Christian narcissists with persecution complexes, who constantly seek out opportunities to be immolated in spectacular fashion by the Left. They always claim it's for the glory of God's name, but it's for the glory of their own names. Let's not inadvertently give them the fame they crave by ridiculing them.

Yes, there's a certain entertainment value in such howlers as "the Times Literary Supplement of London did well to remind the world of my taking First Place at the Scottish International Poetry Competition"--yes, well done, TLS, what a noble service to a grateful world that was!--and "Traditional Catholic marriage is an absolute requirement for poets of amatory verse. Shakespeare proves this"--wow, who knew it was possible to overlook the obvious homoeroticism in Shakespeare's love sonnets?--but I've got better things to do today than snicker at pompous assery. (Or pompous half-assery, as the case may be.)

[Andrew Szilvasy]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

"Traditional Catholic marriage is an absolute requirement for poets of amatory verse. Shakespeare proves this"--wow, who knew it was possible to overlook the obvious homoeroticism in Shakespeare's love sonnets?

This was one of my favorite moments in this interview.

It was pure gold.

[Aaron Poochigian]

Oh my God, yes, Mr. Mackenzie is clearly a hack and crank, and thus it scares me a great deal that I agree with much of what he says in the interview. I'm surprised that some one of the conservative New Formalists wasn't invited to step forward and publicly lick Trump's butthole.

[Michael Juster]

This is a prank, folks, by a fairly new group of millenniumish formal poets.

[Michael Cantor]

Is the Society of Classical Poets and its Top Ten lists and general air of Harvard Underclassmen - circa 1952 - also a prank? I hope so.

[Gregory Palmerino]

Quite a few credible American and International poets, that is, those who are published in many of the same journals as poets on the sphere, publish their work there. If the interview is fake, the site is fake. And I don't think that's the case.

[Michael Cantor]

Really? I went through the complete list of entries in the 2016 Journal, Gregory, and the partial lists (all they made available) for the next four years or so, and the only name I recognized was yours. Who'd I miss?

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

In this present Party the actual and the unbelievably stupid have converged so completely that conversations like this are taking place over dozens of subjects and articles every week. With this election it is like we installed one particular dog's vomit in the Louvre and now we have to walk through every alley and say, is that His?

[Gregory Palmerino]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Really? I went through the complete list of entries in the 2016 Journal, Gregory, and the partial lists (all they made available) for the next four years or so, and the only name I recognized was yours. Who'd I miss?

Michael, I'm humbled. You have finally recognized my presence here on the sphere.

I wrote: "Quite a few credible American and International poets, that is, those who are published in many of the same journals as poets on the sphere, publish their work there."

Would you like me to PM a list of poets and the journals that have published them? It will be a little secret between you and me.

Sincerely,
Greg