Actually, I do find the conversation quite fascinating. I really enjoyed reading Chaisson's piece on said poet. And, don't worry, I will find a way to tie in the conference. Ross, will you be attending? See ;)

And Michael, talking of all things conference-related, I really enjoyed the poem you read during Joshua Mehigan's last reading at the farm. Are you enrolling in his advanced class on versification? http://www.frostfarmpoetry.org/versification/

No Catherine, I'd love to see New Haven but my daughter is in London and may live there permanently if I travel overseas it will be to see her.

This won't make the quotee "like" me any better (as if that mattered - I gave up on him about five years ago), but it's crystalline from the evidence posted above that here the quotee is essentially correct, so (noting but not now condemning any of the varied windful filibusters involved) I quote the quotable quotee :

Actually (if I may) there is a practical reason for sticking to the topic. Quite apart from the generally recognized etiquette to respect another's reason for starting the thread, newcomers shouldn't have to read through several pages of inane look-at-me-again-posts to collect the pertinent information. Even when the thread starter is magnanimous and says "it's all right if you put your muddy boots up on my maghogany coffee table", we all know it isn't the polite thing to do when we come for a visit.

Also, though I am not going to go looking for verse and chapter there is somewhere in the FAQs and/or guidelines (probably under an "Etiquette" heading or "staying civil" or suchlike) an admonition to stick to the topic.

Catherine, thank you for your welcoming words. I am looking into it more closely.

I apologise to Michael, too. And to Catherine. I'm sorry about the goose-shit on your coffee-table.