I read a story that said James Dickey wore a jacket with the word 'Poet,' written in glitter, on the back.

That's proof positive. Even poets can be ironic.

I don't self-identify as a poet, because that would defeat the purpose of having a pseudonym, which is to prevent people I know in real life from objecting to my portrayals of them, or to my political and religious views.

But I don't think self-identifying as a poet is pretentious. Unless, of course, you feel the need to upgrade that to the self-congratulatory terms published poet or award-winning poet. Ugh.

RC, in his defense, I think his students in South Carolina had the jacket made for him, and Dickey wore it to oblige them.

I love that, Tim. His students I'm guessing didn't have to push him too hard. And what Ralph said. Christ that's funny, and pretty cool.

Ha! I also believe that profession is good for the soul.

It's good to teach, keep connected. It has to be beyond classroom management. But there's real energy there. Dickey obviously connected.

I only encountered Dickey once in person, but believe me that if he wore a jacket saying "Poet" it wasn't to be polite to anyone. I never witnessed a poet so full of himself. His patter between poems was entirely to prepare us for how wonderful the poem would be, and I recall that he assured us his latest novel was superior to Moby Dick. So no one had to twist his arm to wear that jacket.

Was that novel better than Moby Dick about the dicks in Deliverance?

It didn't travel, or alternatively I'm ignorant. I need to google Dickey, sparkly jacket notwithstanding.

I've been thinking about Julie's point about publication. I'd take that one step further, because one thought that struck me is what counts as worthwhile publication depends on the tiny world you live in.

I know poets in the UK who really don't rate anyone (including Merwin/Hass/Yeats) if they haven't been part of their particular 'set'. I don't think these poets in their groups actually read any poetry, tbh, but that might be my bias talking.

And then I work with students who read, read, read and (imo) write amazing things but don't self-identify as a poet, but if they posted their work on here I think you'd take them seriously.

Oh, I have nothing useful to say, beyond that having thought about this, I think poetry is a practice, like art, rather than a profession. Poets are active practitioners of a craft. How far their work travels depends on a number of different reasons, though (maybe).

Sarah-Jane