The Flea has bitten some Eratosphereans
 

Doesn't look as if anyone else is going to do this so I will. I am enormously proud to be in http://www.the-flea.com/
The Flea

I love the taste of this little bloodsucker. I share my complacency with some fine Eratosphereans:
Mark Allinson. Maryann Corbett, Ann Drysdale, Richard Epstein, Bill Greenwell, R. Nemo Hill, Janice D. Soderling, and other tremendously good poets.

I am thrilled to be in The Flea because it seems a very special publication with a concentrated aura of being chosen by a fine editor who knows what he wants. Thank you Paul Stevens.

Hear, Hear!

I felt a bit too new to the 'sphere be the first to say it, but I'm proud to be the second sucker in the queue. It's Brit thing, queueing. We do it to prove how polite we are, but when somebody else opens the door, we're in there, with elbows and teeth!

Well met, friends. And thank you, Paul.

Yes! I am very happy to be Flea'd as well.

And especially in such fine company.

Thanks again to Paul, for such a fine little sucker!

Me too! Paul's little sucker is absolutely the most remarkable and interesting and different party I've attended in quite a while, and I'm thrilled to be in the room.

Paul did put an announcement down on GA (in Middle English, no less); sincere thanks to those who said nice things down there as well. And many thanks to Paul for all his work and his incredible inventiveness.

I love the Flea, and I congratulate you all.

I'm seeing some amazing poems by many folks I know. I haven't read the whole issue yet, but so far I've read Janet's poem and it's fabulous, one of the best by her I've seen. I look forward to spending time with the rest of the poems and I'm sure I'm in for many treats.

(Whether or not every poet in the issue constitutes "fine company" is open to serious debate, and was in fact debated here at length. I don't wish to resurrect that entire discussion, but when people speak of the "fine company" or how honored they are to "be in the room," my desire to congratulate my friends here at Erato requires this slight disclaimer on my part. But the issue is fabulous overall.)

All of the poets in The Flea are fine company in the only sense that matters in this context: they write exceptionally fine poetry. If you want to indulge in personal animosity or political gang-warfare, this is not the occasion.

Paul, since when did I become a "gang"? Makes an individual person politely expressing an individual opinion sound so formidable!

But as I said, the entire gang of me thinks it's a wonderful issue with truly exceptional poems to read and savor. I'm greatly impressed.

Thank you Roger, I am very grateful for your kind words.

Mark used the term "fine company". You know he lives alone in a shed and is very pleased to be out just as I am always pleased to share a space with him. He means "other poets whose work he enjoys". I love Mark's Hydrangeas poem and it is a pleasure to be published in its proximity.
I got a charge out of all the poems in this issue.

“What explains their superiority? Charm, I think. When art comes down to the character and the personality revealed by an artist’s decisions, the question of value hinges on how you feel about the artist.” Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 8/3/09