Tim,
As one of those editors, all of a sudden, I must respond to this 'pack mentality' comment, and Quincy's subsequent charge. I can see how what you said works as a mild put-down of your own accomplishments. But I can also see what it (no doubt unintentionally) infers about us who, as it turns out, have decided to give your work a certain amount of exposure by publishing it. It does no harm to a new magazine's credibility to publish some 'established' and reputable poets, of course. But certainly in the case of Raintown Review and New Walk (and no doubt others), your comments are unfair both to your editors and to yourself.
Because we had started to correspond, I told you about New Walk by email and invited you to submit. You rewarded that invitation with, to my mind, some of your very best work. I passed your sub on to Nick without comment. His subsequent - and considerable - enthusiasm echoed mine but was all his own: he'd actually never heard of you before. This is a testament to the quality of those poems, not the size of your reputation. In fact, your reputation over here is much smaller than I think it deserves to be.
You should be very pleased with your multiple and frequently high-profile acceptances, and they are well-deserved, but I assure you that your notion of the 'pack mentality' does not come into it - at least it doesn't with us. I'm not offended, of course: I just think you're wrong, this time.
This reply reads like a sodding manifesto or something, but then it's high time for my bedtime story and I'm sleepy.
Rory
|