I've had the great good fortune of hearing Wendy's reading at West Chester, followed by the great misfortune of having to succeed her at the podium at Colorado College. The only worse fate I could imagine would be following R.S. Gwynn. I am mad about Cope. I have more of her lines by heart than any other of my contemporaries. I am no satirist, no poet of manners, and in fact I try to write with the rich musicality that my friend Caleb so much admires. But I in turn admire those poetic endeavors of which I am incapable. Wendy is just flat out one of the five best poets writing in the English language, and I hope the denizens of the Eratosphere will buy her books and study her. Those who are as delighted as I will further profit by acquiring Sam Gwynn's No Word of Farewell, New and Selected. Story Line published it this week, and it can be ordered from them on line. Was it Eliot or Dr. Johnson who said "that rarest man of genius, the true satirist?"
--Tim Murphy
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