I actually enjoy quite a bit of Sharon Olds's work, even if her poetic toolbox is quite different from mine, and her erotic subject matter isn't always my thing.
But I, too, was very annoyed that I didn't win. All that sucking up, all those boring dinner parties with committee members, all those favors done to their college-aged children, wasted.
I comfort myself with the thought that many poets forced to support themselves with day jobs in various fields unrelated to the po biz (e.g., obstetrics, insurance bonding, librarianship--oh, the horror) have still managed to find the time to write decent poems and get them before an appreciative public. So there's always Plan B.
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