Jason: Thanks for the kind words. Look, I'm a partisan for formal verse as much as almost anyone around, but I don't believe that metrical experimentation or, heaven forbid, even free verse is an evil thing. I post really bad free verse here myself from time to time. There are a few out there who are very critical of poets and presses who embrace anything other than a very narrow formalism, and they have been fairly vocal about tearing down Story Line over the years. My view is that they didn't help the press at all, and the formal-friendly community should have tried to be more supportive of Story Line than it was.
Now, in the past few years did I pick up the book of the winner of the Roerich Prize and say, "What were they thinking?" after they had recognized such splendid poets as David Mason, Kate Light and Greg Williamson in the early and mid-90's? Sher. Durn right. But we all are entitled to a little slack in matters of judgment, and the McDowells did a lot of great things at significant personal cost over the years, and I just feel they took too much undeserved flak from people who should have been finding a way to help (but I ain't naming names).
[This message has been edited by Michael Juster (edited June 20, 2002).]
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