Thank you, Tim, for including my sonnet, Tim and Rhina for your input and advice, and all the others who commented on the poem.
Tim, some unsolicited advice and opinion for the future - on the assumption we continue this excellent feature.
When the sonnets first started appearing without attribution I thought it was a great idea. Response was not slanted by the author's identity, and it was fun playing "name that writer". However, I've changed my mind.
I think we gave up more than we gained by not identifying the poets. Most notably, the writers were not part of the give-and-take of commentary, so I think we lost the very helpful and vital dimension of the author's thinking. (The only writer who was identified and responded during the course of this year's postings was Robert Mezey, and it led to some interesting exchanges.) In addition, there was no possibility to evaluate that particular sonnet in the context of the writer's overall work, which could sometimes be very interesting.
Interestingly, I checked back and we seem to have had more than twice as many responses last year, even with (my opinion) a stronger group of sonnets this year. I recognize there's a war on, and am sure that preoccupation and depression had something to do with the reduced response, but also question whether the lack of writer's identity was a damper.
Finally, I would be delighted and interested if any of the authors cared to reopen their threads and comment on the commentaries (it's an old Talmudic tradition).
Michael Cantor
[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited March 27, 2003).]
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