[Matt Q]

I guess it's possible to see this as him be preoccupied with his own pain. Personally, I didn't see self-pity. I think a more charitable reading is that he's a making a point about the experience of being a straight white male poet, and this point contributes to an understanding of how straight white men respond to the changing face of the poetry 'industry' -- and also how they respond to their perceptions of this change, which, as he touches on, may well not be exactly the same as the reality of the situation.

On the other hand, when it comes to this:

"Though emotionally I’m crushed that I’m disappearing as a poet, ethically I find it necessary and don’t know how to put the two together."

I do wonder a little what he's been doing all his life. I think pretty much any adult who's reached his age and has tried to act as an ethical being will have faced at least a few situations in which the ethical course of actions conflicts with what's easy, or with what we strongly want and desire. Still, maybe it's for effect, and he's spelling the point out. This seems to be the crux of the essay, after all. The conflict and interplay of these two forces.

On a slight tangent, but related to one or two points he makes in the article: I once had a poem accepted for a magazine, and was told it would be in one of the next two issues. When it didn't appear in either, I emailed to enquire after it, and was told, basically, that they'd said yes to too many white people, so they so they gave 'my' slot to someone who wasn't white (they did apologise for not having let me know in advance and did eventually publish my poem). It was an interesting mixture of experiences for me: I was looking forward to seeing it come out, so there was the unpleasant feeling of not getting something I wanted and had been expecting. There was also the novelty of the reason why I wasn't getting what I wanted: the colour of my skin. Something that hadn't happened to me before, so quite an interesting experience, too. Plus, I got a chance to reflect on the fact I had the luxury to consider it interesting.

So, anyway, I think he covers some interesting ground. Interesting to me, anyway.

Andrew,

I not sure it's strictly accurate to say that "he blames his declining readership on young poets of colour" in that he makes it clear at the beginning of the article there are likely other, bigger contributory factors. But even so, I don't see it as odd to suggest that this might partly be the case -- or in general, even if not specifically in his case (I'm not completely sure which you're finding odd). It seems logical enough in the general case. Leaving aside 'young' for a moment, since that's likely at least in part a different dynamic, it does seem to follow that a growing commitment to diversity leads to less space for previously over-represented groups in situations where that space is limited. For example, if those awarding major prizes are committed to increasing diversity, there will be less opportunities than before for members of previously over-represented groups to win those prizes, simply by virtue of those groups having previously been over-represented. In such cases, statistically, being white, male and straight, his odds will have lengthened.

Mark,

I'm guessing 'getting dragged' means that people on Twitter are saying less than nice things about him.