I have followed this thread for a while. As someone who joined almost at the start of Eratosphere and was a moderator at Metrical and later at The Deep End, and also on one occasion a “Distinguished Guest” at Non-Met, I just wanted to throw in my three ha’pence.
What attracted me to the Sphere at the start was the presence of people like Bob Mezey, Alicia Stallings and Deborah Warren, and, indirectly through the good offices of Tim Murphy, of Anthony Hecht and Richard Wilbur. All of these I got to meet in person in later years, either in this country or in the U.S.. and to correspond with some of them. What these writers had in common was that I already knew of their work away from the internet: I either had copies of their books on my shelves or had come across their poems in reputable magazines. This seemed a sign that the Sphere was something more serious than some of the other poetry boards I had found on the web. Having joined, I then came across other poets who fell into that broad class, such as Michael Juster, Rhina Espaillat, Anthony Lombardy and Susan McLean. In the margins at times was Dana Gioia.
As for myself, I submitted very few poems in the several years that I was an active commentator, perhaps only ten or a dozen. I got much more out of commenting myself, formulating my thoughts in what I hope was a clear way, and from reading the comments of others on other people’s poems.
Eventually, as was natural and inevitable, many of these writers slipped away – Deborah Warren and Alicia Stallings, for instance. Hecht and Wilbur died, and when Tim moved off, after Alan Sullivan’s death, contact was lost with another part of the poetry network. Since then, of course, Tim has himself sadly passed way. For myself, I reached a point where I felt I had done as much as I wanted. My own writing was moving in other directions, with the publication of first one and then two other books.
Towards Alan Sullivan, I think some members had mixed feelings. I did myself. I did not like the way Tim (I think it was Tim) bestowed on him the title “Editor from Hell”. This seemed unpleasantly aggressive. Nor did I care much for Alan’s style of editing. I recall an exchange when he was very hostile, in a personal way, to a comment of mine on one thread. I bit back, something I rarely do, and he backed off and was more level with me after that. Nor did I agree with many of his judgements: he seemed to me to have very narrow and dogmatic tastes in poetry, something I did not think always very helpful. I recognize, however, that many members feel genuinely grateful to him for his advice.
The argument about the status of The Deep End goes back a long way. For what it is worth, I see no need for it and thought this long ago. The idea that there should be a closed forum, to keep the eyes of editors away from what is posted, seems, however, a good idea.
Finally, I think it amazing that Alex has managed to keep Eratosphere going for so long. What a generous and far-sighted project!
Clive Watkins
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