[Janice D. Soderling]

Today! Check it out folks. Another Eratospherian goes political at NVN.

Good work, Tracey.

http://newversenews.blogspot.se/2015/07/samizdat.html

[Tracey Gratch]

Thanks, Janice. I'm pleased to have the poem there. Though I was rather disappointed with the lengthy 2nd epigraph James decided to include!

Tracey
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[Catherine McDonald]

Evocative and powerful, Tracey. Congratulations!

[Janice D. Soderling]

I don't know, of course, how James reasoned, but I think the point might be that dissident poetry has gone full circle. That "can you describe this" quote of Anna A. is surely one of the best known texts of dissident poetry among many, but perhaps not for younger NVN readers.

Anyhoo, I was glad to encounter your poem about Alexander Byvshev.

[Tracey Gratch]

Thanks, Catherine!

Yes, Janice - I understand the motivation. It's just that, as poets, we work so hard at concision, distilling it down, and then the whole thing is just given away...oh well.

Tracey

[Janice D. Soderling]

Oh, I do understand that. I agree that it draws attention from the main feature. Sorry to not have made that clear.

[Tracey Gratch]

Thanks, Janice.

James removed the 2nd epigraph and added an author's note, at my request

[Michael Cantor]

Congratulations, Tracey. By the time I saw this the original epigraph had gone, and your note was in place. James is a good guy, and does a very good job of presenting our poetry and finding amazingly good graphics to accompany them, and I'm not comfortable criticizing him - but - I agree with you on this one. What and how much the reader is told is the poet's decision.

[Tracey Gratch]

Thanks, Michael. Yes, James does a great job and has always been quite accommodating. Always pleased to have my work at NVN. Though you did not see the epigraph in question, suffice it to say, it ran far longer than the poem, saying essentially the same thing. All's well now.

Tracey