[Maryann Corbett]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

...Alicia Stallings was a regular contributor (I believe she was also a mod), and (I'm almost certain) putting up her own poems for critique.

I believe you're mistaken about putting up any of her own poems, Michael. I can't remember even one. But she was a mod for some time, and she did critique generously and often, and she started many interesting discussion threads on the masters and the craft. Those used to attract more participation than current efforts do, and I'm not sure why.

[Roger Slater]

I'm not sure Alicia posted poems for critique, but I remember she entered a sonnet bakeoff at least once -- with her then-new sonnet about bats. And she certainly offered critiques on other people's poems, as did Rhina Espaillat and Robert Mezey and David Mason, to name just a few "stars" who seem to have exited our firmament.

[Michael Cantor]

Maryann - one that sticks in my mind as an Alicia workshop poem is Aftershocks, the first poem in her collection Hapax , but I'll admit that I may have heard it read somewhere, rather than workshopped. I can't be certain. But if the 3000 plus posts does not include even workshopping her own poems, it's an even stronger indication of what a powerful force the Sphere was with poets like Alicia that active.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Maryann Corbett

I can't remember even one.

Exactly. We remember, fondly, good times, and our memories fail us. After a while we talk ourselves into believing our good memories.

And we forget the bad ones. As with broken bones, months or years later. We don't recall the sharp pain, the feeling of vulnerability. We just have a vague memory of it being difficult. I remember I couldn't pick up the christmas tree with my broken arm, but I don't remember the exact feeling that made me curse when I tried.

Best,

Bill

[R. Nemo Hill]

Enough with the royal "we", Bill.
I am not being mistily nostalgic. I remember clearly.

Nemo

[Julie Steiner]

I've noticed a LOT more announcements about good poets dying than about good poets being born.

[Michael Cantor]

What Nemo said, Bill. It was a time when, not only did we attract outstanding poets, but we actually worked our poetry - we didn't brag about getting bored with it the minute the first draft it was finished, and giving it to our wife to polish and submit. And we didn't think there was anything wrong in telling people we didn't like their poem - as a matter of fact, that's why most of us were at the Sphere - for tough feedback and improvement. It isn't just nostalgia - it was a more demanding environment.

[Roger Slater]

My real problem with Bill's comment isn't the royal we, which is only slightly annoying, but the fact that it seems to have nothing to do with the Maryann's comment that he quotes and purports to be responding to. All Maryann said was that she can't recall any poem that Alicia posted here for critique. To which Bill mysteriously says, "After a while we talk ourselves into believing our good memories." Huh?

[Julie Steiner]

I looked up "Aftershocks," which was in the 2003 Sonnet Bake-off (not workshopped).

And lo and behold, in the thread announcing it as one of the winners, several people took the opportunity to lament that the response had fallen off significantly from the previous year's Bake-off.

Even in the Golden Age, people were longing for how much better things used to be. (Not that they didn't make good points.)

It seems more productive to focus on making the most out of the present realities. One such reality is that I seem to be getting grumpier (which is sometimes unhelpful and unwelcoming and I'll try to keep that under control better than I did in a recent critique); but I think that my grumpiness has positive qualities, too. I'm more likely now than in 2003 to say I don't like something, and I doubt that my previous silence helped many people to become better poets.

[Matt Q]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

My real problem with Bill's comment isn't the royal we, which is only slightly annoying, but the fact that it seems to have nothing to do with the Maryann's comment that he quotes and purports to be responding to. All Maryann said was that she can't recall any poem that Alicia posted here for critique. To which Bill mysteriously says, "After a while we talk ourselves into believing our good memories." Huh?

Roger,

Maryann was responding to Michael's comment that A.E. Stallings "almost certainly" posted her own poems for critique, and in that context, Bill is making the point that we tend to inflate our memories of the good old days. Or that's how I read it. It made sense to me.

best,

Matt