[Carol Taylor]

While Tim is out of town I'll be putting up the poems from our 2004 crop that Rhina selects for comment, and Sharon will decorate the threads to give us a little holiday atmosphere.

Rhina is emailing the poems to me along with her comments, and I'll begin a new thread for each poem and put Rhina's comments below the poem. Rhina wasn't given the names of the authors, and those names won't be posted until after Rhina has announced her three favorites, so feel free to join in and comment on the poems in the threads and choose your own favorites if you like, but if you know who wrote them, please don't give it away!

Since the poems are coming to me third-hand through email, some of the formatting may have been lost. I'm counting on each poet to let me know by PM if I make any mistakes in line breaks, enhancements, etc.


2004 was a very good year!
Let's see what grew on Eratosphere!

Carol

[Carol Taylor]

The first 8 poems are up. Rhina tells me that more are on the way and that out of the batches Tim sent her she's selected 18 altogether to comment on.

Feel free to begin posting your own comments to each thread, but remember, don't identify the writers!

If you have a poem up here, please check it for formatting and PM me if I have the line breaks in the wrong place, words not italicized that should be, or any other mistakes.

Carol

[Margaret Moore]

Carol,
Am really looking forward to reading/rereading these poems and Rhina's discerning comments. It's all too easy in a bad week to forget how much good and original work is posted on the Sphere!
Margaret.

[Carol Taylor]

Margaret, the 18 Rhina will comment on are just a small sampling of the volume of tremendous work we've seen this year on Erato. Remember, each poet who submitted sent only one poem, the one he considered his best out of all those he workshopped in 2004, and then Tim narrowed the field further and sent Rhina only a few dozen of those. Rhina selected 18 to comment on, a time-consuming and extremely generous effort on her part! But what is being presented here is just a fraction of the good work we've produced. I think we could fill our own anthology with the fine poems that are workshopped on Erato in any given year.

Carol

[nyctom]

How interesting--and revealing--that of all the "fine" poems produced at Erato this year, not a single free verse poem has been highlighted in this "best of the year roundup". Not one.

But hey, what do I know...

[MEHope]

Originally posted by nyctom:
How interesting--and revealing--that of all the "fine" poems produced at Erato this year, not a single free verse poem has been highlighted in this "best of the year roundup". Not one.

But hey, what do I know...

<FONT >Man, where's Jimmy the Greek when you need him!</FONT c>

<FONT >Happy Holidays Bro!</FONT s>

[David Anthony]

Indeed, Tom, that is very true.
Also some outstanding metrical poems are missing.
Two that come to mind are Hannah (Stephen Scaer) and WillIamb's Little Big Horn. There are others.
Best wishes,
David

[Jim Hayes]

a) How many free verse authors submitted their work for consideration?

b) Indeed, how many free verse poems in total were submitted for consideration?

c) Is there, somehow, a case being made that some works of outstanding quality have been ignored because they were free verse?

d) Why is it 'interesting' that not one free verse poem has been selected?

e) What is the significance of expressing 'fine' in commas?


f) Were Hannah and Little Big Horn submitted by their authors for consideration?

g) Are the authors above complaining or is there now a complaint being made on their behalf?

h) Where was it said that Rhina was going to pick the best poems for review?

i) What is wrong with the present method of selecting poems for review?

j) Should we all vote annually to pick the poems to be reviewed?

k) Is any one convinced that adopting this last would mean that the soreheads would be silenced?

Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim Hayes (edited November 29, 2004).]

[David Anthony]

I'd think it highly unlikely that Hannah or Little Big Horn were submitted for consideration; the point being that the selection is only made from poems submitted, not from the totality of poems workshopped here, something Tom may not be aware of.

[Jim Hayes]

Thanks David, I think that's pretty much my point, most likely the same applies to many free verse authors.

Best regards;
Jim