[Terese Coe]

"No one ever accused you of anything, Terese."

I know, Bob. I thought I'd preempt any possible accusations, show transparency, and brag about my kids while I was at it.

(Hey, how often in eight years have I taken the opportunity to brag about my kids here? I think never...unless memory fails.)

[Tim Murphy]

Hey folks, we all start out sending over the transom. The first two poems Alan Sullivan sent out were to Poetry and The Spectator. They were accepted. I only started publishing twelve years ago, but I've won the rodeo about three hundred times. First requirement, put your best foot forward. I think Poetry's two great victories in the last twenty years are their discoveries of Kay Ryan and Wendy Videlock. Go to their masthead and read Harriet Monroe's Mission Statement. 106 years later, they are still at it.

[wendy v]

Jim, old friend,

Namaste,

no hard feelings...

My defensiveness is a result of some cumulative stuffs, as I said,
as I'm sure yours are. I figured I'd just put it all out there, vent
my own annoyances, display my application for sainthood, etc.

I do understand publishing frustrations and the accompanying
suppositions. I suffer them, too, but I try to remind myself that I
ought at least make an effort to be half as objective
as I might wish all those editors out there to be.

There's a gawdawful whole lotta poems out there in the world.

Paz --

[Jim Hayes]

Thank you Wendy, your words mean much.

They always do.

Jim