[Tim Murphy]

Rory, Quincy, it is a mild put-down of myself. Younger poets call these "brag posts," and this particular one is so lengthy and involves so many poems (80?) and media (a dozen?), that I thought it necessary. I shouldn't have done it at the expense of you fellows, and I'm sorry. For the record, as I said, it is Alan's opinion, not mine. And Rory, I agree with you that Nephew and Permission are among my best. New Criterion turned them down, but Yezzi has more than expiated his sin by taking so much other good stuff. Quincy, I love Lance's hunting poems, and I'm delighted you've taken one. I've never sent a hunting poem to Raintown, but I'll keep you in mind.

[Rory Waterman]

That's okay, Tim. As I say, I wasn't offended. Congratulations!

[Tim Murphy]

Rory, Quincy, this is almost turning into a General Talk thread, which I don't mind at all. I'm sure you fellows try your hardest to judge everything dispassionately. But I think it's a lot easier for me to publish than it is for say, Chris Childers or Nick Friedman, for that matter the two of you. Thirty years ago the same was true of Red Warren and Tim Murphy. So I don't entirely ascribe a run of the table like this to the merit of the shooter, but to the virtue mentioned by ChrisGeorge, persistence. Unlike a Corbett or a Beaton, I didn't start in my fifties but in my teens. Although I took a few years off in the last four decades, I never quit. The main reason I post on this board and Quincy's equivalent is to encourage young writers never to give up.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Tim Murphy

The main reason I post on this board and Quincy's equivalent is to encourage young writers never to give up.

Tim,

I cannot tell you how happy I am to read these words. Over the past couple weeks, I've seen a spirit of caritas and humility in your posts that I hadn't always noticed before. Whatever it is you've been doing lately, it bears keeping up.

In the meantime, congratulations on your recent productivity and success.

Peace to you and yours,

Bill

[Tim Murphy]

Thank you Bill. I too prefer me sober. Alex just took Prayer for the Virtuous Pagans and Hunting on Thanksgiving for Able Muse.

[Tim Murphy]

Tonight a favorite editor took an ambitious sequence, identity to be disclosed later. Pinch me I must be dreaming.

Edit back: I sent a wild sonnet, heterometrical, loose iambic, my first submission to 14X14. Peter gently reminded me he took it a month ago!

[Tim Murphy]

Able Muse published a chapter from my prosimetrum-in-process last winter, and Gregory Dowling has just taken another, "With Alan in the Wilds." It recounts our travels in the West and the Far North, and it includes seven of the best poems from my first book. Gregory agrees with me that the poems gain from being woven into the stories, and I'm delighted they'll gain a new audience.

[Tim Murphy]

http://www.thehypertexts.com/

There are substantial selections of work from my first two books anthologized at Jaime Alsop's Review, and likewise at Caleb's Poemtree, but nothing after 2002. So when Michael Burch tracked me down, I chose ten of the best poems I worked on in the years I was so active at the Deep End, 2003-2008. My thanks to everyone who helped me hammer these into shape.