Comments on: Back to Life

By: Glenn Ingersoll

Glenn Ingersoll — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:30:45 +0000

What about a magazine/website that trawls those musty caches of little magazines for poets that are long dead & forgotten? I do that for my own amusement now & then. Eventually I suppose I’ll post finds on my own unfrequented blogs, praise them effusively, and go about my business with no more p.r. than usual.
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By: David Krump

David Krump — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:38:26 +0000

Wished also to mention.
It’s lively that a journal offers second exhibitions for poems, but how consistent is it with the (sub?)mission statement you sample above for Second Run to publish work which originally appeared in Paris Review, Great River Review, and MiPoesias?
These publications are alive and even thriving, through volunteer labor or otherwise.
There’s good reason for us to pay attention to _Second Run_. Beautiful web design. Nice work and applause to editor JIm Cappoc, and his web ninja Nick Van Berkum.
Labor on.
Thanks for drawing it up on the attention board, Travis.
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By: Jason Guriel

Jason Guriel — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:26:49 +0000

Travis, thanks for this. I’ve always appreciated, in theory, the “Readings” in Harper’s, which give recently released work an immediate second life in front of a national audience.
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By: Travis Nichols

Travis Nichols — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:27:16 +0000

Final Run is a great idea. Though perhaps it should be solicitation-only i.e. “Dear Estate of Joyce Kilmer: Final Run is pleased to announce the removal of your poem ‘Trees’ from circulation . . . ”
And let’s give some love to the keytar as well as the shoulder pad.
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By: Doodle

Doodle — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:25:37 +0000

Maybe End Run? Or Best American Poetry??
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By: Lavinia Greenlaw

Lavinia Greenlaw — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:13:53 +0000

It’s a great idea – but where can we safely dispose of those poems we published in journals and would rather no one ever saw again? Is there a Final Run?
And thank you, Travis, for SoulIISoul. Great to see Caron Wheeler and to be reminded of the days when people knew how to work the shoulder pad.
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By: Annie Finch

Annie Finch — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:00:29 +0000

What a great Maine story!
Travis, I’m happy to hear about Second Run. Recycling and sustainability make sense for poetry too.
Annie
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By: Kent Johnson

Kent Johnson — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:34:07 +0000

I just remembered that I’ve already told it here, some months ago! But it has some relevance to this notion Travis raises about keeping old poetry worth saving alive and kicking, and Porter is a great figure, so I’ll tell it again. This is a letter I sent to Miekal And years ago, which he then posted at Poetics:
Dear Miekal:
My parents were born and raised in Belfast, Maine and I spent much
time there visiting the gradparents. On one of my visits to
Belfast,
maybe 15 years ago, I attended a reading by Porter, at,
of all places, the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street. There was a good
and variously-aged crowd there–perhaps 50-60 people–and since this
was winter, most had to be native residents (Belfast has developed
an arts scene fed by lots of immigration in the
past few years, but this was shortly after the chicken processing
plant had closed down, and before the town started creeping towards
the fate of neighbors Camden and Rockport). People listened very
attentively and applauded
politely after each poem. Porter had an “assistant” during this
reading, and during every poem this young man crawled around on the
floor commando-style or on all fours, weaving himself between
Porter’s legs. My memory is that there was some nervous laughter
at the beginning of the reading, but no sense at all of reproach from
the audience.
New England communities have a long traditionof being tolerant–even
protective–of their eccentrics, and this certainly seems to be the
case with
Belfast’s attitude toward Porter. My grandmother told me once that
after his wife died, Porter was in the habit for some time of walking
around town in his wife’s clothes. I remember asking my grandmother if
this didn’t
cause people to laugh at him, and with thick Maine accent she replied
something to the effect that no, Bern has always been very different
but he is a genius and a decent man… I asked her why she thought
he was a genius and whether she had read his work. She said she had
read just a little of it and couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but
that this, of course, was the way of genius. (I am doing my best to be
faithful to her words here!)
I remember reading in _Down East_ magazine (is that where I saw it?)
a wonderful article about the town gala party for Porter’s 90th,
attended by hundreds. There was a parade to kick the festivities off;
Porter led the parade in regal dress and with staff, followed by
town firetrucks and ambulance. A lobster and clam bake followed inthe
park, I think, with games, civic orchestra, and so on.
Ah, that all avant-garde poets would be so dearly loved!
Kent
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By: Kent Johnson

Kent Johnson — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:21:37 +0000

Don,
Bern Porter! I have a great story about Bern Porter and the Odd Fellows Hall in Belfast, Maine. I will tell it.
Kent
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By: Don Share

Don Share — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:57:05 +0000

I’d add the Bern Porter books made available by Ubu to the list…
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