Letter from Poetry Magazine



	
Letter to the Editor



	

			
Letter to the Editor
		




	

					
	
					by  Belle  Randall 			





	
	

				Dear Editor, 



As I remember, the editor who founded Poetry magazine, Harriet Monroe, and poets like Eliot and Pound who sometimes served as guest editors, prided themselves on having a narrowly defined aesthetic, and on being, in this sense, exclusive. Nowadays, it's just the opposite, of course. The magazine is determinedly inclusive, or so it seems from reading the “Comment” section. The idea seems to be to include every point of view and to elevate none, resulting in a veritable Tower of Babel, with every one speaking a different language, all “full of passionate intensity,” and no one to reconcile them. It depresses me every month.



Perhaps being given a lot of money and the responsibility it implies has made the editors feel an obligation to become more inclusive, but I'd ask them to remember that the magazine to which the money was given was valued for its adherence to an aesthetic—a perennial, centralized, but relatively narrow one. It's time to stop apologizing for having an identity.		
Seattle, Washington
	


	

		Originally Published: October 30, 2005	


	
		
		

	
		

			
Jump to Reader Comments 

	

		








		


		
		
Poetry is looking for thought-provoking responses to work published in the magazine, as well as letters that raise new questions about the state of contemporary poetry. To send us your letter, please fill out all the fields below.


		
If we choose to use your letter, we will notify you by phone. If you have not heard from us within two weeks of sending your letter, you may assume we will not be using it. All letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may appear online, in print, or both.


		
Please do NOT send poetry submissions to this account. See Submission Guidelines for further information and policies regarding poetry submissions.

		

			


				


					
				


				

				


				

				


				

				


				

					
					
				

				
				

					
				
				



				

				


				
   Cancel


				
* All fields are required

			

		

		






	

	
back to top



	

		
MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

		
This prose originally appeared in the May 2005 issue of Poetry magazine


		
			

				
						May 2005
				
			

			
		

			
		


		

			
		


	











Related


Audio

















	
		
			

				

				
back to top

				

					
 Belle  Randall

					

							
Biography

							
Born in Ellensburg, Washington, poet Belle Randall earned a BA at the University of California Berkeley, an MA at Stanford University, and a second MA at the University of Washington. Her precise use of form and meter often shapes portraits of both observed life and interior states. She is the author of the poetry collections 101 Different Ways of Playing Solitaire and Other Poems (1973) and The Coast Starlight (2010). She . . . 

							
Continue reading this biography

					

				

			

		
	
	





	



	
		

	
		

		
		


		
				
		
	


			
Originally appeared in Poetry magazine.

		
This poem has learning resources.

		
This poem is good for children.

		
This poem has related video.

		
This poem has related audio.