The letters below are from publishers and those aspiring to be published, friends, relatives, skilled and unskilled internet users. Whoever you are, we'd like to hear from you: reactions, impressions, likes and dislikes. Compose your thoughts and send them through the Poetry Porch Mail.
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Thanks, was able to pull up your site ... I'll
be pulling up a rocking chair on the Porch.
Craig A. Lambert, Ph.D.
Associate Editor
Harvard Magazine
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Subject: Your breezy porch
Hi, Joyce, I finally got in and had a quick browse. I will be doing
more as time allows. It's beautiful, interesting, fresh, thorough, and professional-looking. Your page expands the uses of poetry by the
public, and I hope it expands the horizons of your work. A great job. My
warmest congratulations.
Stratis
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
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I stopped by your site today and wanted to let you know I enjoyed
my visit. I especially enjoyed the interview with Robert Pinsky. Thanks
for the link to Poetry Daily on your page.
I've added a link to your Pinsky interview from our Poetry News. We generally
don't do "cross-links" unless they are topically related to a
heading or feature on our site, but of course, your interview fits perfectly.
(We don't have anything against lists of links -- it's just that many others,
such as yourself, are already doing a fine job in that area.)
Thanks for a really nice site. We love to see the poetry community growing
on the Web.
Best Regards, Rob Anderson
Poetry Daily
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Dear Joyce:
I sent you a greeting yesterday, but since I am not sure you received it,
I thought I would write this note and post it to you as well. I spent some
time yesterday and today looking around the Porch and have found it a stimulating
place to go. It even reminded me of why I prefer the Web to the telephone.
You communicate by writing, not by speaking, which is also the great virtue
of the printed word.
By the way, in case you are wondering, we met (sort of) at Waterstone's
Bookstore on a Friday night several weeks ago when you came to read your
poetry with two other poets. I read three of my own poems that night, "Why
Should Not Young Men Be Mad?", "Reflections of the Expulsion
of Adam Clayton Powell," and one other from my unpublished book entitled
God's Despite. I remember thinking that the time period they came
out of dovetailed with at least some of the experience in one of your poems,
though our experience of those times were obviously quite different.
I just printed a copy of "Can Poetry Matter?", the Atlantic
Monthly article (is it "le" or "al"?), and am going
to read it carefully and see what I think. Obviously, poetry matters. It
has always mattered, and it always will. But the debate about it? That
interests me. My (limited) experience in the poetry scene has left me with
the impression that there are a lot of people writing poetry who have given
very little thought to the poets, poetry, or poetics that preceded them.
Most think it does not matter, but I think it matters very much. I went
to school on poets like Yeats, Graves, Ransom, Frost, and Jeffers (and
a lot of others), and I mean by that I learned (and learn) from them. The
only contemporary whose writing on poetry stopped me in my tracks is Seamus
Heaney; he has a lot to teach, and I am glad I discovered his Oxford English
Addresses on Poetry (which I was prepared to compare--and dismiss--next
to Robert Graves's and discovered, by reading, how wrong--in my judgment--I'd
been).
Have a good weekend.
Sincerely, Larry Dobie
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It's Paul O'Connell here. I got your post card in the mail announcing
your home page on the Internet. I haven't browsed it yet but will right
after I finish this short "Hi." I wish you the best of luck with
this venture. Talk later....
Paul
Stoughton, MA
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Greetings,
I am Julia's eldest nephew and am very happy to be able to read her poetry
on your Web site and also to be able to read Julia's comments about her
work. Although I have known my aunt all my life, I have always wanted to
know more about her poetry and her work. Thank you for providing a place
for others to also learn about Julia's poetry.
Sincerely,
Damien Palermo
Mountain View, CA
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I am a friend of Julia Budenz and am delighted that you have chosen
some of her poetry for the Poetry Porch.
Mary Ashman
Pembroke, NH
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You may remember, as I do, our meeting after a poetry reading in
Lamont; Henri Cole perhaps? Thanks a lot for the information about The
Poetry Porch. I'm using Netscape and it all seemed fine. It's very impressive
what you are doing.
Best wishes,
Emily
UK
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joyce, i have been writing since i was eleven, am a displaced southerner living in chicago, am soon moving to florida which is much like my home state, i want to live in a small town, i work as caretaker for a church here and have self-published three of my own books, i enjoyed very much your writing, interesting, i also am involved with a gallery, hence the name jacob's well gallery, here is a small sample of something recent--
untitled...
she walks away in the rain not caring about getting wet,
her mood somber, leaving or saying goodbye isn't
easy, numbness/shock and fear followed closely
by the pain and reality of losing her love.
it seemed wonderful or so she thought, then the
ugly signs, working late, phone calls, late
nights, then he had the guts to tell her,
ripping her heart out, she walks along the river
and sees a neighbor's kid throwing rocks,
her eyes red, she moves on to the bridge,
no one around, she could do it she thinks,
it would be over in an instant, something
out of somewhere says that he isn't worth
it, she turns away and walks towards home.
love, it can hurt, really hurt, she sits in the
empty house, silence deafening, the wind
blowing and the rain, she's glad its raining,
she falls asleep sipping her wine.
herman justice, 1997, murphy creek publishing
i hope you enjoy it, please contact me with info on getting involved with the poetry porch,
herman justice
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Greetings from Peg Mahoney of South Shore Poets. Thanks for helping me to access your page. I look forward to having it one of my favorite sites.
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Joyce--I saw the URL for your Web site in Louisa's window. Good,
simple design, and a fine selection of poems. I invite you to look at my
Web site -- much poetry and photography. --Marty
Martin Jukovsky
Cambridge, Mass.
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Subject: glad to have found this
As I'm about to re-enter the world of writing--after a long sabbatical
to do a corporate career--this is great to find. I saw the URL on the door
of the Grolier. Thanks for doing this!
Lisa Dennis
These writings are some of the responses that we've gotten as a result of our publicity mailing, directed searches on the Web, casual surfing through the Internet, word of mouth, a notice in the window of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop. We're curious to know how you found the Poetry Porch. Send us a message or letter through the Poetry Porch Mail. (We reserve the right to edit mail posted on this page; in most cases, authors of the letters will be queried before publication.)
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