How about waiting until Fascicle is out before dismissing the project? I for one welcome a new editorial project that won't simply duplicate what others are currenlty doing. People seem to be "reading into" the editor's intention rather than simply waiting to see what the product actually looks like. Of course, I'm an interested party since I'm going to have some translations and a review in the first issue.
That's true. Tost *did* wait until Canary was out before he dismissed it.
ResponderEliminarI guess I'm just a little put off by the arrogance.
Did he dismiss the Canary? I'm sorry if he did, although I didn't see this particular dismissal. I really don't know who said the first dismissive thing about the other Tony's publication.
ResponderEliminarFrom a week or so ago, I wrote:
ResponderEliminar"In contrast, there are a lot of quality journals that you could maybe take the contents out of and put in another issue and not be puzzled by: switch the poetry from a recent Fence with a recent The Canary or Slope or even one of the Octopii that I co-edited and there wouldn't be many people who would remark the difference, or maybe notice. Which is not necessarily in and of itself a bad thing, but it is I think a thing, and more an opportunity to think about editing approaches and not just a critique. I think Octopus' contents stand up w/ about anyone's, but there's not a lot of poets that we published there that you wouldn't also expect to see in Fence, etc. Which means or doesn't mean a lot of things, but which perhaps signifies that a lot of the quality journals going now are pulling from the same (large) pool of writers. As an editor I can think to myself: okay, this pool of writers is taken care of right now editing-wise; these different aesthetics have their platforms. So all that means to me is: what other quality stuff is out there? How to find it? How to then get it across?"
It's not lavish praise, but not a outright dismissal -- it just seems like an objective fact to me (the journals pulling from similar pools). I could put my own editing work w/ Octopus in the same sentence as The Canary w/o hand-wringing -- I never said such journals were bad or not worthy, but that they seemed to operate under similar assumptions. I'm wanting to operate under different assumptions w/ Fascicle -- they aren't unprecedented assumptions -- I can point to Sulfur, New Directions Yearbook, Mr. Knife & Miss Fork, Jacket, Conjunctions, No, Exact Change Yearbook, Origin as being models, and there are many, many more. Just because I'm not lavishly praising The Canary doesn't mean I'm arrogantly dismissing it. I don't think it'd be that smart of me to jump into editing a new journal w/o thinking what I want to do w/ it.
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ResponderEliminarI did read this on Tony T's blog, but I didn't take it as a dismissal of the Canary. Partly because I saw that you (Tony T) were putting the Octopus in the same category, indeed, the same sentence, as The Canary. I think it could be statistically verifiable that certain magazines share X-percent of the same authors and thus might feel interchangeable to that exact degree. I understand also that Fascicle will do something different from any of these others, in its more international focus for one thing.
I personally would like Tony R. and Tony T. to make peace over this issue. Things said on blogs in the heat of the moment are often said in response to perceived insults that were not originally meant as such, and things can escalate from there. I respect the editorial work--and the poetry--of both of you. I'm on record as saying the Canary is one of the best magazines out there. I'm also excited about Fascicle, which I don't see as a bloodless theoretical project. Make peace, my friends!
Never!
ResponderEliminarJust kidding, I usually get over my pissiness the next day.
Tony Robinson, I too think Sings Greatest Palace Music is a brilliant album. (cue "Gulf Shores", sighing, applause)
Dr. Mayhew, bringing chunkily irascible poetry Tonys together in understanding . . .
GPM is a great record. A certain comrade of mine says that the two Tonys are being brought together by our lack of discriminating taste. So be it.
ResponderEliminarDear Tonys, The original version of "Gulf Shores" is probably my favorite Palace song of all time (although Werner's Last Blues to Blockbuster is close, and Pushkin and a million others). I just wish that Will had left his perfect song alone.
ResponderEliminarLove,
AM
Will's song is better now!
ResponderEliminar