ONE THING WE KNOW IS TRUE BUT PRETEND IS NOT
The Business of Poetry rides its own meltings
I was talking to someone who works as an editor of a NYC magazine
And they said something that was obviously true
Yet surprising
Surprising not for the merit of the claim
But because they were saying it aloud
They had discovered by talking
With many editors/contributors to journals/magazines
That they all disliked a particular book
Dislike may be a strong word
They all didn’t feel warmly about a particular book
However, they were also all writing glowing reviews
And promoting the book in their magazines/journals
This person was both amazed and amazed
By their amazement
Upon realizing this
Oh you all don’t actually like the work either
This is something that is widely known
And underreported
But saying it out loud was
I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit
Very helpful to me
The world of reviews and publication is a strange one
It distorts value
By claiming value
The difficulty lies in the fact
Publication is both outside of poetry
And necessary for its proliferation
(Some people may object
By saying that the proliferation of poetry
Should not even be the aim
So the whole insistence on publication
Is a bit counterproductive )
I’ve been thinking about this insistence
And how it can be damaging
In subtle but powerful ways
The idea that Publication Affirms Value
I remember talking to a poet
Who was discussing the work of someone they admired
They were kind of getting worked up
Expressing their hope that this person receives an award
They feel they deserve
Worked up because there is always a fear
And a frustration
In these kinds of conversations
The notion that awards
Affirm the value of the work
And so good work is rewarded and recognized
We know this is not accurate
A lot of bad work is awarded
And a lot of good work goes ignored
I remember affecting a kind of smug advisor voice
And expressed my belief
That good work has a way of being found
Even if it does not get recognition from the industry
What interested me about this conversation
Was the young poet’s response
Which was an immediate rejection of what I said
And a counter assertion
That there are many poets of color who never get awards or published
So the idea that good work is eventually found
Is incorrect, whitewashed, misleading
This is I think is
Where many people are at conceptually
In the community
In terms of how people view publication
At least it’s a common refrain I see
However it makes a quiet assertion
That I think is somewhat dangerous
And potentially toxic
The assertion is that
Publication Affirms Value
We know this is untrue
We know it so implicitly that I think
We sometimes forget it
A lot of the culture and community of writing
Monomaniacally orbits the idea of publication
That is what a poem is for
There is nothing more terrifying to a MFA student
Than the poem
Just
Existing
Outside of publication
The very idea of a MFA program
Pivots on the importance of publication
But how strange it is
With all the obsession of publication
That there is no community support
No workshop, no guide
To what you’re supposed to do after publication
What the fuck are you supposed to do after publication?
(I would be very interested in a workshop with that title)
The poet I was speaking to
Was frustrated by the unbearable whiteness of publication
Understandably
But also asserting that Publication Asserts Value
Because they assumed that when I said “Good work is eventually found” I meant “Good work is eventually published, accepted, and awarded”
There is also the implicit assertion
That all marginalized poets
Are & always have been
Pursuing publication and awards
It strikes me as somewhat
Infantilizing
The way the narrative paints our ancestors
Helpless and rejected from the literary center
It cannot imagine the possibility
That perhaps some people
Have no interest in the center
Perhaps some poets on the outside
Write for the outside
Perhaps there can be autonomy
Of course
This divorces the money from the equation
A complication that is difficult to disentangle
Although I am unsure if pursuing funding
Ever gives someone the freedom
That we like to pretend
Just like being published
Does not free you from the insistence of publication
But we need money
And some need it more than others
So the whole raffle of publication
Can be particularly frustrating
We know publication does not actually affirm value
But we are forced to pretend that it does
Because acting as if you are too good for publication
Seems like an easy way to not get published
And talking openly about this stuff
Is about as useful
As writing a poem and then burning it
Which is to say
Very useful
But not in the way you think you need
Just like the conversation with the editor
Was incredibly regenerative for me
Hype and promotion and publication
Often has little to do with the work itself
And the gears grind in such a way
That we feel compelled to go with it
I get it
But pretending at something
We know is untrue
Is exhausting
But I won’t belabor the point
Because I am only paid as far as this line