Pavement Saw Press and David Baratier

In recent research I’ve been conducting, I came across the following post on the Poetics listserv out of Buffalo. It’s from David Baratier of Pavement Saw Press, from April of this year. I would post this correction on the listserv itself, but my membership has not been approved yet. Maybe it won’t ever be.

It frustrates me to see someone so self-righteously denounce Foetry.com’s work, particularly in light of the fact that I did not write _one word_ of the paragraph he attributed to me. Another forum member, Monday Love, wrote it. Baratier was completely careless in this post. And no, I’m not against all contests either. And I’m pro Monday Love too.

——————————–

Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 22:35:21 -0700
Reply-To: editor@pavementsaw.org
Sender: UB Poetics discussion group
From: David Baratier
Subject: Agni needs a spine
In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1The situation with foetry affects all of us. It is apparent from my
interactions with foetry that Alan Cordle is against all contests, even an
honest one. Foetry first went after me insinuating that I appeared in the
Denver Quarterly because I had Bin Ramke as a judge. That statement sat on
their site for many months even after the timeline was shown to them that
proved that the accusation was false. I am not sure why we were brought
onto their site except for an apparent need of Cordle to attack Ramke and
anyone who used him as a judge. The passage below written by Cordle is yet
another instance of his making things up without evidence:
————————- Let’s see. Please tell me if I got anything
wrong. David Baratier’s letters and poems have appeared in the Denver
Quarterly, editor Bin Ramke, professor, University of Denver. Baratier is
editor of Pavement Saw Press, in Ohio, which gets money from Ohio
taxpayers in order to establish, according to Pavement Saw Press’s mission
statement, a “non-university affiliated press” which helps Ohio’s economy
by attracting outside attention and publishing “works of national
signifiance.” Dana Curtis, Ph.D. University of Denver, wins Pavement Saw
Press Prize, picked by Ramke. Curtis is founder & editor-in-chief of
Elixir Press, based in Denver. Jake Adam York, director of creative
writing, University of Colorado at Denver, and Colorado Council on the
Arts fellow, wins Elixir Press Prize. Sounds to me like
university-affiliated Denver is the cat and the Ohio taxpayers are the
cream. It looks like, so far at least, there’s a nice little Denver system
in place here. Very nice. ———————————————-
Ok, Back to my side again The above written by Cordle is a total
fabrication. York and Curtis didn’t know each other in fact, at the time
Dana was in Minneapolis, not Denver I did not know Bin except for asking
him to judge the contest and I asked him because I called to find out if
they were going to run a interview I did with Simon Perchik (which
appeared as a feature in an early issue of Jacket) and while he was on the
line I asked if he would be interested. I’ll just stop here. The whole
thing is starting to bother me again. Our contest is blind judged, the
manuscripts are stripped of the name and publication credits, if we can
afford a judge, the judge is sent 25 manuscripts out of all recieved. If
not I end up judging the batch I am sent back from the readers. If I am
able to afford publishing two books (1000 run each) from the entries I do.
Then we pay to mail everyone at least their entry fee worth of books we
have published. I think we run one of the fairest contests there is, I
challenged Cordle to come up with a place that did better. I am still
waiting. Anyway, my experience is that we would have something false
written about us with no evidence, and once that material appeared on the
foetry website it became my job to “prove him wrong.” I should also
mention that Levine is one of our authors. And that (for the record, as to
avoid more wild speculation) his book won our contest before Tupelo was
publishing. I also do not see why Levine being accused of a problem with
the way he runs his press should affect the acceptance of his poems into
journals. This is heading into an ugly direction, what is next? Will AGNI
apologize about publishing poems if a poet is accused of running a
red-light? Maybe AGNI should apologize for all of the poems they publish
until they get a spine. Considering the student teacher problems with
poetry awards and with contests who have chosen a winner beforehand, my
amazement with Cordle is how inflated he is over the little he has
revealed. Be well David Baratier, Editor Pavement Saw Press PO Box 6291
Columbus, OH 43206 http://pavementsaw.org

A Poetry Dot Com Rejection Letter

Hooray! This has to be one of the happiest days of my life: a rejection letter from Poetry dot com!!! I thought I'd share my rejection with the world (although I could have sworn that when I submitted "Squidoo, A Love Poem" a year ago, they wanted it oh-so-bad for one of their cheesy anthologies. No bites from this quarter, however). Anyway, for your reading amusement, I have reprinted their slurpy e-mail below:

______________________

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for your submission to the International Open Amateur Poetry Competition. Unfortunately, after careful review of your contest entry, I am sorry to inform you that your poem "Squidoo, a love poem" was not chosen for publication and is no longer eligible for contest prizes [Boo, Hoo!]. We understand that poetry is a form of artistic expression and that it is not always understood by those who read it. Therefore, we are asking you to send us another example of your writing [I have deleted the link]. All you have to do is click on the button below [deleted] and follow the instructions.

Here are a few tips our editors give when reviewing poetry [Oh, yeah, poetry tips from the biggest foet organization around]:

--Establish a specific writing style (i.e. rhymed verse, blank verse, etc.)

--Establish a meter and follow it consistently throughout the poem(i.e. iambic pentameter)

--Use poetic elements (i.e. metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc.)

--Avoid using clichés

--Be original

Jennifer, by submitting another poem you will continue to compete with other amateur poets like yourself. You will also be eligible to win one of the many cash or gift prizes available every year to talented writers. During the last twenty years, the International Library of Poetry and its affiliated companies have awarded over two million dollars to poets from all over the world. Our philosophy has always been that poetry is a form of expression that is shared and enjoyed by many people of all skill levels. We believe that poetry should be part of our daily lives and shared by everyone, and so we hope you decide to share another piece of your writing with us soon. [When Hell freezes over.]

Good Luck,

Howard Ely

Managing Editor

______________

Well, Howie, my good friend, I think I shall take a pass; I no longer teach creative writing, so I don't have to prove that poetry dot com ought to be renamed www.poetry.scam to newbie writing students.

I rather like the "rejected" poem; it appears on my Wergle Flomp Squidoo Lens.

Maybe I'll submit it to The New Yorker.

Bugzy

A New Watch List: Suspected and Known Cheaters

On the left sidebar, there is a new list (without links) of suspected and known contest cheaters; IMHO, this is a list that should not exist.

I developed this list from the Foetry Contests archive; I looked at each thread to make sure that that the contest warrants being on the watch list.

If your organization appears on this list and you would like it to be removed, email me a compelling reason why your contest should be removed from our watch list. I reserve the right to publish any and all email responses as posts, so keep that in mind as you select the exact right wording for your email.

Conversely, "Honest Contest Guidelines" appear below it, with nothing listed yet; I would like to see this list filled in, but I'm not optimistic. If you feel that your contest should appear on this list with a link to your guidelines, email me, and include your detailed guidelines, contest winners and their professional affiliations, and contest finalists and their professional affiliations for the last 10 years (or when the contest came into existence). I reserve the right to publish any and all email responses as posts, so keep that in mind as you select the exact right wording for your email.

One of us will research your information and then make a decision as to whether your guidelines and actions pass the stink test.

I have a feeling I'm going to be a very lonely blogger with not a whole lot to do on this blog.

Jennifer

Charles Simic is our new Foet Laureate?

According to Bluehole, we need to take a closer look at our new Poet Laureate Charles Simic as a Foet Laureate.

Bluehole makes a compelling argument in his August 4, 2007, blog entry.

Is it any wonder that ordinary folks eschew the literary arts? First, one is inflicted with obscure and puzzling poems that only insiders understand and then these foets cheat to get those really lousy poems published.

Post Foetry will continue to lobby against fee-based literary contests. Unless the playing field (in terms of judging) is leveled, then, quite simply, paying to enter a contest is worse than playing the lottery.

Starting immediately, Post Foetry will remove all links to literary magazine contests; we will make a list of magazines to avoid (without links), and we will develop a link list to litmags that offer good guidelines and are known to play fairly.

I suspect that will be a very short list, indeed.

Jennifer

AAUP: "Where Have All the Members Gone?"

Indeed, where have all the members gone?

An article in the June 8, 2007, Chronicle of Higher Education poses this very question.

Well, it's pretty obvious to me that AAUP is a tired, bloated organization whose members look after their own self interests over the greater good of the profession. This organization had an opportunity to work on the adjunct situation, and, quite frankly, they blew it.

Cary Nelson, president of AAUP, should keep in mind that tenured professors react only when their cushy jobs and benefits are threatened directly; they do not seem to see that their tacit acceptance of exploited adjuncts at their colleges and universities is a major part of the problem.

Until full timers get up off their asses and start advocating for their adjunct workers, then they are no better than the colleges and universities who hire them.

My husband is a tenured, full time professor, and we often engage in lively and often heated discussions regarding this very issue.

\:=(

Oh, and the argument that adjuncts themselves must rise up and organize for themselves does not hold water. If an adjunct even looks like she might open her mouth in protest, she gets slapped down and even fired. (Adjuncts are typically women who are typically supervised by men.)

So much for self-advocacy.

AAUP talks about preserving academic freedom for everybody.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

AAUP, you clueless dinosaur of an organization:

THERE IS NO ACADEMIC FREEDOM FOR ADJUNCTS.

Do you get that concept?

Back in April 2006, we engaged in an interesting discussion about the whimpering, dying AAUP on Foetry. Below, I have reposted part of what I said back then:

I do think that the full time faculty, both old and young, have a responsibility to clean up the adjunct situation that their administrations have put into motion.

But I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret: the full-time faculty will NEVER stand up for adjunct rights, simply because it's not in their best financial interests to do so.

The ugly truth? Adjunct rights will boil up from the bottom, and, quite frankly, adjuncts simply aren't pissed off enough yet. But it will happen, and it will get ugly.

When that happens, I WILL be in my rocking chair, or pushing up illegal flora at Whispering Glades.

AAUP has been moaning and singing a sad song about the "adjunct problem" for years, but nothing gets accomplished because this organization is just window dressing, nothing more. To be censured by the AAUP is a JOKE; some thriving universities have spent decades on the censured list, but that doesn't stop students from enrolling there, professors from teaching in these places, or donors from giving fat endowments to these institutions.

You think the poetry world is corrupt?

Nothing compared to the bloated self-serving, corruption of the ivory tower. These people understand the concept of "foetry" all too well, long before the word itself hit the lexicon pile.

Now if some REAL firebrand can come along and give AAUP REAL BIG BALLS, then I'm willing to listen. Until then, they can rot in hell.

My opinions regarding AAUP and academe haven't changed significantly.

AAUP, get your head out of the sand and become a real and relevant organization, and your membership will swell.

Bugzita