Comments on: Red Mud http://publishchicago.com/2009/08/19/red-mud-2/ An in-depth look at publishing, writing, and book-selling in the Windy City of Chicago Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:47:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: CJ Laity http://publishchicago.com/2009/08/19/red-mud-2/comment-page-1/#comment-412 CJ Laity Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:03:37 +0000 http://publishchicago.com/?p=1237#comment-412 Thanks for your response. My objection is not to the review being less than positive, but how vague you are as you point out what you consider to be the flaws of the blook. When you say -- "The poems often lacked poetic technique, by which I mean careful line breaks, enjambment, plays on words, assonance, dissonance, and a whole host of other things." -- you are all but saying that the work isn't even poetry in your opinion. If you are going to say something that damaging to an author's credibility, you are obligated to give an example or two, perhaps a few line breaks that aren't "careful" or a few lines that you think could have otherwise "played on words". There are a lot of different styles of poetry and not all of them utilize assonance. Seems to me what you are saying is that the subject matter is a good one but the poetry is poorly written, and that's rather harsh. I haven't read this book, so I don't know if I would agree with you or not. What I am saying is that you have expressed your opinions, but you have not backed them up with anything that would convince us one way or the other. Thanks for your response.

My objection is not to the review being less than positive, but how vague you are as you point out what you consider to be the flaws of the blook. When you say — “The poems often lacked poetic technique, by which I mean careful line breaks, enjambment, plays on words, assonance, dissonance, and a whole host of other things.” — you are all but saying that the work isn’t even poetry in your opinion. If you are going to say something that damaging to an author’s credibility, you are obligated to give an example or two, perhaps a few line breaks that aren’t “careful” or a few lines that you think could have otherwise “played on words”. There are a lot of different styles of poetry and not all of them utilize assonance. Seems to me what you are saying is that the subject matter is a good one but the poetry is poorly written, and that’s rather harsh.

I haven’t read this book, so I don’t know if I would agree with you or not. What I am saying is that you have expressed your opinions, but you have not backed them up with anything that would convince us one way or the other.

]]> By: Julie Hunt http://publishchicago.com/2009/08/19/red-mud-2/comment-page-1/#comment-411 Julie Hunt Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:47:58 +0000 http://publishchicago.com/?p=1237#comment-411 In response to your comment, CJ, I'd like to note that Publish Chicago is highly supportive of all presses in Chicago, including independents such as Virtual Artists Collective. Perhaps you might like my review of their title This is Just to Say better, as it was a bit more positive (check it out here: http://publishchicago.com/2009/07/06/this-is-just-to-say/) I'll also add that just because not every review we write here at Publish Chicago is positive, it certainly does not mean we aren't supporting local publishers. All publicity is good publicity. And finally, CJ, if you think my review is inaccurate, I invite you to write a guest review of Red Mud. I'd be happy to post it on the site. In response to your comment, CJ, I’d like to note that Publish Chicago is highly supportive of all presses in Chicago, including independents such as Virtual Artists Collective. Perhaps you might like my review of their title This is Just to Say better, as it was a bit more positive (check it out here: http://publishchicago.com/2009/07/06/this-is-just-to-say/) I’ll also add that just because not every review we write here at Publish Chicago is positive, it certainly does not mean we aren’t supporting local publishers. All publicity is good publicity. And finally, CJ, if you think my review is inaccurate, I invite you to write a guest review of Red Mud. I’d be happy to post it on the site.

]]> By: CJ Laity http://publishchicago.com/2009/08/19/red-mud-2/comment-page-1/#comment-410 CJ Laity Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:38:58 +0000 http://publishchicago.com/?p=1237#comment-410 I think this is a very poorly written review. If a critic is going to say something as damning to a poet as "her poems felt overly simplistic" an example of some lines of poetry doing this ought to be included, in all fairness. The second largest paragraph in this short review is devoted entirely to the cover of the book, and that seems to me to be a cop out. Perhaps that paragraph should have been devoted to how this poetry is "like eating a well-prepared but under-seasoned stew". I'm sure Julie Hunt knows what she means by that, but I sure don't. It's hard enough to sell small press publications in Chicago; the last thing we need is someone trashing poetry with silly academic notions about the definition of "poetic technique". Virtual Artist Collective and Patricia Goodrich deserve better than this. I think this is a very poorly written review. If a critic is going to say something as damning to a poet as “her poems felt overly simplistic” an example of some lines of poetry doing this ought to be included, in all fairness. The second largest paragraph in this short review is devoted entirely to the cover of the book, and that seems to me to be a cop out. Perhaps that paragraph should have been devoted to how this poetry is “like eating a well-prepared but under-seasoned stew”. I’m sure Julie Hunt knows what she means by that, but I sure don’t. It’s hard enough to sell small press publications in Chicago; the last thing we need is someone trashing poetry with silly academic notions about the definition of “poetic technique”. Virtual Artist Collective and Patricia Goodrich deserve better than this.

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