| April 3, 2003 Don Marquis said that writing poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. The same can be said for writing about poetry. It is sadly true that many poets are mainly interested hearing in their own voice. A few bold souls have even remarked to me that they deliberately do not read other people's work or opinions because they want to create something truly original. As if you could have a clue what was "original" without knowing what came before you. But that's a subject for a different day. Against this background of sad indifference, it is remarkable and gratifying when someone takes an interest in your writings purely because your writings interest them. This joyous surprise happened to me this week when R.C. Travis-Murphree, Executive Editor at the online magazine Poetic Voices contacted me for permission to print an essay of mine on the site. The route by which this occurred: In a Yahoo group to which Ms. Travis-Murphree and I both belong, I posted a commentary part of a discussion thread on the value of audiences to a poet. At the time (about a month ago), the post got no attention, and I didn't think any more of it. But she read it, and remembered it, and thought enough of it to want to share it with the audience of her magazine, and further thought enough to ask me first if that would be all right with me. Which, of course, it was. The point? That essay, which I dropped in the canyon of the message board and quickly forgot about, made a noise that someone heard, and echoed back to me through her. It's enough to make you keep writing. To keep caring, even. Never assume that no one's listening. And of course, keep listening yourself. David Vincenti Advisor, Center for the Performing Arts at DeBaun Auditorium www.debaun.org; www.davidvincenti.com
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