Aaron:

Thanks again for a quick reply. Not too much I need to add, but I kind of like the idea that SOMEONE is reading this (Ron Sillman hasn't returned my calls/pleas/whines).

Anyway, not too much to add because there's not too much to disagree with--though I'm not sure our views on success are quite as opposite as you may be suggesting. Though it's the work that matters the most for both of us (obviously), you won't stop submitting to journals for publication (most likely), and I will never curb my style to achieve popularity (absolutely no effin' way).

I attribute it to my amateur status the fact that I try a little too hard to get as many people into my work as possible (which, realistically for poets, means bringing up your reading audience from twenty to twenty-five to thirty). I should also point out that from my outsider perspective, you have a great level of success that I, as a self-published chapbooker, am still striving towards. In my eyes, you're "popular,"
though I'm sure you don't feel that way.

No, awards don't automatically merit respect, but they, like submissions to Carve and the like, are ways to see if people do grok what we write, which is why I'll still submit to CBA and other book competitions this year. I'm not one of those guys who will change my style against my instincts to allow my work to cast a wider net, because it's a much greater satisfaction when people who had no prior window to your work (and therefore no "inner understanding" a la our old workshop buddies) embrace it. The fact that Joel Sloman came up to me and bought one of the three chaps I sold the night he, you and I read was enough to make the whole publishing process worth it.

Okay, that was too much. Last volley will go to you, and we'll call it a week.