A few days ago a friend of mine from PFFA informed me that there was a poll going on which was intended to determine the better-known internet poets: or, people who are better known because of their presence on the net rather than in print (or web) publications. Of course, there are scads of people posting poems online, people who have poetry blogs, or personal web-pages. I suppose there must be something on the order of several thousand. Colin Ward, from firesides.net, initiated the poll. 133 people voted, and nominated 162 candidates.
I don't think there were any restrictions as far as who could be nominated, but I presumed it to be implied that anyone with a considerable degree of publishing success ought to be excluded. Still, there were some notables who made the list. Robert Sward and Frank Bidart were there, probably as someone's idea of a joke. Both are very widely published and famous in the poetry-world. Oswald LeWinter was on the list, who is also very widely published and acclaimed. Someone apparently nominated A.E. Stallings under the moniker A.R. Stallings. Also appearing was David Anthony, who is beginning to attain some serious stature outside the electric fantasyland of the net.
To my astonishment, I turned up 75th, with three votes. If my name was William Zaurle instead of Baurle, I would have been 96th. Someone with a big heart must have nominated me, and I have a pretty good idea who it was. As for the other two votes, I have no idea, but bless their kind souls. Naturally, I know that polls like this don't amount to much more than a popularity contest. The prominent poetry boards did well: Gazebo, Eratosphere, PFFA, QED, as did Usenet, and a few other boards made a showing. There are hundreds of boards across the net, and most likely only a small percentage of these boards knew of the poll; but in fairness, the far greater majority of these boards are completely useless as far as critique or any serious dedication to craft. They function as showcases for people in dire need of ego gratification and ill-deserved boosts of self-esteem.
Due to the vast number of people who post poems for review, in the serious poetry forums alone, obviously the key to making a showing in such a poll is simply being thought of at just the right time. There are many poets at PFFA, for instance, which is where I post, who are much better at writing poetry than I am but who didn't make the list. The reason is just that their names weren't called to mind at precisely the right moment. As an example of what I mean: I nominated two people from PFFA who were not on the list when I first checked. I just happened to notice their absence because they have been more active on the board recently than others I might have thought of. After making my two nominations, I went and used the rest of my ten votes on people who were already on the list, mostly PFFAers but also a few others, notably Richard Epstein, who posts prolifically at QED. I voted for him not only because I think he's a good poet, but because I had a brief email exchange with him a while back and shocked him out of his shoes by recalling that he had published a few poems in some journals back in the late eightees/early ninetees: journals where I had also placed some poems, which, as it happens, is the only reason I remembered his name. I also voted for Mike Farmer because I think his poem "Brownseed", which was panned in short order when he posted it at PFFA, really kicks ass.
Later on I realized that there were a few people who I would have voted for over the ones I actually did vote for if only their names had been there already or if I had remembered them at the time and nominated them. These people are all fine poets and quite significantly better than me, some ridiculously better than me: James Flick, Nanphi, Debi Zathan (who recently passed away and who will eventually be very well known for her excellent work), Rob Yateman, Monique, Howard Miller, Donner, Toklas......
And here's where my memory fails me again. These are people who either haven't posted in a long while, post very rarely, or are known more by their user names, which apparently presented a problem in the nomination process. Luckily for me I have been very active at PFFA recently, though I've posted only one poem there in the last two to three years; but that one poem happened to go on the boards only last month. I am lucky also that the kind soul who nominated me knew my real name. This person also included my username, which is Urizen.
I'm not just trying to be humble. I know that my nomination was an act of kindness, and that even appearing on such a poll is due to my long association and sometimes ubiquitous involvement with a popular (though frequently maligned) and highly trafficked board, not to mention good old fashioned luck. I do believe, though, that for the people who garnered a significantly larger number of votes it's probably a fair indication that their work is of finer quality than that of the average bear. And I do hope people were by and large honest enough to keep some personal prejudices out of the picture. I voted for someone I don't like all that much on a personal level but whose work is definitely quite a few notches above average. By the same token, even though I have been frequenting poetry boards for upwards of four years, most of the names on the list are complete strangers to me. That has to mean something.
Still, as silly as it all is, you gotta take what you can get. Especially when you're a numbnuts.
I don't think there were any restrictions as far as who could be nominated, but I presumed it to be implied that anyone with a considerable degree of publishing success ought to be excluded. Still, there were some notables who made the list. Robert Sward and Frank Bidart were there, probably as someone's idea of a joke. Both are very widely published and famous in the poetry-world. Oswald LeWinter was on the list, who is also very widely published and acclaimed. Someone apparently nominated A.E. Stallings under the moniker A.R. Stallings. Also appearing was David Anthony, who is beginning to attain some serious stature outside the electric fantasyland of the net.
To my astonishment, I turned up 75th, with three votes. If my name was William Zaurle instead of Baurle, I would have been 96th. Someone with a big heart must have nominated me, and I have a pretty good idea who it was. As for the other two votes, I have no idea, but bless their kind souls. Naturally, I know that polls like this don't amount to much more than a popularity contest. The prominent poetry boards did well: Gazebo, Eratosphere, PFFA, QED, as did Usenet, and a few other boards made a showing. There are hundreds of boards across the net, and most likely only a small percentage of these boards knew of the poll; but in fairness, the far greater majority of these boards are completely useless as far as critique or any serious dedication to craft. They function as showcases for people in dire need of ego gratification and ill-deserved boosts of self-esteem.
Due to the vast number of people who post poems for review, in the serious poetry forums alone, obviously the key to making a showing in such a poll is simply being thought of at just the right time. There are many poets at PFFA, for instance, which is where I post, who are much better at writing poetry than I am but who didn't make the list. The reason is just that their names weren't called to mind at precisely the right moment. As an example of what I mean: I nominated two people from PFFA who were not on the list when I first checked. I just happened to notice their absence because they have been more active on the board recently than others I might have thought of. After making my two nominations, I went and used the rest of my ten votes on people who were already on the list, mostly PFFAers but also a few others, notably Richard Epstein, who posts prolifically at QED. I voted for him not only because I think he's a good poet, but because I had a brief email exchange with him a while back and shocked him out of his shoes by recalling that he had published a few poems in some journals back in the late eightees/early ninetees: journals where I had also placed some poems, which, as it happens, is the only reason I remembered his name. I also voted for Mike Farmer because I think his poem "Brownseed", which was panned in short order when he posted it at PFFA, really kicks ass.
Later on I realized that there were a few people who I would have voted for over the ones I actually did vote for if only their names had been there already or if I had remembered them at the time and nominated them. These people are all fine poets and quite significantly better than me, some ridiculously better than me: James Flick, Nanphi, Debi Zathan (who recently passed away and who will eventually be very well known for her excellent work), Rob Yateman, Monique, Howard Miller, Donner, Toklas......
And here's where my memory fails me again. These are people who either haven't posted in a long while, post very rarely, or are known more by their user names, which apparently presented a problem in the nomination process. Luckily for me I have been very active at PFFA recently, though I've posted only one poem there in the last two to three years; but that one poem happened to go on the boards only last month. I am lucky also that the kind soul who nominated me knew my real name. This person also included my username, which is Urizen.
I'm not just trying to be humble. I know that my nomination was an act of kindness, and that even appearing on such a poll is due to my long association and sometimes ubiquitous involvement with a popular (though frequently maligned) and highly trafficked board, not to mention good old fashioned luck. I do believe, though, that for the people who garnered a significantly larger number of votes it's probably a fair indication that their work is of finer quality than that of the average bear. And I do hope people were by and large honest enough to keep some personal prejudices out of the picture. I voted for someone I don't like all that much on a personal level but whose work is definitely quite a few notches above average. By the same token, even though I have been frequenting poetry boards for upwards of four years, most of the names on the list are complete strangers to me. That has to mean something.
Still, as silly as it all is, you gotta take what you can get. Especially when you're a numbnuts.
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