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 Poetry
Foundation
Once you
permit those who are convinced of their own superior rightness to censor and
silence and suppress those who hold contrary opinions, just at that moment the
citadel has been surrendered.
—Archibald Macleish
The following correspondence bears witness to
my vain attempts to get Poetry Foundation to list The American Dissident,
a bona fide 501 c3 nonprofit literary journal, next to other journals it lists.
Check out my review of Christian Wiman's
Hard Night with accompanying cartoon.
Wiman is one of the Foundation's faithful toadies.
Date:
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:12:02 -0700
(PDT)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
To: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
Subject:
re: Listing
Hi,
Would you consider listing The American Dissident, a literary journal of
unusually critical writing on your site? If not, why not? The AD is a
nonprofit 501c3 organization.
Date:
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:29:07 -0500
From: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
To: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
Subject:
re: Listing
George,
Thank you for letting us know about The American Dissident and for your interest in the site. We'll review the link and see if it would be
relevant to link to it from a site dedicated to poetry.
Thank you again,
Michael Marcinkowski
Senior Web Producer
The Poetry Foundation
444 N. Michigan Avenue
Suite 1850
Chicago IL 60611
Date:
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:54:27 -0700
(PDT)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
To: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
Subject:
re: Listing
Michael,
A true test for democracy in literature will be your not deciding
against listing The American Dissident because of its critique of Poetry
Foundation, Christian Wiman et al.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone
www.theamericandissident.org
Date:
Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:35:21 -0700
(PDT)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
To: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
Subject:
re: Listing
Michael,
Thanks much for your rapid reply. It would be in the interest of POETRY (the
magazine and the genre) for you to list The American Dissident because the
journal is unusually critical and bold regarding the typical academic or
pseudo-academic journals listed. BTW, The American Dissident is a 501 c3
nonprofit. It has also criticized Wiman and Barr, but shouldn’t poets be open
to such critique? When you review the link, you might wish to especially
examine the highly caustic essay I authored, recently published by
Modern-Review:
http://www.theamericandissident.org/ColdPassion.htm. Not one academic lit
journal out of 50 would touch it... and that is precisely the problem with those
journals, editors and poets: THEY SEEK TO KEEP THE GATES OF THE AGORA OF IDEAS
HERMETICALLY SEALED. Does Poetry Foundation intend to follow their example? My
fear is that it definitely does and that its huge endowment will succeed in
stifling the voices of poets not permitted in its agora.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone, Editor
The American Dissident
Date:
Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:56:37 -0700
(PDT)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
To: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
Subject:
re: Listing
Several times I’ve written
you in the hope you might list The American Dissident, a 501 c3 nonprofit
literary journal, on your website. The journal’s fundamental premise is quite
pertinent, if not extraordinary in the world of literature and academe:
Vigorous debate is crucial
for any thriving democracy, yet established-order literati tend to reject it, as
if instinctively. For the sake of democracy, poets must be more than mere
wordsmiths of unusual wit and professors more than mere scholars in narrow
fields of specialization. They must be willing to "go upright and vital, and
speak the rude truth in all ways" (Emerson) and thus let their lives "be a
counterfriction to stop the machine (Thoreau)." For truth, they must be willing
to risk career, perquisites, and good standing.
The Academy of A m e r i c a
n Poets censored me this past July for simply attempting to realize that
fundamental premise (consult the censored transcript at
www.theamericandissident.org/AcademyAmericanPoets.htm).
Do you support that incident of censorship? Your silence will serve as a
response.
Date:
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:09:18 -0800
(PST)
From: "George Slone" <todslone@yahoo.com>
To: "Michael Marcinkowski" <mmarcinkowski@poetryfoundation.org>
Subject:
re: Listing
Michael Marcinkowski, Poetry
Foundation:
Vigorous debate is the cornerstone of any thriving democracy, yet you, Wiman,
and the Poetry Foundation seek to keep the doors of debate firmly closed to
outsiders. With the huge mass of money at your disposal, my fear is you will
shamefully succeed. With the little funds at mine, I fight tooth and nail to
make these facts known. But my battle is a lost cause, though a good cause.
You are as fascistic as Bush.
ALL MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS COPYRIGHT ©G. Tod
Slone, 2008, The American Dissident
www.theamericandissident.org.
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