The American Dissident: Literature, Democracy & Dissidence
Poetry Foundation—Free Speech in Peril
Literature should not be suppressed merely because it offends the moral code of the censor.
—Chief Justice William O Douglas
The selector begins, ideally, with a presumption in favor of liberty of thought; the censor does not. The aim of the selector is to promote reading not to inhibit it; to multiply the points of view which will find expression, not limit them; to be a channel for communication, not a bar against it.
—Lester Asheim, “Not Censorship but Selection” (Wilson Library Bulletin, 1953)
All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of all censorships. There is the whole case against censorships in a nutshell.
—George Bernard Shaw
Poetry Foundation operates as one of a number of modern-day LITERARY CENSORING ORGANIZATIONS akin to the Catholic Church of yesteryear which put together the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. It refuses to even list The American Dissident with other literary journals listed on its website. Today, it is an extremely wealthy foundation thanks to the $100 million donation made by a drug corporation heir. Clearly, that money will be used to promote elitist literature and censor (moderate, filter out, etc.) any literature daring to criticize that stance. In fact, it is likely that money will serve to control the very direction of poetry in America. Democracy continues its downward spiral thanks in part to the democracy-indifferent citizens managing Poetry Foundation.
From: todslone@hotmail.com
To: editors@poetrymagazine.org; cwiman@poetrymagazine.org; dshare@poetrymagazine.org; fsasaki@poetrymagazine.or; kcoles@poetryfoundation.org; jbarr@poetryfoundation.org; hmpi@poetryfoundation.org
Subject: Satire on Poetry magazine
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 12:10:04 -0500
OpenLetter to Poetry editors Christian Wiman, Don Share, and Fred Sasaki, as well as Valerie Jean Johnson:
A satirical cartoon on Poetry magazine (Eliza Griswold) is currently posted on The American Dissident blogsite (seewwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com). Will you actually be curious… or like most average-Joe poets incurious? Of course, I’ll probably never know. No matter.
The fundamental flaw with Poetry magazine is that its editors refuse to publish harsh criticism with its regard, as well as with that of the established-order poetry milieu in general. Byron and Pope hit the poet laureate of their time with sledgehammers, but Poetry mag would never publish poems like theirs today relative to one of our laureates.
The PC-multiculti dogma reigns at Poetry, where ostracism and banning under the guise of moderation are currently effected. Apathy to ostracism and banning has become a pitiful trait of today’s poets. The Academy of American Poets not only censored my comments after having posted them, but also banned me, a poet, from participating in its poet forums. Do you care? It is highly unlikely that you do or, at best, would justify the censorship and banning. Poetry Foundation has ostracized The American Dissident from its vast network in refusing to list the journal with other literary journals listed.
In a nutshell, censorship, banning, and ostracism form your protective cocoon, making it happy-face bland and PC safe. You represent that shameful aspect of far too many poets in America today.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone, PhD and Founding Editor (1998)
The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit
Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence
www.theamericandissident.org
wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com
todslone@hotmail.com
217 Commerce Rd.
Barnstable, MA 02630
The following brief correspondence bears witness to the editor's futile attempts to get Poetry Foundation to list The American Dissident, a 501 c3 nonprofit literary journal. For another take on the Poetry Foundation, examine the editor's review of Christian Wiman's Hard Night.
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
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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
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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
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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 ). 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.