[This entry is cross posted at ordinary-times.com]

Years ago, I was writing a POETS Day about the Australian poet Judith Wright. I’ve written here that I’m a fan of Poetry Foundation’s website because they do a great job putting together mini-bios of poets with links to their works, etc. There wasn’t one for Wright even though they mention in the mini-bios of others that this poet or that was winner of the prestigious Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award.

I sent an email to whoever the intern is that has to answer @info type email and surprisingly got a response. “Thank you for pointing out the oversight…”, “We need to rectify…”, etc. Most importantly, they asked me if I had any suggestions about which of her poems to feature along with her bio page.

There’s still no bio page, but that’s unimportant. Poetry Foundation is an outgrowth of the legendary Poetry magazine founded by Harriet Monroe. She had a bigger hand in shaping Modern Poetry than most; maybe than anyone. She consulted giants like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. And now, through other means, her publication was consulting me. This led to my frequently making irrefutably truthful statements like, “Poetry magazine, which has sought editorial advice from people like Eliot, Pound, and me…”