[Tim Murphy]

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Most of you know that Rhina no longer wants to be saddled by the responsiblity of serving as moderator. She has every intention of remaining active here, however; and Saturday or Sunday I shall post five poems which I think are really excellent, all of them workshopped at Met I or Deep End. Rhina has graciously agreed to discuss all of them, and then let the comments fly!

Let this be our Christmas party.
It is very difficult to pick which partridge in the pear tree to eat.

I have excluded staff, although I think the recent work of Murray, Taylor, and Wakefield is among the best I've been seeing. I also overlooked Lady Pu Abi in my swift perusal, another example of the reason that we are all here. When I persuade Hecht or Wilbur to resume their duties, staff will be represented. But Rhina gave me a limit of five, all of which are grounds for collective celebration.


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[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

Thanks for the nod on Lady Pu-abi, Tim, but it can always wait for later. Looking forward to the five tapped and Rhina's discussion.

Kevin

[Tim Murphy]

My mouth is watering as I read these lyrical little essays on our colleagues. A woman who takes her work seriously. People have asked how I chose five poems, and there was nothing Solomonic about it. I just wrote down a list of recent, memorable poems. And though I'm no diversity freak, consider the diversity! Irish, Aussie and American. Male and Female. Two sonnets, one villanelle, and two paragraphic poems, one of which is hetmet. I want to tell all of you how extremely proud I am of our enterprise and tell you that I've got the best job at the Sphere.

[Janet Kenny]

I'm not sure of the etiquette here but I want to say thank you (inadequate words) for selecting my poem. It's wonderful to be in such fine company and I especially appreciate Rhina's extraordinarily astute and sensitive observations.
Janet

[William A. Baurle]

I'm not sure of the etiquette here, either, but I want to thank Tim for selecting my poem, an honor which I won't be getting over any time soon, and for the honor of having Rhina take her valuable time to say a few things about it, and for saying those things so well.

Any minute now my wife will shove me and wake me up, I know it.

Bill

[Sharon Passmore]

Kevin,
Lady Pu Abi rocks!!
It's my favorite poem from Erato EVER, and I've been a member for almost 3 years.

[Wild Bill]

The etiquette seems to have been established. I'm grateful to Tim for placing me in this company of poets. I'm mindful that some truly marvelous work has been excluded by dint of an "accident of stars" or mere accident.

I was away this weekend so I must apologize for my delayed responses. It may take today and tomorrow, but I will post discussions on each of these threads.

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Bill

[Tim Murphy]

Let me note that it was the great idea of our talented Art Editor, Sharon Passmore, to gift wrap the poems and Rhina's comments. Should we make this a Christmas tradition, and I think we should, we shall certainly ask her to do so again. Many thanks, Sharon.

[Susan McLean]

I too wanted to take this chance to thank Tim for choosing my poem for discussion and Rhina for her excellent comments on it. Rhina was the one who, on one of my first posts on this web site, gave me the confidence to resist an overwhelming chorus of disapproval for the tone of my poem, by saying that it made sense to her in the context. I was already well aware of her own poetry, and her endorsement made me willing to trust my own judgment, something that I badly needed at the time.
It has been great to have this second chance to gather input on my poem, to be forced to put into words what was originally more intuitive than rational, and to learn from the others.

Susan

[Rhina P. Espaillat]

Sharon, thank you for the lovely artwork! It makes the whole event festive.