Letters
Feedback from readers
Kevin Larimer’s “Maybe This Is Enough for Now” (July/August 2020), calmed the ruthless self-critic who kept nagging me for not using quarantine time to write. After reading the Editor’s Note, I recalled the 2019 Kauai Writers Conference, at which I posed a question to an esteemed panel of writers, Paula McLain, Meg Wolitzer, and Téa Obreht. What makes you happiest as a writer? McLain’s poignant reply lingered long after the waves of Kalapaki Beach receded: time. That precious commodity in which we lay down our muse is much revered. But as McLain knows and Larimer points out, our writing time must include the experiencing and processing of our environment. Thank you for reminding me that “it is enough to know that [I am] a writer” and, for now, I can continue to use my time to select and store the actual living which nourishes those imminent words.
Amy Pontius
Sanibel Island, Florida
Thank you for your kind writing in the Editor’s Note. During the pandemic I am accomplishing some goals, but others, even with “additional time,” are stubbornly fixed on my to-do list. You offer me permission to be okay with that and to reduce expectations.
Rick Jordan
Lewisville, North Carolina
Traffic
Three of the most popular posts from pw.org
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3. “Reviewers & Critics: Maris Kreizman” (July/August 2020) by Michael Taeckens
Trending
Top tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media ephemera
Writer M. M. Carrigan (@thesurfingpizza), founder of Taco Bell Quarterly (@TBQuarterly), a journal of poetry, fiction, essays, and visual art inspired by Taco Bell—but not affiliated with the fast-food chain—took to Twitter to share an intriguing cover concept for the magazine. “I’m putting this out into the universe. My dream is to be on the cover of Poets & Writers. But I want to be driving the clown car with as many writers as we can fit on the cover pouring out of the car, Taco Bell on fire in the background.” Linda Lombardi (@wombatarama) replied, “I never dreamed of being on the cover of Poets & Writers before, but now I want to be on that one.”
In the Wild
The magazine observed in its natural habitat
On Twitter, Jenn Virskus (@JennVirskus) wrote, “Finally found some time to dig into my latest issue of @poetswritersinc. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning! #amreading #amwriting”
[Correction]
The title of a poetry collection by Safia Elhillo was incorrectly cited in “Agents for Poets: An Investigation” (July/August 2020) by Kevin Larimer as an example of a book that BEOTIS founder and director Tabia Yapp sold to One World Books. Yapp sold Elhillo’s Girls That Never Die, forthcoming from One World in 2021. Elhillo’s Nima on the Other Side is a young adult novel in verse, forthcoming from Make Me a World, an imprint of Penguin Random House, also in 2021.