This is why I was somewhat delighted (no, not insulted--I value candor--though I wish he'd say how he really feels) by Professor Mayhew's non-review of my little by-now-forgotten "book" on his superior blog:
*Anthony Robinson. Brief Weather & I Guess a Sort of Vision. 2006.
I was supposed to write a blurb for this book at one point, but the first line is "i don't need your praise! i have self-loathing to work on!" So I felt it didn't really need my praise. Many of the poems take place during the AWP convention in Austin a few years back, at which I was also in attendance.
The book still doesn't need my praise.
Thank you sir.
4 comments:
Not needing praise is a praiseworthy quality, a kind of self-sufficiency. To me the book was saying "I don't care what you think." Hence, non-praisable. The non-positive blurb would be a novel strategy that might just work, whether just a lukewarm, unenthusiastic endorsement, or an outright pan.
Y'all may like some of my blurbs, then.
By "my blurbs" I mean the blurbs from others on my first book. I've never been asked to supply a blurb.
Praise is mostly embarrassing--unless it comes from someone you love and trust.
Best praise I can imagine: "I read your book. I finished it. I read it again--two more times. When is your next one coming out?"
So tell me about Joe Massey ranting and raving? We talking bout the same guy?
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