Diary of a Mad Editor

Lately, I have been following Karl Koweski’s feud with the Guerilla Poetics Project with great interest. Now that he’s posted his most recent satirical rip on his MySpace blog — a piece entitled “The Last King” — I feel I have something to say about it.

Groups like the Guerilla Poetics Projects are all alike. Whether you call yourself the GPP or the ULA, or Stinky Pete and his Poetry Posse, it’s just the same foolishness. I’m not saying that sticking bad poetry in between pages of books in a Barnes & Noble isn’t fun or that drunken shout-downs at a book signing doesn’t have it’s charms. What I’m saying is that it doesn’t really serve the good of the small press community or enhance the good reputation of any small press writer. And let’s face it, it’s not like these people are living in a totalitarian society where they literally risk their lives every time they thumb their noses at the system. So, it’s neither brave nor especially revolutionary. If you are a small press writer with even a lick of talent and something to say, then your writing will speak for itself and eventually win some kind of readership. Making a public spectacle of yourself will only bring negative attention to you and give people further cause to ignore your writing. Remember I said that because when the passage of time proves me right, I am the type of guy who loves to say “I told you so.”