Face it. You too have wanted fame. It's nearly, or perhaps even clearly impossible to participate in the public life of poetry and not want some. Some recognition. A few awards. Praise and Place. I want that too. It just comes with the territory.
But if you're smart (you're smart, yes?) that desire is tempered by all the good sense in your head - mostly knowing that no matter how much recognition a poet gets it rarely feels like enough - and I could tell you a story that makes that clear. But this year I think I've gotten an even better handle on the whole fame issue.
Fame, it turns out, is not about the famous one, not something he or she gets. When fame is happening in the right way the gift is to the rest of us who get to find about something or someone who is worth knowing about - someone we may have missed but for the glittery attention fame focuses on the poet and the work.
This came to me when I found out Yona Harvey's book, Hemming the Water, had won the Kate Tufts Discovery Prize (or award or whatever they call it.) Why is that so fabulous? Not because it will do something for Yona, definitely not because it will change the inner world of Yona Harvey. I know her and she is too real and clear-headed for that to happen. But the prize means more readers will find out about her masterful musical book. That's what will happen - what fame should do. Fame is for those of us who don't know yet about some splendid new work.
If you don't own the book - just log off this and order it. Hemming the Water. Do it now - she's that good. Read More
But if you're smart (you're smart, yes?) that desire is tempered by all the good sense in your head - mostly knowing that no matter how much recognition a poet gets it rarely feels like enough - and I could tell you a story that makes that clear. But this year I think I've gotten an even better handle on the whole fame issue.
Fame, it turns out, is not about the famous one, not something he or she gets. When fame is happening in the right way the gift is to the rest of us who get to find about something or someone who is worth knowing about - someone we may have missed but for the glittery attention fame focuses on the poet and the work.
This came to me when I found out Yona Harvey's book, Hemming the Water, had won the Kate Tufts Discovery Prize (or award or whatever they call it.) Why is that so fabulous? Not because it will do something for Yona, definitely not because it will change the inner world of Yona Harvey. I know her and she is too real and clear-headed for that to happen. But the prize means more readers will find out about her masterful musical book. That's what will happen - what fame should do. Fame is for those of us who don't know yet about some splendid new work.
If you don't own the book - just log off this and order it. Hemming the Water. Do it now - she's that good. Read More