Poetry Scam

DATE: 06/30/2004 04:19:38 AM
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Apparently, Poetry.com has been <a href="http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3469652/detail.html">scamming people out of money</a> - not that that's any big surprise.

I too have submitted a poem to their website, and I too bought one copy of their book.  However, I didn't do it with the intent on gaining some sort of recognition, because I know from experience that all contemporary poets, even the best ones, have to do something else for a living.  I bought the book because I wanted to read a shitload of poems by random amateurs.  And I did, and I liked it.  Admittedly, it was also pretty cool to see my own poem among them.  Given my dot-com job at the time, $50 didn't seem like a whole lot of money; it sounded like a Wednesday night trip to the bar.  

Finding out that they aren't all alike doesn't change anything for me...but if I found out that they were actually by professionals and collected from previously published works, then I'd be mad -- and they'd be defendants in court for copyright infringement.

When I got their 'nomination for poet of the year,' I read the letter and tore it up.  It was ridiculous, and absurdly expensive.  Since when do award nominees have to pay exorbitant fees to go to a ceremony to get an award?  I've received several more letters from them, and shredded them all.    

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