Thank you for your kind note and the letters from your students who read and wrote reviews of my poetry. To my knowledge, this is the first time I have ever been taught in a class and while I harbor suspicions that one could find both good and bad things to say, I am absolutely certain that you sent only the most laudatory reviews.
You ask how a poet spends his or her days and whether we pass the time in scholarly pursuits. I wish. My das are actuall quite hectic. I write a daily Poetry Blog which includes humor, political satire, epigrams and poetic observations on life. The contents of my blog also appears on my web site, www.CitizenPoet.com, which I update almost every day with PunDitties and epigrams.
In addition, I send epigrams out to several thousand subscribers a day. I get lots of email. A lot is agreeable, much is laudatory, and some is simply the responses of the lonely who see my words as somehow meaningful in their lives.
But there is a very dark side to humor.
I don’t respond to all who write to me. I can’t. To most, I just send my standard message: Thank you. You may be right.
A few, the ones that seem to require more interaction either real or imagined, I have tried to answer but I have learned over time that they will write back and that they are inordinately needy or insufferably complaining or have needs I am ill-equipped to address.
And then, there is the hate mail. I guess that since I write so much satire about conservatives, right-wing ideologues, and the generally stupid whatever political or social views, there are those who see me as some sort of enemy.
But here’s the thing. I write to have fun. I write to point out the foibles of human nature. I write to inspire. And, yes, I write to get laid. That’s because of who I am. I am a poet. A writer. A lover. A philosopher. And an occasional drunk. But what the hell, it’s all good.
Dan
But there is a very dark side to humor.
I don’t respond to all who write to me. I can’t. To most, I just send my standard message: Thank you. You may be right.
A few, the ones that seem to require more interaction either real or imagined, I have tried to answer but I have learned over time that they will write back and that they are inordinately needy or insufferably complaining or have needs I am ill-equipped to address.
And then, there is the hate mail. I guess that since I write so much satire about conservatives, right-wing ideologues, and the generally stupid whatever political or social views, there are those who see me as some sort of enemy.
But here’s the thing. I write to have fun. I write to point out the foibles of human nature. I write to inspire. And, yes, I write to get laid. That’s because of who I am. I am a poet. A writer. A lover. A philosopher. And an occasional drunk. But what the hell, it’s all good.
Dan
Citizen Poet 