Menu

1980

McNair to Hall: February 14, 1980

/ , , , , /

McNair-to-Hall-02-14-1980

[Click image to view]

 February 14, 1980

Dear Don,

Thank you for your good and kind letter. Of course
you may have “The Thin Man” for Harvard Magazine.
That you would request the poem lifts me somewhat
from the gloom of the past days. I feel extraordinarily
blessed to have your faith and good will.

Needless to say, I am grateful for your
continuous mailings and remailings of my poems,
and for your suggestions about my own
future mailings. I thank you especially for placing the
two poems in Poetry. Ever since I began writing
poetry ten years ago, I have wanted to appear
in that magazine. Having poems accepted by
John Nims is especially meaningful to me,
since he once encouraged me in my writing
at Bread Loaf. (I took a class called “The
Craft of Poetry” with Nims when I was
getting my M.A.) You may be absolutely sure
that the poems Nims accepted have not been
published in, or sent to, any other magazine
or newspaper whatsoever.

Last week, I sent a note to Nims, thanking
him for taking the poems and reminding him of

2/

our association at Bread Loaf. Even as I wrote,
I was unable to glory much in the acceptance,
it was so intermixed with the awful problems
I had created for us both. After reading your
letter, I am beginning to feel better about it.

Thanks once again for the kindness you
Have shown.

Wes

P.S. I have just read in The Argus of
your Caldecott Medal. What a wonderful
children’s book “The Ox-Cart Man” must
have made, especially with “primitive”
illustrations – just the right thing!
Congratulations!

Read The Thin Man (published version)

Read Ox Cart Man (published version)

Hall to McNair: February 8, 1980

/ , , , , /

Hall-to-McNair-02-08-1980

[Click image to view]

 8 February 1980

Wes McNair
Box 43
N. Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

Thank you for writing as you did. I am sorry to be
the source, or the effective cause, of such unhappiness.
This too will pass, and in the meantime – as you say so
eloquently – something has happened to be learned from.

Although Joey did not do terribly well for you, certain
things may be opening up. No sign of interest from New Yorker,
but I think that things are quite chaotic there right now, and
I would not be too discouraged about it. When you write new
things, I think you ought to try them there. Hayden
Carruth has shown an interest in your work, and I think you
ought to try again. When you write him with new poems, do
remind him that I showed him some earlier – because I did
it in my own person.

However, do be terribly careful, please, not ever to
mention the connection between Joey and me.
[Written in margin: to anyone.] It would be a
matter of great embarrassment to me if any of these poetry
editors, some of whom I know under my own name!, realized
that I was corresponding with them under another.

As I sent out the poems, many magazines took forever
to answer. (One of them was Poetry, by the way, with the
first batch; and then they did take two later. So these long
delays were perhaps not all a waste of time.) But the minute
they came back, I sent them out again the same day. So the
notion that nine months meant that you should not take seriously
the possibility that you might be published…well, obviously
I think that was a very strange thought. Or it was a strange
thought that you would then feel free to publish them elsewhere
without letting me know, while I was still madly sending them
out…

But I need not repeat myself, I realize! Your remorse
is bad enough, and there’s no point in rehearsing things.

I take it that the two poems which Poetry ^has taken have not been
published elsewhere. …I do know that your publication of
“The Thin Man” in the Concord Monitor was only naïve. …The
thing to remember is that publishing is publishing, period.
That there is nothing which is tantamount to this or tantamount
to that. All they are interested in is whether something has

2/

been published or not.

Now for that matter, I merely generalize. If you
send “The Thin Man” out again, to other magazines, I suggest
that you always tell the editor that it appeared in a news-
paper interview in a newspaper called the Concord Monitor
with a circulation of blah blah blah. Somebody may take it
anyway. Certainly some small magazine, with a small circulation,
would feel free to take it. Or quite possibly the Boston
Monthly might feel free to take it. I merely mean that if
the New Yorker had taken it, where it was sitting while it
appeared in the Concord Monitor, the New Yorker would def-
initely have gone back on its acceptance. And that most of
the self-respecting quarterlies and monthlies – Atlantic,
Poetry, etc. – would not take it after it appeared in the
Concord Monitor, if they knew about it.

For that matter, the Harvard Magazine would take it.
And just to prove to you that my regard and high wishes
for your work continues intact, may I please have The Thin Man
for the Harvard Magazine, when it comes back from the Virginia
Quarterly? I do not mind reprinting from the Concord Monitor.

May I?

Don

 

McNair to Hall: February 2, 1980

/ , , , , /

McNair-to-Hall-02-02-1980

[Click image to view]

 February 2, 1980

Dear Don,

Your letter of January 29 contains the worst
message I have ever received in the mail. I
am upset that you will no longer handle my poems.
But I am immeasurably more upset that I have
managed to hurt you and no doubt Jane
so terribly.

The least I owe you is an account of the
circumstances which led to my January 21st
letter to you. First of all, I sent the three
poems to Howard Dinin as a result of his
rather desperate request that I give him
some work related to the idea of “home” for
his first issue of The Boston Monthly, which
was short of material. There is no good
excuse for not letting you know about my
decision to send Howard the poems; I can
only tell you that since it was nine months

2/

after I had given the poems to you, I did not take
seriously the possibility that they might be
published by someone else. Needless to say, I
should have taken that possibility seriously. To make
matters worse, I let the whole thing slide until I had
forgotten it. I did not think about the poems again until
the night of our dinner, when it came up that I had
published in The Boston Monthly. You said you hoped none
of the poems were in the batch Joey had, and I said
“no,” seeing the seriousness of my lapse, and lacking
the courage to be forthright with you and face the
loss of your esteem. Afterward, I sent my letter,
which contained the “duplicity” you have
mentioned, and which took my lack of
courage one step further.

I cannot blame you for responding as you have.
You are wrong to imagine that I might “conceal
and equivocate” as a matter of course in my
dealings with editors, though I can easily
understand why you would so imagine. Ironically,

3/

the equivocation I have been guilty of with you,
a friend and mentor, I have not practiced with
anyone else. The only time I came even close
was when I allowed the woman from The Concord
Monitor to quote “The Thin Man,” assuming,
naïvely, that quoting a poem within an article
was not tantamount to publication of the poem.
That I have treated you in this careless
and dishonest way, failing to be straight
with you until the moment I was forced to,
is a thing that I will never forgive myself
for. I am entirely unable to square my
behavior with the appreciation and
generous support which you and Jane have
given me – without which I might well
have lost faith in my writing. I can
only determine at this point that I will
use what has happened to instruct me in
how to be more forthright in the future

2/

with others,
especially those I respect and love.

I remain deeply grateful for all that you
have done for me. I am profoundly sorry that I
have handled this thing so poorly.

Sincerely,

Wes

 

Hall to McNair: January 28, 1980

/ , , , , /

 

Hall-to-McNair-01-28-1980

[Click image to view]

 28 January 1980

Wes McNair
Dept. of English
Colby-Sawyer College
New London, NH 03257

Dear Wes,

Thanks for the mini-poem. It is an absolutely magnificent
idea, it will be a marvelous poem – and I don’t think it is
quite yet finished. I think that there is a certain awkwardness,
and haste, perhaps, about the end of the poem. I don’t think
we should have a comma after “now.” I think that “the guilt
about their weight,” seems awkward in its little words. And
I know that “fade like a dream,” is the most total of cliches.
And things get a little clichetic further on. “Steaming with
food,” and “appetizing,” and is “seen” the right word? I like
the third line from the end. I like the second line from the
end pretty well – I think the last line is OK but I think it
could be a whole lot better. I wish you would keep it around
a little longer, the way you tend to do anyway, and intensify
or freshen the last half or third of the poem. It is a marvelous
notion! Dear to my heart!

Fine for removing those three poems from circulation –
after they come back from the places where they are currently
being read. Be sure that Howard Dinin waits for Joey’s release.
It would be embarrassing – for you, for Amaryllis, Inc. – if
these poems were taken by another magazine, and then Joey had
to say that they were not available. Be certain about this,
please.

I had a good letter from Howard Dinin, and I will be in
touch with him shortly.

We had a lovely time with you, also, and loved the photographs.

I’m glad that you are enjoying String. Did you see that
my children’s book took the Caldecott? We will be able to
build the new bathroom!

Love to you both,

Editorial note about this poem: Though McNair does not send Hall a completed version of his “mini-poem” until 3/29/1980, his final revisions at that time reflect Hall’s concerns.

Read The Fat Enter Heaven (published version as sent to Hall on 3/29/1980)

Hall to McNair: January 22, 1980

/ , , , , /

Hall-to-McNair-01-22-1980

[Click image to view]

 Jan. 22, 1980

Dear Mr. Amaryllis,

Thanks very much for sending the
poems by Mr. McNair. We do like them, and
are glad to keep

“The Poetic License”
“The Bald Spot”.

I hope Mr. McNair does not have
a book publication deadline coming up
soon? Poems accepted now aren’t likely
to be published until fall—what with our
backlog.

Might be a good idea to put Mr. McNair’s
name on his MSS.? “The art of losing isn’t
hard to master…”, as Eliz. Bishop sings.

With all best wishes,

Sincerely yours,
John Frederick Nims
22 January 1980

Notice of Acceptance

The Editors of Poetry are pleased to accept the
following for publication:

THE POETIC LICENSE
THE BALD SPOT

Wesley McNair
c/o Amaryllis, Incorporated
Box 71
Potter Place, NH 03265

Read The Poetic License (published version)

Read The Bald Spot (published version)

Hall to McNair: January 21, 1980

/ , , , , /

McNair-to-Hall-01-21-1980

[Click image to view]

 January 21, 1980

Dear Don-

I enclose a mini-poem which I hope you like well
enough to pass on to Joey. Also: there are three
poems which I hope Joey will be willing to remove
from circulation – namely, “The Man,” “Country People,”
and “Memory of North Sutton.” Howard Dinin would like
to claim them for The Boston Monthly, would you please
ask Joey about this? It was good to see you both on Wednesday.
Diane will surely never have a better audience for
her slides from Chile. How great it was to share them
with you!

I have now started String too Short to be Saved,
a book which I cannot help liking, it reminds me
so much of my own early experiences on farms.
More about that later.

Best to you both,

Wes

Editorial note about this letter:  The “mini-poem” included in this letter is “The Fat Enter Heaven.” Here, from McNair’s writing notebook, is a draft of the poem as sent in this letter.

The Fat Enter Heaven

It is understood, with the clarity that is possible only in heaven,
that none have loved food better than these.
Angels gather to admire their small mouths and their arms, round
as the fenders of Hudson Hornets. In their past
they have been among the world’s most meek,
the farm boy who lived with his mother, the grade-school teacher
who led the flag salute with expression, day after day.
Now, their commonplace lives, the guilt about their weight,
the ridicule, fade like a dream. They come to the table steaming with food
more appetizing than they have ever seen, shedding their belts and girdles
for the last time. Here, where fat itself is heavenly,
they fill their plates and float upon the sky.

Read The Man (published version)

Read Country People (published version)

Read Memory of North Sutton (published version)

Hall to McNair: January 4, 1980

/ , , , , /

Hall-to-McNair-01-04-1980

[Click image to view]

 4 January 1980

Wes McNair
No. Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

If Howard Dinin writes, I will be
pleased to hear from him – but I won’t be
able to send him anything, not at least
for quite a while. I really believe in
keeping things around two or three
years before you send them out. I don’t
always do it, especially when a book is
due. But I have not sent anything out
since Kicking the Leaves, and I probably
won’t for another six months or perhaps
twelve months. I have things that are
probably finished. Well, they’re probably
not, really – but they might as well be.
They haven’t yet gone through the Ordeal
by Friendship, wherein I send them to all
my friends who lacerate them. I’m about to
start doing that, with a few of them.

But I have thought dimly of sending
some things out this spring but I think I
probably won’t until next autumn. And
then I have a list of magazines that I
promised to send things to. Therefore, it
will be a while. But I will probably make
it eventually, if I live long enough, and
I look forward to it. I also look forward
to seeing you guys next week. Terrific.

2/

I think what you’re doing with the book is
sensible. …Though you know what I hope.

Best as ever,

Don

A note from McNair about this letter: Howard Dinin is a friend who wanted me to ask Don for poems to publish in his new magazine, a start-up called The Boston Monthly. Don is responding to my phone call about it.