{"id":2016,"date":"2012-04-27T13:53:45","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T17:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=2016"},"modified":"2013-12-18T21:30:33","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T01:30:33","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-february-12-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-february-12-1981\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: February 12, 1981 [1982]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-02-12-1981\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-02-12-1981\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

February 12, 1981 [misdated: should be 1982]<\/p>\n

Dear Don,<\/p>\n

I heard from Joey that you have chosen three of my poems for
\nPloughshares<\/span>. I\u2019m very glad. I\u2019m also pleased that he thought
\n\u201cMina Bell\u2019s Cows\u201d good enough to submit to the New Yorker<\/span>, even
\nthough it was rejected.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening here in Sutton is a lot of writing and re-writing.
\nI thought for sure I\u2019d have two two-page poems for your review
\nby the end of January, but I put them both away about a week ago,
\neach about finished. I\u2019m now working on two other<\/span> poems. Maybe
\nI\u2019m beginning to work on batches, as you seem to. Anyway, I do
\nwant you to know that I\u2019m struggling each and every day on poems,
\nand that I\u2019m excited by the writing I\u2019m doing, even though I\u2019m not
\nyet ready to send samples.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I have been doing some extra teaching\u2014not enough
\nthat it interferes with my writing, but enough to keep food on the table
\nwhile I\u2019m on sabbatical. I\u2019m working for the School for Lifelong
\nLearning, UNH\u2019s continuing education school, which has branches
\nwithin commuting distance. Later on, the connection with SLL will
\nprobably help me to put Sean through college, if we\u2019re still here.<\/p>\n

My manuscript, famous in its various revisions among
\nthe readers for all the major contests, is now being read once
\nagain by Princeton, The National Poetry Contest, Pittsburgh
\nand Associated Writing Programs. I have my fingers crossed
\nfor Princeton, the first notification I must face. Rejection\u2014
\nor acceptance\u2014happens at the end of this month.<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

Night before last, I read for the Baptist Monday Nights (NL),
\nmostly older folks, some of whom no doubt expected my poetry to rhyme.
\nThey did like the poems, nevertheless\u2014their engaged and pleased
\nexpressions during the reading were unmistakable. Getting people who
\ndon\u2019t really follow poetry involved in a reading is an especially
\ngratifying thing for me, since I do feel that poetry should have a
\nbroad appeal.<\/p>\n

That makes me think to ask you what is probably a na\u00efve
\nquestion. Why isn\u2019t there a book club that features regular selections
\nof contemporary poetry? Or a book club that features poetry only?
\nDon\u2019t you think that people would buy contemporary verse if there were
\nsuch outlets for it? Probably it\u2019s because I now see the possibility
\nof publishing a book myself, but I\u2019m currently very down about
\nhow little poetry is read today. I can\u2019t believe the limited number
\nof readers is only the fault of poets, especially since there\u2019s such
\ninterest in poetry writing in college, and afterward, through workshops
\nof one kind or another. If individual presses can\u2019t afford to
\nadvertise for their poetry, perhaps a co-operative of some kind
\nwould work\u2014a book club sponsored by the presses, maybe\u2026
\nI assume others have thought of such things and discarded<\/span>
\ntheir thoughts\u2014but why?<\/p>\n

Speaking of books, I\u2019d very much life to get a copy of
\nyour Hobart and William Smith collection of recent essays.
\nDo you have a copy I could buy? I just bought two very interesting
\nbooks\u2014The Private Life<\/span> and Satan Says<\/span>. Do you like them, too?
\nWhat do you think of Sharon Olds?<\/p>\n

Just got word that Diane is leaving for shopping & mail\u2026
\nso I\u2019ll cut this off here. I hope your trip with Jane to England
\nwent well\u2014and that your return to Eagle Pond Farm has been good, too.<\/p>\n

Lots of love to both of you,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

Read Mina Bell’s Cows<\/span><\/a> <\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

See also a selection of McNair’s manuscript notes and drafts<\/span><\/a> <\/span>of “Mina Bell’s Cows.”<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] February 12, 1981 [misdated: should be 1982] Dear Don, I heard from Joey that you have chosen three of my poems for Ploughshares. I\u2019m very glad. I\u2019m also pleased that he thought \u201cMina Bell\u2019s Cows\u201d good enough to submit to the New Yorker, even though it was rejected. What\u2019s happening here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35323,35504,42979,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2016"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11351,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions\/11351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}