Writing Problems: Prizes

Merwin, Ignatow, Kunitz, Harrison, Glück

I often say to my editorial services clients, nothing leads to anything in poetry. 

Poets have no commodity to sell. There’s so little at stake, that poetry prizes gain outsize importance. 

Prizes are controversial and contradictory: they elicit praise for winners, but also contempt. Any time a group of poets gets together, it’s only a matter of time befo…