Dear X,
Thanks for your interest in recording my work. The project
as a whole sounds fine and it would be good to have available recordings of the
work of various poets. I think it’s important though to consider the position
of the poets themselves. It’s not an art in which much money is involved but it
shouldn’t be assumed that because this is the case the poets will happily
donate their work to what is essentially a business venture in the hope of
putting it out there. I would certainly need to know what the arrangement would
mean for me apart from simply having work available in another medium. I have
had earlier experiences of my work being used for somebody else’s financial
benefit. Some years back I had a poem on a public transport poster in Melbourne.
Not only was I not paid for this, I didn’t even receive a copy of the poster.
The person who set up the project simply thought I was a nuisance and even
threatened legal action if I complained further.
At the risk of sounding a complete grouch here’s some
further advice: It doesn’t flatter a poet when you say you have one of his/her
books but then can’t remember the name of it. I often forget things in
conversation but if I were making an offer to someone I would at least look on
the shelves to remind myself of the title. The other sources of information you
have about me come from a Wikipedia stub that’s about ten years out of date and
one reference followed from that stub. ‘Ten Poems’ isn’t the title of a work,
it is just a covering title that Jacket magazine used for ten quite separate
pieces. These references I note are the first things that come up when you
Google my name so it doesn’t appear as though you have done much research.
A further note: I don’t, in principle, have any problems
with poems being combined with other sounds but it doesn’t sound good to suggest
that because a set of poems are really short they won’t be of interest to
anyone unless they have some music behind them.
I wish you well in your venture, but perhaps you need to think
about these things.
Best &c
Laurie Duggan
