Slease

[alan]

[Lucipo] F@etry Ist Who?
marcus slease postpran at gmail.com
Mon Apr 11 07:42:39 EDT 2005

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This Cordle fella is the husband of a former poetry teacher (Kathleen
). I wrote the worst evaluation of her poetry workshop at Western
Washington (where I did an MA). She was a horrible teacher. The second
worst teacher of my life (the first was another teacher at Western
Washington) She was also quite bitter about certain poets like Mark
Strand (who picked one of his former students in the National Poetry
Contest instead of her manuscript). She is, to use the words of Ron
Silliman, the epitome of the school of Quietude.  Poetry as dollie
making etc.

I was the designated "experimental poet" of her workshop. She was
proud of her acceptance of my work (and often congratulated herself
vocally for reading such "marginalized" work). Condescending to say
the least.

What an odd world.

Above's a pathetic post from Marcus Slease.  I've asked Kathleen about him and she says that he, more than any other student, sought dozens of hours of time during office hours for help with his poems.  He asked her to be on his thesis committee.  He asked her to write letters of recommendation for graduate school.  Why would he do those things if he never respected my wife?

After he defended, he wrote a very sweet note thanking her for all of the help she gave him.  She saved it because it touched her.  

Incidently, when Kathleen was a professor in North Carolina, where Marcus apparently lives now, she won the teaching award, not just for her department, but for the entire university.  So I'd say that most of her former students would disagree with what he's posted.

So Marcus, I know you're out there . . . do you have an explanation for your duplicity?

[alan]

http://marcusslease.blogspot.com/2004/04/foetry.html

"Mark Strand games"

Hmmmm.  Slease would've made a wonderful Foet; too bad the Foets are dying out.

[mirsk]

Ok, Alan, yes, it is a bit sleezy, so to speak, to be dissing the teacher that one was asking time and energy of (though perhaps that is what teachers are meant to be giving?), and it is perchance a bit twofaced to have written a polite letter of thanks and then be savaging said teacher somewhere in the cyberworld--but...
All respect to your wife, who is a writer of good poems--but I wonder if, in making an issue of Marcus Sleaze's posting elsewhere about her you are not feeding into the train of thought that was so evident in the questions from VQ--that, hey, this is just a nice guy all mad 'cause his sweetie isn't treated right, dammit.
You are doing such a good thing in continuing this site. I worry if you get distracted by the personal attacks elsewhere you will weaken it.
But do what you must. The rest of us posters sure will.

[alan]

She was also quite bitter about certain poets like Mark
Strand (who picked one of his former students in the National Poetry
Contest instead of her manuscript).

Marcus Slease is perhaps referring to this incident.  Strand did not, in fact, pick his student, because the two were removed from competition when CD Wright and I, among others, complained.  In the following year, that student, Michael White, was selected by Mark Strand as "winner" of the Colorado Prize.

Imagine, being "bitter" about injustice.  I don't think my wife is bitter about anything.  But she does have a sense of ethics, thankfully.

Last night Kathleen read to me the letter she wrote to recommend Slease for graduate school -- it was nothing but praising of Slease and his writing, but there was something that struck me as peculiar in light of his comments.  She commented that he would be taking ANOTHER class from her.  So he thinks she's a horrible teacher, takes multiple classes with her, asks for letters, etc. etc.  

So, who is Slease lying to?  Himself?  His poetry "collective" buddies?  Or Kathleen?  If nothing else, my year with Foetry is teaching me a lot about people.