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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

News Mark Doty: "It's especially ugly for these words to be used against gay men."

Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 3:26 PM

A sentence written by poet and author Mark Doty appeared verbatim in the threatening letter sent to 11 gay bars in Seattle.

"This is just repellent," Mark Doty writes in an email. "On the literal level, my poem is about looking at fish on ice in the grocery store, and wondering if they could be called individuals. But I wrote in '94, in the crisis years of the epidemic, and so I was really thinking about mortality. I was trying to imagine some way to make the loss of those we love seem even temporarily bearable.

"So I was thinking about what it means to 'have' a self, to be a self, when selfhood is something we lose. I was trying to console myself and others, at least a little, for all we'd endured. So, it's especially ugly for these words to be used against gay men. Writers have no control over what people do with their words, but this is as far from my intention as you could get."

You can read Doty's poem, "A Display of Mackerel," here. And to make a little more good come of this ugly incident, take this opportunity to purchase and read Dog Years, Doty's bestselling memoir.

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diabolical

Posted by zzzzzzzz on January 7, 2009 at 3:36 PM

Seems that the author of the letter in question is fairly erudite. I have been a fan of Doty's work for years, but he isn't exactly a household name, even or perhaps especially in the gay community which doesn't necessarily pride itself on being well read.

Posted by danindowntown on January 7, 2009 at 3:44 PM

maybe HE wrote the letter!!!!

Witch HUNT!!!

Posted by get the pink pitchforks!!! on January 7, 2009 at 3:44 PM

How wonderful of him to write!

Posted by tomasyalba on January 7, 2009 at 3:47 PM

That is a beautiful and touching poem.

After reading it Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Fish" came to mind: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fish/

For me, both poems illuminate transcendence, finding "the other" in a being out of its element.

Posted by inkweary on January 7, 2009 at 3:54 PM

@ 5 Maybe YOU wrote the letter. Reading Doty reminds you of Bishop??? That demonstrates a level of familiarity with queer poets that can't help but put you under a cloud of suspicion.

On a separate note I just read Doty's memoir "Heaven's Coast." Reading it helped deepen my reading of his elegies about Wally.

Posted by danindowntown on January 7, 2009 at 4:02 PM

He's cute.

And @6, continue like that and the terrorist has already won!

Posted by meep! on January 7, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Those eyes, wow

Posted by AJ on January 7, 2009 at 4:30 PM

I love Mark Doty. Love. Him.

Posted by Balt-O-Matt on January 7, 2009 at 4:48 PM

maybe the silver lining on this cloud is that more people will want to read mark's work. he's a sadly under read writer.

Posted by jayme on January 7, 2009 at 5:07 PM

@2. If you think the gay community doesn't read, you should try looking at the straight community.

Posted by dwight moody on January 7, 2009 at 6:34 PM

Holy crap, that's a beautiful poem. The letter writer has committed a crime against art, and the serendipitous outcome has been to introduce people like me to Doty and his work.

Posted by casseia on January 7, 2009 at 9:07 PM

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