Complaint Review: Poetry.com

I have been to two poetry conventions with poetry.com and one with Famous Poets' Society out of Ashland ,Oregon(home of Shakespeare Festival.)

All of these conference had poetry that I felt was inferior for the U.S. However,on their level.they are doing well to stimulate interest in poetry. I have a huge collection of poetry books and I don't think that Robert Service,for instance was a particularly good poet by Greenwich village standards or by British Cambridge standards. Francois Villon was a French poet,but he was looked down upon because he was a thief and wrote poems of the gutter. Some of the Black poets were not recognized and either is rap,but it is poetry just the same. So the standards of the poetry organization that gives a prize should be considered . If I didn't like an organization,I would not be hypocritical enough to want a prize from them.

I pride myself in knowing to whom I am addressin g my poetry and when I read my poems to my students,I know which ones they will enjoy. Since I have taught in various places,I would not read my Miami poems to the Navajo students I had under my care. To each his own.

And if you think it is a rip-off to read one of your poems to a large audience set up a group of your own. As I say,Ilike quality and I like variety. Try a different group,but don't waste your time getting angry at an honest effort to promote poetry. After all,I think football games are a ripoff,but I don't go around criticizing them.

This email is a rebuttal to RipOff #5389.
It was sent by Fran Flowers at fflowers@poetry.com.

Poetry.com Convention Con! *Thank you Rip-off Report.com (#5389)
They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: fflowers@poetry.com
Their name: Fran Flowers
Their phone number: @Rebuttal_Phone@
Their relationship to the company: Devotee

Rebuttal:
Dear Ms. McIntyre,

We were recently notified of your complaint on "The Rip-Off Report.com".

Please let me begin by apologizing for any and all problems or
inconveniences that we may have caused you.

I have looked into your concerns regarding the purchase of one of our anthologies and have found that your poem "Unspeakable Joy" was published in the anthology Friends I've Never Met. This anthology was shipped 7/25/01. However, upon review of your account I found that on 8/23/01 your book was returned with no note and that we sent you a post card asking you to please contact us. We will be more than happy to reship this anthology to you.

We understand that there is bad publicity about our organization, but you must also realize that there is also good publicity about us as well. In fact, Time Digital Magazine reviewed our website, poetry.com, in a recent article called "It Could Be Verse," written by Jeffrey Ressner (January/February 2001 edition). In this article, Mr. Ressner refers to our site as "a good starting point" to find "sticky content, great links,
helpful FAQs . . . and a gamut of resources for poets." He also calls our site "a great place to brush up on timeless verse" by some of the great masters.

Our website includes an extensive section of links to many
literary sites, poetic resource sites, and poets' personal homepages, as well as sections that include the works of some of the most influential poets of all time. Our site is an excellent resource for poets of all levels of experience to learn more about their art form, and about each other.

Also, we provide a free place for any poet to display his or her work. We donate books free to libraries and schools, to the International Book Bank, and to our local book bank. We do everything we can to promote poetry as an art form and as a means of self-expression. We award tens of thousands of dollars each year in prize money to talented artists around the world. In order to support these programs, we are unable to operate
on a non-profit basis.

I hope that I have been able to completely address all of your concerns and ask that if you have any further concerns, that you feel free to contact our customer service department in either writing or on the phone at 410-356-2000, Mon - Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST.