The State Of Chicago Poetry is WHAT???

My fellow poets,

I am happy to report that the state of Chicago Poetry is good, very, very good.

CJ, CJ, CJ...as much as I respect the fact that you've dedicated good time to keeping us up-to-date on the Chicago Poetry Scene; I must disagree with you. Things are as dim for Chicago Poetry as I've ever seen the scene. And I've seen some really dead scenes in my day.

It's not that people aren't trying, God knows. I know you do your best, as others do. And I can only claim seven years of knowledge on what went on around here. But I know what I see, and what I see isn't necessarily good.

There's much less out there than before. I know Wednesdays used to have three or four venues going on, and I used to have to decide which venue to go to Fridays. Look at the other dates, I'm sure you remember more venues going on any day of the week.

Plus there's less on the radio than used to be. Yes, I know you now do internet broadcasts, but it's not the same -- we've lost the chance that someone will stumble on one of our poets on the radio and LIKE them.

Some of the old standbys are still going on, thankfully enough. Weeds, The Cafe, The Green Door, Coffee Chicago -- all are good venues still going on. However, there are other venues which have gone and haven't been replaced. Venues which are missed more strongly because there's nothing to replace them with.

And that's why I have to disagree with you, CJ, over the above comment. I know what I see, even from my distant perch of Munster, Indiana.