Thursday, May 26, 2005
Open letter from Kay Day
First, my own comments:
As most of you know, I've been called lots of things publicly, both derogatory and complimentary: "Consummate warrior" has never been one of them. It's a flattering sobriquet to be sure, but even more so when uttered in an open letter to her readers by acclaimed author-poet Kay Day.
Kay's letter follows:
Some of you know about the poem I wrote in honor of W. Thomas Smith, Jr., a friend and colleague of mine. Thomas, in my opinion, has always been the consummate warrior.
Toss in my obsession with Beowulf, add to that my preoccupation with Southern culture, and it's no surprise that I composed a warrior poem (as opposed to a "war" poem).
At any rate, that poem has bounced around the world in a rather astounding way. Fifteen minutes after it was published at Thomas's site, the lit magazine Miller's Pond asked to publish it.
Within several hours, I received hundreds of emails and many posts at my blog about the poem.
Today I'm informed the poem has just been published at MilitaryWeek.
I looked at my stats and have had visitors from South Africa, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, many U.S. states, and several news services.
Isn't it amazing how poetry, not very treasured in terms of acclaim or material gain, can touch the hearts of so many?
Best wishes to you and yours as we pay homage to those who died fighting for the wealth of freedoms we enjoy today.
Best regards,
Kay Day
Kay's website
Kay's weblog
Kay's poem at MilitaryWeek.com
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
As most of you know, I've been called lots of things publicly, both derogatory and complimentary: "Consummate warrior" has never been one of them. It's a flattering sobriquet to be sure, but even more so when uttered in an open letter to her readers by acclaimed author-poet Kay Day.
Kay's letter follows:
Some of you know about the poem I wrote in honor of W. Thomas Smith, Jr., a friend and colleague of mine. Thomas, in my opinion, has always been the consummate warrior.
Toss in my obsession with Beowulf, add to that my preoccupation with Southern culture, and it's no surprise that I composed a warrior poem (as opposed to a "war" poem).
At any rate, that poem has bounced around the world in a rather astounding way. Fifteen minutes after it was published at Thomas's site, the lit magazine Miller's Pond asked to publish it.
Within several hours, I received hundreds of emails and many posts at my blog about the poem.
Today I'm informed the poem has just been published at MilitaryWeek.
I looked at my stats and have had visitors from South Africa, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, many U.S. states, and several news services.
Isn't it amazing how poetry, not very treasured in terms of acclaim or material gain, can touch the hearts of so many?
Best wishes to you and yours as we pay homage to those who died fighting for the wealth of freedoms we enjoy today.
Best regards,
Kay Day
Kay's website
Kay's weblog
Kay's poem at MilitaryWeek.com
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
# posted by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. @ 11:08 AM 
