The dedication

Book dedications are curious holdovers from the era of aristocratic patronage, when books were dedicated to the individuals who actually paid for their creation and production. My brother Steve did the right thing, of course, in dedicating his first published novel to his parents, and I would have done well to have followed his lead. On the other hand, there might be other books I could possibly write someday that would be better given to them (or to their shades). I decided to follow the equally long tradition of dedicating my poetry to my poetic progenitors. But to whom, if to anyone, did I "owe" for the writing I've done in the past three decades? Randy Greif has probably done more than anyone else to get me writing and supporting (by making use of) what I have written, but I consider him primarily a friend rather than an instructor...

I went through two iterations of the dedication before arriving at its current form. The first was "To Barney Childs and Tom Clark, my masters in the craft." Growing increasingly uncertain that any readers would be able to discern any way in which either of these gentlemen could be considered my masters (as if I was claiming to have served apprenticeships with them), I changed the wording to "To Barney Childs and Tom Clark, masters of the craft." That wording, however, called attention in my mind to the fact that I didn't actually know much about Barney Childs' poetry (although he taught me a great deal in the classes I took with him), not enough to be able to affirm in my own mind that he actually was a master of the craft, however strong my expectations might be that he would have been such. Beyond that, I questioned whether I had a strong enough personal connection to Barney to be so presumptuous as to dedicate my work to him and thereby implicate him, especially when not being among the living he would be unable to defend against the charge.

The final form of the dedication rests in a statement of fact: "To my poetry teachers: Barney Childs, Tom Clark, Carol Potter and Christina Mengert." These four turn out to be the only teachers with whom I've done formal instruction in poetry or poetics. Moreover, the form of the dedication doesn't actually charge them with anything substantive. It seems fair, and enough to pay the debt owed.