Postcards from the Imagination

Awesome - good job!

Did you do the GRE and the subject test on the same day? I did - not the wisest of moves, although I did just fine. (Mine was the old school pre-computer test though.)

Thanks, RJ! I took the subject test a couple weeks ago. I suspect I didn't do so hot on it, because I forgot to strategize. I should have run through an answered everything I knew first, but I didn't--and as I result I ended up thinking too long about some questions, and leaving a bunch unanswered. Oh, well!
I decided not to apply to Cornell's joint M.F.A./Ph.D. program anway. If I decide I want to go on to the Ph.D. in the future, I can always go back and retake the Lit test.

And congrats to you! Only one more semester of law school! You're almost there.

nice work. when i applied to mfas, i remember avoiding any school that required the subject test.

have you seen this story?

Huzzah!

Thanks, Adam! Thanks ADT!

Regarding the statement of purpose, I did as the author of the article did: went the honesty route. Aside from not have the time or energy to strategize, I'd rather be rejected for exactly who I am than because I incorrectly guessed what would appeal to some faceless reader. My undergrad advisor loved it, so we'll see.

It's funny how being an editor changes one's perspective on these things. The more aware I've become of my reading habits for the magazine--knowing, for instance, when I'm too tired or cranky to read generously--the more human the whole process feels. So I talked about coming to poetry through rock star poets like Jim Morrison and poetry rock stars like Allen Ginsberg. I talked about sitting around in incense-filled rooms with my friends as a teenager, reading poems and drinking whatever liquor we could get our grubby, underaged hands on. I also talked about attending one of the most conservative poetry conferences in the country, though I've long since lost my taste for NeoFormalism. Finally, I talked about the world's constant intrusions and how I wanted time away from them--glorious time(!)--to write. That's (the incredibly reductive version of) who I am, and they're looking for somebody else, so be it.

Congrats and have a good 2007