Letter from Louise Kertesz to Elaine
Letter from Louise Kertesz to Elaine
Unknown year and date. A typewritten letter from Louise Kertesz to someone named Elaine. Louise says that she enjoyed Elaine’s poetry, especially those in which she offered “pictures of people in her past” such as her father, brothers and their wives, her mother, Patsy, and Elaine as a child. Elaine has stated that she doesn't think that poetry sells, and indeed, Louise confirms it doesn’t sell. Big newspapers and publications such as the New Yorker and The Atlantic are not that interested in poetry. The best selling poet, Kenneth Rexroth, only sells about a thousand copies per book. Louise then looks at Elaine’s poems and says that she tells rather than shows, and to cut down on generalizations. Louise says that she sent this letter in the spirit of mutuality, and that if Elaine wants to send her poems to small publications, Louise would be willing to give her addresses. Someone, possibly Louise Kertesz, has handwritten on the top of the first page of the letter, ‘Who is this addressed to?’.