Dacey: Yesterday it was "verisimilitude." I used it in class. "Paraphernalia" is a good one, I think, both because it's a kick to say but also when people say it they change the "pher" to "pha," and that "pher" or "phern" is the word's central pleasure. If I had to choose one, I would have to pick "amateur." I like the fact that amateur has a secret life. It's often used in a pejorative way-"So and so is an amateur at such-and-such." But in an etymological sense, an amateur is one who does something simply for the love of doing it. The Latin root is "amat," he or she loves. A good professional therefore keeps alive inside of him or her an amateur, and I think that's a good thing to keep in mind for writers, especially those just beginning, the idea that they have to stay an amateur if they're going to succeed professionally. AprilQ 1999
Most recent collections by Philip Dacey:
TbeDeathbedPlayboy(Cheney: Eastern Washington U. Press, 1999) Tbe Paramour ofthe Moving Air(Quarlerly Review of Literature, 1999) What's Empty Weighs the Most: 24 Sonnets (Elgin, IL: Black Dirt Press, 1997) Earlier books (selected):
Tbe Boy Under the Bed (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1981) Night Shift at the Crucifix Factory (Iowa City: U. of Iowa Press, 1991) Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms (New York: Harper& Row, 1986; co-edited with DavidJauss)
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