‘Spitzer and Weld’

Your editorial noting the quaint and backward-looking orientation of would-be New York governor Eliot Spitzer is spot-on [“Spitzer and Weld,” December 27, 2005].

Mr. Spitzer’s vision for New York is a pandering litany of past “movements” – “the labor movement, the environmental movement, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement” – that the state attorney general contends defined New York’s past greatness.

Debunking Mr. Spitzer’s nostalgia in comparison to the thoughtful ideas of prospective Republican candidate William Weld is all well and good, but you do a disservice to your readers by suggesting that there are no forward-thinking Democrats around. “We would like to find a Democrat who is forward-looking, optimistic, and engaged in the current debate, i.e., relevant.”

You need look no further than the undeclared candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination: the recently reelected Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi. In just one term as county executive, Mr. Suozzi has revamped the county’s finances, secured high ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poors, drastically cut the county work force, and refocused county government on relevant, quality-of-life issues.

Moreover, Mr. Suozzi has been a leader in the state-wide movement to rein in the burgeoning cost of Medicaid and founded an alliance to promote change in our sclerotic state legislature.

In contrast to a grandstanding Eliot Spitzer, who has never run anything in his life and specializes in corporate shakedowns in lieu of courtroom proofs, Mr. Suozzi is a tested executive capable of making real-world decisions that have tangibly improved the lives of thousands of Long Islanders.

His candidacy for governor would be a plangent call to Democrats for innovative solutions, real change in Albany, and meeting the future with optimism.

ERIK PETER AXELSON
Manhattan

‘Poetry Magazine’s Rebirth’

As a practitioner and editor of verse myself, I read with great interest Adam Kirsch’s article on December 20, 2005, regarding the rebirth of Poetry Magazine [“Poetry Magazine’s Rebirth,” Page 1].

I agree with most of Mr. Kirsch’s assessment and think the magazine is more lively and engaging since its current editor took over a little over two years ago. And I would also concur that the back of the magazine has been what has been most refreshing for what I’ll call its “tone” and “bite.”

There continues, however, to be a glaring omission that the magazine itself seems to be in denial about (they declined to publish a very very brief letter on the subject). But the numbers speak for themselves:

In the two or so years since the new editorship has been in place, Poetry Magazine has reviewed – never mind whether negatively or positively – a Grand total of 0 books by poets of Latino/Hispanic descent.

You will find books by Latino poets in their “Books Received” section online. But not one of these books has garnered a single word of commentary – negative or otherwise.

The editor, in a piece not too long ago, stated that Poetry Magazine’s aim was to review a “range of books.” I continue to wonder how much longer our most visible journal of verse will continue to render invisible such a sizable and growing portion of the United States population.

FRANCISCO ARAGON
Director
Letras Latinas
Institute for Latino Studies
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Ind.

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