ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT
A.) The ACHIEVEMENT.
The author’s works: How do they hold up?
B.) INFLUENCE.
Influence on literature AND on American culture.
C.) PERSONA.
Like it or not, the writer is a public figure. Writers are the face of the art.
D.) EXCITEMENT QUOTIENT.
Is energy generated among readers and society by the author and/or the work?
E.) AMERICAN.
How authentic is the writer and the writing? How representative of some important aspect of American life, ideas, or people? Is the work an expression of American language, sound, voice?
F.) HUMANITY.
Polished technical exercises aren’t enough. Does the writing have emotion? Heart? We’re not selecting A.I. robots.
newpoplitinteractive 
Ashbery
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As there are a limited number of slots for poets in the Tournament, with many to choose from, at some point we may have to have read-offs between some of them, via recordings.
I’ve read at scores of poetry open mics (chiefly in Philly) and hosted a few. There’s one historic poet I’d never want to read against (too good)– someone who’ll be included in the next set of names announced to have made the brackets. I can tell you it’s not Ashbery!
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Too bad. Ashbery was an interesting poet, and Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror is brilliant.
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