Brian Barker Makes Me Pitch a Fit

Let me stamp my foot and act out the written, adult version of a child's tantrum: IT'S NOT FAIR.

Here's what I'm talking about: Brian Barker. And I'm not referring to his talent--yes, one might call it unfair to be that damn good, but I'm not about to cast stones of jealousy towards someone who can make my head spin so in the weirdly enchanting alleyways of sinister country.

I've spent a fair amount of my pre-shutting-down-for-bed-time reading poetry, and Barker is my latest find. I came across his poem, "A Brief Oral Account of Torture Pulled Down Out of the Wind", in the winter 2011 volume of Pleiades, then went on to his website and read all of the freely available stuff I could find.

Barker is a professor at the University of Colorado Denver, the co-editor of Copper Nickel, the recipient of numerous awards, and the author of two books of poetry, The Animal Gospels (2006) and The Black Ocean (2011).

Here's what I'm complaining about: the irreconcilable conflict that arises when a passionate person is broke.

Right now, on Amazon, The Animal Gospels is selling for $16.95. That's $16.95 for 76 pages. Same price from his publisher, Tupelo Press. The Black Ocean will not be available until June, but I imagine the price will fall somewhere in the same region.

Now, I'm not saying Brian Barker's work is not worth seventeen bucks. Based on what I've read, I'd say it's worth more, and I'd gladly pay it in order to show my respect and chip in whatever I could to support the guy, however dull that quarter might be, coming from my pocket. But seventeen dollars? For seventy-six pages? I realize the economy is no friend to writers right now. But when books put out by worthy authors such as this are that expensive (and the economy is really no more a friend to anyone else than it is to writers), things are not going to get any better any time soon, because no large base of buyers is going to develop, even if there are tons of people like me interested in purchasing copies.

I don't even know how to round off this post. I'll at least say this: Brian Barker is a wonderweaver and my life stinks because I'm having to put off buying his first book until my checkbook register gets bored with this hostility bender its been on lately.