I finally collected and edited photos for all but TWO of the poets so far in the archive (which, granted, isn't that many - there are 28 poets on the site as of today).

I'll be tactful and not mention her name, but I want to talk a bit about ageing female poets and their press photos.

This particular poet, with whom I was so annoyed that I pulled her work from the site, I'll call "Mary."

Mary teaches at a university, has a dozen or so books published, and is a fairly well-respected poet. So what's the problem?

Well, I asked Mary for a photo to accompany her biography on Poetry X (the photos are a little cheesy - but people have requested photos on many occasions on Plagiarist - I've been thinking of calling the photos our "APR Corner" but it's not much of a joke, and only 12 people will get it anyway).

She agreed to send me a photo, and did.

The problem is that she's in her 50s and the photo is of a very young woman.

Now, "Mary" was quite a looker in her day. But this is no longer her day. I've both seen her read and have seen more recent photos of her on the internet, so I wrote back to Mary and asked her if she wouldn't mind sending a more recent photo (and by more recent, I mean anything from the past 30 years - it doesn't have to be something taken last week).

She asked me what was wrong with the photo she'd sent. Well, Mary, you look like a child in that photo. How old were you? "Nineteen." Nineteen? Are you kidding me?

Mary was in her mid-30s (I think) when her first book was published - so why include a photo taken a decade before her career as a poet commenced? Is her vanity THAT much of an issue?

Maybe it's me. Perhaps I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Few people will probably bother to read the bio and see the photo anyway. But it struck me as more than a little ridiculous and I said so to Mary. She refused to send another photo, or to allow me to use another photo that I'd found on the 'net that was a little more recent (she was probably in her early 30s in that one).

Oh, no no. It has to be that silly teenager photo or none at all.

I chose none at all. What choice did I have? What would you have done?

I also chose not to include any of Mary's poems on the site. That may have been a "taking my ball and going home" maneuver, but to be frank, I won't miss them, and neither will anyone else. There are many more talented (or at least as talented) poets and I'd rather spend my limited time editing their work and promoting it rather than Mary's.

Some day in the future, when the site's up and running and everyone's happy I'll write to Mary again to discuss promoting her work through Poetry X. But not today.