New Yorker on Blurbs

I saw this on January's blog and had to share it --

Here's a snippet from the NEW YORKER article (which mentions Paul Guest as well), but I love the line about the Playboy Mansion--


" The cover of the promotional copy of “My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge,” Paul Guest’s second collection of poems, asks “What do John Ashbery, Louise Glück, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Mary Karr, Campbell McGrath, and Mark Strand have in common?” The answer, inside: “They all admire Paul Guest’s new book of poems.” As far as seduction rituals go, this blurb is the poetry equivalent of inviting you to a sleepover at the Playboy mansion.

Of course, as with pick-up lines, there’s bound to be some post-encounter regret—for parties on both sides. My publicist friend mentioned an editor she knows who longs to sum up her past with a T-shirt that reads, 'I feel bad about my blurbs.'"