# Has anyone heard of C. S. Cooney? *The Urth list — 9 messages, 4 voices, 10 Aug 2005* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Jason Willard *10 Aug 2005, 17:47* I just got my copy of Starwater Strains and the dedication says the title is from a poem by C. S. Cooney called "Lady Rosemary." Rosemary I get, of course, but is Mr. Wolfe in the habit of making up poets? I can't find this poet mentioned in Google or Wikipedia or ABE Books. (As fabulous as they are, admittedly limited sources.) Am I missing something obvious? Has Wolfe used this as a pseudonym? --- ### Maru Dubshinki *10 Aug 2005, 19:50 · in reply to Jason Willard* > On 8/10/05, Jason Willard wrote: > I just got my copy of Starwater Strains and the dedication says the title is > from a poem by C. S. Cooney called "Lady Rosemary." Rosemary I get, of > course, but is Mr. Wolfe in the habit of making up poets? I can't find this > poet mentioned in Google or Wikipedia or ABE Books. (As fabulous as they > are, admittedly limited sources.) Am I missing something obvious? Has > Wolfe used this as a pseudonym? There is a man of letters by the name of "Seamus Cooney". Cooney is not a common last name at all, and that fellow has at least one of the right initials. But he doesn't appear to have authored any poems, rather just edited a lot of poems and letters by such luminaries as Charles Bukowski; there is an Irish principal who likes poetry, but that seems unlikely; and it doesn't appear to be a code of some sort- at least, the most significant anagram is "Once Cosy". Perhaps you could copy the poem, if Wolfe included it (or did he simply mention it in passing?). ~Maru Current mood: ? --- ### JWillard *10 Aug 2005, 20:35 · in reply to Maru Dubshinki* > Maru Dubshinki wrote: > On 8/10/05, Jason Willard wrote: > >> I just got my copy of Starwater Strains and the dedication says the title is >> from a poem by C. S. Cooney called "Lady Rosemary." Rosemary I get, of >> course, but is Mr. Wolfe in the habit of making up poets? I can't find this >> poet mentioned in Google or Wikipedia or ABE Books. (As fabulous as they >> are, admittedly limited sources.) Am I missing something obvious? Has >> Wolfe used this as a pseudonym? >> > There is a man of letters by the name of "Seamus Cooney". Cooney is > not a common last name at all, and that fellow has at least one of the > right initials. But he doesn't appear to have authored any poems, > rather just edited a lot of poems and letters by such luminaries as > Charles Bukowski; there is an Irish principal who likes poetry, but > that seems unlikely; and it doesn't appear to be a code of some sort- > at least, the most significant anagram is "Once Cosy". Perhaps you > could copy the poem, if Wolfe included it (or did he simply mention it > in passing?). > > > ~Maru > Current mood: ? > _______________________________________________ --- ### Maru Dubshinki *10 Aug 2005, 21:52 · in reply to JWillard* > On 8/10/05, JWillard wrote: > Maru Dubshinki wrote: >> On 8/10/05, Jason Willard wrote: >>> I just got my copy of Starwater Strains and the dedication says the title is >>> from a poem by C. S. Cooney called "Lady Rosemary." Rosemary I get, of >>> course, but is Mr. Wolfe in the habit of making up poets? I can't find this >>> poet mentioned in Google or Wikipedia or ABE Books. (As fabulous as they >>> are, admittedly limited sources.) Am I missing something obvious? Has >>> Wolfe used this as a pseudonym? >> There is a man of letters by the name of "Seamus Cooney". Cooney is >> not a common last name at all, and that fellow has at least one of the >> right initials. But he doesn't appear to have authored any poems, >> rather just edited a lot of poems and letters by such luminaries as >> Charles Bukowski; there is an Irish principal who likes poetry, but >> that seems unlikely; and it doesn't appear to be a code of some sort- >> at least, the most significant anagram is "Once Cosy". Perhaps you >> could copy the poem, if Wolfe included it (or did he simply mention it >> in passing?). >> >> >> ~Maru >> Current mood: ? >> _______________________________________________ --- ### JWillard *11 Aug 2005, 17:20 · in reply to Maru Dubshinki* > Maru Dubshinki wrote: > On 8/10/05, JWillard wrote: > >> Maru Dubshinki wrote: >> >> >>> On 8/10/05, Jason Willard wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> I just got my copy of Starwater Strains and the dedication says the title is >>>> >>>> >>>> from a poem by C. S. Cooney called "Lady Rosemary." Rosemary I get, of >>>> course, but is Mr. Wolfe in the habit of making up poets? I can't find this >>>> poet mentioned in Google or Wikipedia or ABE Books. (As fabulous as they >>>> are, admittedly limited sources.) Am I missing something obvious? Has >>>> Wolfe used this as a pseudonym? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> There is a man of letters by the name of "Seamus Cooney". Cooney is >>> not a common last name at all, and that fellow has at least one of the >>> right initials. But he doesn't appear to have authored any poems, >>> rather just edited a lot of poems and letters by such luminaries as >>> Charles Bukowski; there is an Irish principal who likes poetry, but >>> that seems unlikely; and it doesn't appear to be a code of some sort- >>> at least, the most significant anagram is "Once Cosy". Perhaps you >>> could copy the poem, if Wolfe included it (or did he simply mention it >>> in passing?). >>> >>> >>> ~Maru >>> Current mood: ? >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Urth Mailing List >>> To post, write urth at urth.net >>> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net >>> >>> >>> >>> >> It reads: >> >> "The title of this book is taken from "Lady Rosemary," a poem by C. S. >> Cooney; and this book is dedicated to them." >> >> That's it. Three possibilities (as far as I can see): Cooney is an >> obscure poet (and Wolfe does seem to have some obscure things in his >> library); something's misprinted; or someone's doing some leg-pulling. >> Thanks for the feedback! >> > Well, I gave the Library of Congress a shot; no joy. > But something rings wrong about that text. "this book is dedicated to > *them*"? Is that pronoun correct? There are three possible referents > for that pronoun: "Starwater Strains" (unacceptable, since that is a > very strange thing to anthromorphize, and I'm not even sure what > starwater strains could be, anyways), Rosemary (well, Wolfe *could* be > a herbal fanatic. It's possible, but improbable), and finally, C. S. > Cooney, in which case the name could well be a pseudonym for a > collective/duo/misc. group of writers, somewhat like Bourbaki is for > mathematicians. > > ~Maru > _______________________________________________ --- ### Maru Dubshinki *11 Aug 2005, 19:50 · in reply to JWillard* > On 8/11/05, JWillard wrote: > [Asked David Hartwell - this was his response:] > > I asked and got this response from my agent Susan Protter, via Gene > Wolfe's friend Patrick O'Leary. > > DGH > > Dear Dave: > > Claire Cooney is a neighbor, fan, family friend and renaissance devotee, > singer and poet. > > Patrick says she is a sweet young girl.... > > SUSAN /jaw drops. You're kidding, right? ~Maru "First, I thought mountains were mountains; then I learned, and knew that mountains are not mountains. But now, mountains are just mountains." --- ### don doggett *12 Aug 2005, 20:06 · in reply to Maru Dubshinki* > --- Maru Dubshinki wrote: > On 8/11/05, JWillard wrote: >> [Asked David Hartwell - this was his response:] >> >> I asked and got this response from my agent Susan >> Protter, via Gene >> Wolfe's friend Patrick O'Leary. >> >> DGH >> >> Dear Dave: >> >> Claire Cooney is a neighbor, fan, family friend >> and renaissance devotee, >> singer and poet. >> >> Patrick says she is a sweet young girl.... >> >> SUSAN > /jaw drops. > You're kidding, right? That's awesome. I thought something like that might be the case. I'm glad it was, it speaks well of GW. Why don't you guys write her and ask her for copies of her poetry? She might be stoked. :) Don --- ### Maru Dubshinki *12 Aug 2005, 20:21 · in reply to don doggett* > On 8/12/05, don doggett wrote: > > > --- Maru Dubshinki wrote: >> On 8/11/05, JWillard wrote: >>> [Asked David Hartwell - this was his response:] >>> >>> I asked and got this response from my agent Susan >>> Protter, via Gene >>> Wolfe's friend Patrick O'Leary. >>> >>> DGH >>> >>> Dear Dave: >>> >>> Claire Cooney is a neighbor, fan, family friend >>> and renaissance devotee, >>> singer and poet. >>> >>> Patrick says she is a sweet young girl.... >>> >>> SUSAN >> /jaw drops. >> You're kidding, right? > That's awesome. I thought something like that might > be the case. I'm glad it was, it speaks well of GW. > Why don't you guys write her and ask her for copies of > her poetry? She might be stoked. :) > > Don Why not indeed- the poem might provide context for the anthology. What do you think, SUSAN? Does that sound too creepy/stalker-ish or no? ~Maru --- ### JWillard *13 Aug 2005, 07:52 · in reply to Maru Dubshinki* > Maru Dubshinki wrote: > On 8/12/05, don doggett wrote: > >> --- Maru Dubshinki wrote: >> >> >>> On 8/11/05, JWillard wrote: >>> >>>> [Asked David Hartwell - this was his response:] >>>> >>>> I asked and got this response from my agent Susan >>>> >>> Protter, via Gene >>> >>>> Wolfe's friend Patrick O'Leary. >>>> >>>> DGH >>>> >>>> Dear Dave: >>>> >>>> Claire Cooney is a neighbor, fan, family friend >>>> >>> and renaissance devotee, >>> >>>> singer and poet. >>>> >>>> Patrick says she is a sweet young girl.... >>>> >>>> SUSAN >>>> >>> /jaw drops. >>> You're kidding, right? >>> >> That's awesome. I thought something like that might >> be the case. I'm glad it was, it speaks well of GW. >> Why don't you guys write her and ask her for copies of >> her poetry? She might be stoked. :) >> >> Don >> > Why not indeed- the poem might provide context for the anthology. > What do you think, SUSAN? Does that sound too creepy/stalker-ish or no? > > ~Maru > _______________________________________________ ---