Freelance Poets

My fiance tells me that there is no such thing as a "freelance poet."

How did we get on this topic? He is a writer/editor. In the past, he's had to deal with the public, including those who describe themselves as "freelance poets."

Since I've done my share of hanging out at poetry readings, I know pretentiousness and irrelevancy firsthand. Not to say that poetry itself is that way. Many of my dead mentors have been poets, including T.S. Eliot, Kerouac, and a number of Buddhist monks. Still, some of my favorite blowhard writer stereotypes come from hanging out in the poetry circuit.

So is there such a thing as a "freelance poet"? He says no. And because he says no, I say yes. Someone out there being hired as an independent contractor, writing poetry for a small magazine. It may not be the Saturday Evening Post, but it provides a coffee allowance.

Then again, maybe the term "freelance poet" is redundant. After all, how many poets are hired for that type of work. We don't call screenwriters, "freelance screenwriters", do we?

Is there such a thing as a "freelance poet"? What do you think?