small check

Even during the times when he was making hundreds of thousands per year, it pleased him to get $200 for doing a reading or $50 for a published poem.

by the line

The editors of the haiku magazine decided to pay their contributors—by the line.

poems not compensation enough

As much as I might admire their poetry, when I read the biographies of certain poets who lived sad or bad lives, I think I’d rather be a happy person than a poet.

paid poet

He was a poet who got paid.