tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.comments2023-10-27T07:29:26.285+00:00PolyolbionMatt Merritthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comBlogger1235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-69805015345946363682022-03-16T16:06:14.439+00:002022-03-16T16:06:14.439+00:00Thanks Matt. I didn't consider readings of poe...Thanks Matt. I didn't consider readings of poems, but I think what you say is right. When you're listening to a poem being read, you can't head off and look up references, so some information may be necessary, but, as you say, not instructions on understanding it. Hope the readings go well.sue.i.mnw.blogspot.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14516078157435972485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-53393225593263825292021-05-10T13:06:29.279+00:002021-05-10T13:06:29.279+00:00Good to hear you've got another collection in ...Good to hear you've got another collection in progress. Look forward to it.Sue Ibrahimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-85591567352451498712021-03-25T10:41:21.316+00:002021-03-25T10:41:21.316+00:00I'm not sure you need to be persuaded. Once up...I'm not sure you need to be persuaded. Once upon a time I'd have (metaphorically) fought you for suggesting The Las weren't the greatest...particularly on the evening I played There She Goes 30+ times in a row, but I was 19 at the time and that stuff was important then. It's not now.<br /><br />I've just gone back to my old Las demos and the like to see if there's gold in them there hills and there ain't, IMHO, but I'd stand by large parts of their album being wonderful, and TSG is still a work of genius, but it's not the bestest thing ever (neither was the Stone Roses' debut for that matter). Jealous you got to see them though. I missed out on seeing Cast as they were getting going in Liverpool after the Las had fallen apart. NB i always liked the idea that the last words on the Las album were 'The change is cast..."<br /><br />I wonder who is poetry's equivalent of Lee Mavers..<br /><br />Mat Richeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12867459255902806306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-62770208831641157132021-03-18T11:49:37.270+00:002021-03-18T11:49:37.270+00:00I keep starting to do this and then forget. It'...I keep starting to do this and then forget. It's easier, though less rewarding, to photocopy them, rather than write them out, mainly because I have to write really slowly to ensure they're legible! I do the same with song lyrics.Sue Ibrahimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-27111481139285854912021-03-05T23:31:37.622+00:002021-03-05T23:31:37.622+00:00I also loved the Ant and Bee (and Kind Dog) books!...I also loved the Ant and Bee (and Kind Dog) books! I still have a couple of them, but they are falling apart now after so much childhood use. Caroline Gillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05203454486693014969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-10814064092773966082020-09-23T11:07:49.879+00:002020-09-23T11:07:49.879+00:00Interesting! I'd love to do one of those mysel...Interesting! I'd love to do one of those myself Words of Faithhttps://www.wordsoffaith.co.uk/inspiring-poetry-booknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-81777574252932602482019-11-11T09:19:33.621+00:002019-11-11T09:19:33.621+00:00Thanks, Matt! Hope we can meet up again at some po...Thanks, Matt! Hope we can meet up again at some point...Matthew Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11050474652034142849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-83106327738563631682019-09-30T22:47:13.891+00:002019-09-30T22:47:13.891+00:00"No comment" might be the wisest option ..."No comment" might be the wisest option for me as well, but I agree Alice Oswald was by some considerable distance the best, for me the only, choice here.JamesJameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16650725159013368925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-46600345127256931532019-06-14T11:57:25.402+00:002019-06-14T11:57:25.402+00:00It is a very beautiful workIt is a very beautiful workAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-14633191102198398702019-06-02T17:22:00.277+00:002019-06-02T17:22:00.277+00:00Hi Matt,
Very excited about the possibility of A...Hi Matt, <br /><br />Very excited about the possibility of Alice Oswald's potentially getting this gig (although Andrew McMillan's a really good poet, as a younger writer he's not quite such a safe pair of hands, if that makes sense.) Her statement sounds really interesting, a long way from the more staid form that the professorship can take. There's a likelihood that Oxford'll become a poetry Mecca in the coming months if she's selected. <br /><br />Best,<br /><br />Simon TurnerThe Editorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06264669059410810775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-51994102589173368102019-04-29T15:23:21.299+00:002019-04-29T15:23:21.299+00:00I met him in Edinburgh in (I think) 2008. Unforget...I met him in Edinburgh in (I think) 2008. Unforgettable, and a wonderful - and curiously neglected, for such a major figure - poet. What a terrible sentence. But you know what I mean. JJameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16650725159013368925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-20765096581919169882019-02-07T22:50:30.964+00:002019-02-07T22:50:30.964+00:00I very much enjoyed Overstory by Richard Powers, w...I very much enjoyed Overstory by Richard Powers, which at lest touches on it, conservation, and activism. DaveGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03254479424929060130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-81888866737728062082019-01-19T07:56:02.827+00:002019-01-19T07:56:02.827+00:00Thank you so much for the detailed articleThank you so much for the detailed articleClipping Pathhttps://www.clippingpathquick.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-36334744816141297512018-11-23T10:52:23.454+00:002018-11-23T10:52:23.454+00:00To the trend you could add the "Has poetry be...To the trend you could add the "Has poetry been hi-jacked?" article in a recent Acumen, and the Hollie McNish + Rebecca Watts debate. <br /><br />If by "mainstream" people mean accessible poetry which has literary credibility, then I think the old mainstream has been squeezed, replaced by a newer set of styles with a wider base and a sustaining eco-system - poems like those in Under the Radar, say, but not Shearsman.<br /><br /><br /><br />Tim Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578925224900533603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-58824141457854666182018-11-22T14:09:13.099+00:002018-11-22T14:09:13.099+00:00My condolences, that's very sad news for you.My condolences, that's very sad news for you.Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-21015242253639270252018-10-31T14:12:12.141+00:002018-10-31T14:12:12.141+00:00Thanks for this, Matt. I wouldn't have seen Jo...Thanks for this, Matt. I wouldn't have seen Jonathan's piece otherwise.<br /><br />You have been modest (typically) about the part you played in the early years, when Shindig started life in the basement of The Looking Glass. The years at The Western were built on that foundation.Davinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-65044752799093096402018-10-03T17:21:07.112+00:002018-10-03T17:21:07.112+00:00Hi Matt, hope you're well.
There does seem to...Hi Matt, hope you're well.<br /><br />There does seem to be a patter of grumpy poet outbursts lately (see also Sean O'Brien's eulogy for the death of left page-justification, and John Burnside's snippy piece for the New Statesmen's books of the year round up, for some wider context). It's really just a compressed version of something Don Paterson's harped on about before now, too, something about 'real' poetry steering a middle course between populist emotion and experimental obscurity. <br /><br />My rule of thumb - and it's stood me in good stead - is to religiously avoid poets who think you can sum up the variegated and quarrelsome world of contemporary poetry in a single sentence in the midst of an off-the-cuff interview. It wouldn't rankle *quite* so egregiously if RR was writing poetry as exciting as 'Lunch Poems' or 'Nox' or 'Pamper Me to Hell and Back' or 'Don't Call Us Dead' or, frankly, anything other than his own work, but, you know, I don't see that happening any time soon. <br /><br />Simon @ G&PThe Editorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06264669059410810775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-11864437611591698172018-09-14T16:23:02.094+00:002018-09-14T16:23:02.094+00:00You should probably read the LA Review interview w...You should probably read the LA Review interview with TMDLR which is referenced, as some of the quotes have been severely taken out of context and thus distorted (particularly the one about "England", in which the poet was actually talking about the effects of Brexit, not of a dream of a racially purified nation.)<br /><br />But then, I'm not too fond of character assassinations, and that's very much what this seemed to me to be. Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-55494610613077151542018-05-27T07:43:54.825+00:002018-05-27T07:43:54.825+00:00I remember how puzzled people seemed by it when it...I remember how puzzled people seemed by it when it was released; I thought it was brilliant to hear Springsteen without all the pomp and splendor of the E Street Band. But then I always liked "Darkness on the Edge of Town" best, so I'm just one of those guys who likes the dark stuff.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-34968403648359230712018-04-10T13:25:12.013+00:002018-04-10T13:25:12.013+00:00Yes, that's what I thought, like in the Michae...Yes, that's what I thought, like in the Michael Donaghy poem, and various World War Two incidents. I was baffled that some news sources are saying that's the secondary meaning.Matt Merritthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-44000911460968285582018-04-10T12:29:25.141+00:002018-04-10T12:29:25.141+00:00I was surprised too. I suspect that like me, you t...I was surprised too. I suspect that like me, you take it to mean 'a word which determines which of two tribes you belong to.' As I understood it, 'shibboleth' was used as a password by the Jews because the Philistines couldn't pronounce it. I hadn't heard the other meaning of it at all, until today.Jo Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06936917854240227217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-1499636540753391232018-04-04T02:13:34.690+00:002018-04-04T02:13:34.690+00:00Your poem affected life?! Yes, you can share your ...Your poem affected life?! Yes, you can share your lovely poem and its great "after story" with the world... Submit now https://www.LifePoemsProject.comLifePoemsProject.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07538309740836924268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-16400911512525536182018-03-13T10:56:17.320+00:002018-03-13T10:56:17.320+00:00Dear Matt
Animal and bird species are already dis...Dear Matt<br /><br />Animal and bird species are already disappearing at an alarming rate. One of my 'Wild Aphorisms' is: 'God created the earth then, bored with it, created man in order to destroy it.'<br /><br />Best wishes from Simon R GladdishPoetry Pleases!https://www.blogger.com/profile/16686247991180317838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-19509682453516507442018-02-28T23:33:52.858+00:002018-02-28T23:33:52.858+00:00Thanks, Matt, for the tip-off. I grew up near Clax...Thanks, Matt, for the tip-off. I grew up near Claxton, and found 'Crow Country' a remarkable book, especially the descriptions of murmurations in the Yare Valley. Caroline Gillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05203454486693014969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-28198748697600398012018-02-19T10:54:54.246+00:002018-02-19T10:54:54.246+00:00Dear Matt
Good books tend to bob to the surface a...Dear Matt<br /><br />Good books tend to bob to the surface and it's always intriguing to trace the waves they leave behind.<br /><br />Best wishes from Simon R GladdishPoetry Pleases!https://www.blogger.com/profile/16686247991180317838noreply@blogger.com