A last, much briefer word, before I retreat from the list for a period of
uncertain piss-up and family quarrel: three cheers for the Edward
Lucie-Smith anthology, which remains the only anthology of post-war British
poetry to attempt such a pluralist viewpoint. 'The [Bloodaxe] New Poetry'
introduced me to contemporary poetry at a tender age, for which I shall
remain forever grateful, but with much respect to its editors (and an
acknowledgement of the very different cultural circumstances under which
they compiled the anthology), it did leave gaps of considerable size. I'd
really like to see a collection of British poetry modelled on anthologies
like Donald Allen's 'New American Poetry' which seemed to range around
generously despite disdain from mainstream press about some of its
contributors. No criticism of David Bircumshaw was meant by my critical
response to the original posting of the Mitchell review: it's just that
having read so much reactionary shit about British poetry, and having
partially shared those attitudes (to my shame) years ago, I find myself
easily angered by badly written pieces which seek after the genre of
polemic without ever achieving the necessary grace or satirical humour.
Cheers,
Malcolm
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