I sort of wish Roddy Lumsden hadn't said so much at
>the beginning as I think I would have enjoyed the poems even more had I
>come to them cold.
Sorry Douglas - you may well be right (presuming, and hoping, you're not
opposed to a poet talking plainly and clearly about context - there is
sometimes more than a whiff of the seminar rising from other FP
statements!). Since John is anthologising the statement and not the poems,
I presumed something more than a couple of paras was required and looking
back to previous statements, about 1000 words seemed the norm. I'm
increasingly asked to discuss the way I write, the background to the poems
and though I don't find it easy, it was by listening to such stuff from
those peers who encouraged me which allowed me to write better poetry - not
just by reading their work. I often find myself between the hard place of
over-justification / egotism and the rock of the 'death of the author',
'ban-all-context' po-mo puritanism which I can't abide.
best
Roddy
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