Sorry David - didn't mean to find a raw nerve with what was only a spot of
joshing. I always know you're pissed off when you use that strange word
'unpack'! Former was just a clumsy way of meaning you seem to have changed
your emphases - I always read your criticism with interest. You explain
this shift perfectly in your last para. Re JHW, I'm not questioning his
quality, just saying that I find the wds and cds a bit like hearing one's
granny say Yo Muthafucka! What do they add in your opinion? Why does he do
that? Maybe it's a generation thing. And re Poetry Review, which I have to
stand up for as a good committee man oughta, the New Plain Style is only one
of many poetries which Peter has given space to. It may well be more to his
own taste, but I think this it's unavoidable to expect an absolute broadness
in what is not really an independent magazine - its first duty is to the
thousands of Society members, most of whom are not poetry experts. I
realise this is opening the floodgates (or at least knocking that twig off
the top of the weir), but I'd be glad to hear gripes or hurrahs about the
Review and will carry them back to Poetry Central HQ without a pinch of
salt.
Roddy
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