i find it interesting that a national poetry is seen as a categorisable
association of poets who have been published or in dialogue within this
construct. anyone who has taught workshops will know that there are vast
numbers of poets out there who never publish a poem yet consider
themselves dedicated poets. many won't have read a contemporary
australian poet, or have any interest in doing so. do they get classed
as "australian poets"? especially if their interests stop with the
English romantics? often not. and maybe they're lucky as such. inverted
internationalists. para-nationalists? whatever. thing is, when a piece
is "directed" to a nation's poets, people interpret it in terms of their
own experience within their ideas of nation and community. the
mainstream-publishing-house poets read themselves at the centre, but
they're not. they're just more visible appendages to the machine of the
nation. it's working for the state, no matter how much the verse itself
undermines this position. this bothers me - in terms of what i do, how i
read, and what i say. the net has changed this somewhat, but not
ultimately. power failures are just around the corner...
best,
jk
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